Outbound not working? Just try harder.

This is the TitanX newsletter, where GTM is built on conversations, targeting, and, of course, Phone Intent™ - Read more.

To those who would say “all you need to do to be successful at outbound is work hard, know how to talk to people, and understand their perspective as a buyer.”

Oh, if only it were so simple.

These people do exist. They say that outbound is purely a matter of grit. Of discipline. Of hard work.

Sure, that’s part of it.

But to reduce the difficulties of outbound to purely an attitude problem is to miss the larger dynamic.

There is something undeniably technical about outbound sales today. 

Something that requires some amount of an engineering mindset.

And no, that does not mean you need a GTM Engineer, but it does in part explain why Clay’s creation of the role actually worked.

They correctly identified the operational gap between sellers and the technology that supports them. And rather than build a “we think you should do outbound workflows this way” tool (unlike most other founders in the sales tech space), Kareem and Varun (great people if you get a chance to meet them) eventually made their way (with plenty of input from wise people) to a platform that lets you orchestrate outbound the way you want to.

Trust a different data provider? Configure the waterfall to your liking.

Trust a data provider they don’t have a native hookup for? Connect their API yourself.

Want to infuse some AI research? Sure, go ahead.

Got your lists from some random place on the web? Import CSV.

Want to grab any kind of signal or webhook or whatever? Bring it on.

Need to look up something on many contacts that’s missing for some and not others? Build a google search step with conditional logic.

But the fact that Clay took so long to end up here is illustrative of a bigger problem:

No one has a perfect outbound recipe.

And yet everyone pretends to be scientific about it.

It is not enough to have your own ideas, and throw yourself wholeheartedly at outbound.

There is one final, crucial step that somehow still gets overlooked even in 2025.

It’s like if UPS got really good at everything except actually dropping stuff off at your house. What’s the point?

Stepping back: let’s say the funnel to get to good outbound is…

There are four considerable bottlenecks within that list:

The list. Many teams do not know how to use filters, queries, Boolean, RegEx, whatever the heck is needed to filter according to an ICP definition. I’ve worked with so many lists that have junior versions of the ICP leaked in, or interns, or close proxies for the same title that have no business being included. And it’s actually worse with companies.

The contact info. Just because some random tool says it’s accurate doesn’t mean it’s accurate. This shouldn’t need explaining, but here we are. Everyone is buying waterfalls, when there is a fundamental problem with most waterfalls: last mile data retailers buy from only a few upstream data wholesalers.

Feedback loops (refinement) are nonexistent in most orgs. Little is done except to review sequences and say “this failed” or “maybe it’s our script.” There is so much more that can and should be done, but that’s for another time.

The tech. Deliverability is a nightmare. Most sequencers and dialers pay little attention to your ability to manage and optimize for your call or email actually reaching the person. One of the two most popular sequencers only permits one email inbox per rep - which is like asking to be stuck in spam.

I would argue deliverability is the primary point of failure in GTM these days.

It is the last mile. The final gulf across which your beautiful crafted script/message/sequence cannot fly.

So many great minds - product marketers, sales leaders, and product leadership - spend so much time blasting their messages into a noiseless void with no audience in sight.

Calling wrong numbers. Emailing into spam. Counting dials. Counting email opens. 

Nothingness.

Counting nothing.

So there it is:

But consumer technology has spoken: it is Gandalf the Gray shouting You Shall Not Pass right into the fiery face of your GTM team. 

Telecom and email providers don’t owe you space on their networks. 

Do you know how to earn it?

If outbound were just a matter of grit and determination, then TitanX shouldn’t be vital…

But if you’re like most teams hitting a wall with outbound success, hiring more reps to paper over the fact that your message is simply not reaching enough ears…

…then it is absolutely vital.

Thanks for reading,

Evan Dunn (LinkedIn)

P.S. If you have questions, hit reply. I read every response.