What is outbound sales?

Written by Madalena Rugeroni, founder of Mazo · Updated 10 November 2026

Outbound sales is when your company starts the conversation: you identify prospects who haven't asked to hear from you and reach them by cold email, LinkedIn, phone or events. Inbound is the reverse, where buyers find you first through search, content or referrals.

Outbound funnel math

Meetings = prospects contacted × reply rate × share of replies that become meetings Opportunities = meetings × share of meetings that qualify

Work backwards from the number of customers you need. Outbound is predictable once you know your own rates, which is why it's often the first channel founders can plan around.

Worked example

A fictional founder wants 3 new customers a month from outbound, with a 25% win rate.

3 customers ÷ 25% win rate = 12 qualified opportunities.
If 60% of meetings qualify: 12 ÷ 0.6 = 20 meetings.
If 8% of prospects reply and half of replies take a meeting: 20 ÷ (0.08 × 0.5) = 500 prospects a month, about 25 per working day.

Too many? Raise the reply rate with tighter targeting and better triggers before adding volume.

Why it matters from €0 to €1M ARR

Pre-revenue: outbound is customer discovery. Fifty personal messages to your ICP tell you whether the problem is real faster than any landing page.
First 10 customers: founder-sent, highly researched outreach. Low volume, high relevance.
€20k+ MRR: once a message and segment convert reliably, document the playbook and consider an SDR or BDR to run it.

Mazo's rule of thumb: earn the right to scale. Get a reply rate you're proud of on 100 hand-picked prospects before you send to 1,000. Volume multiplies whatever your message already does, good or bad.

Common outbound mistakes

Scaling a message that hasn't worked yet. It burns your list and your sending domain.
Pitching in the first message. Lead with a specific observation or trigger about their company.
Giving up after one email. Most replies come from follow-ups.
Sending from your main domain at volume. Use a separate warmed-up domain once you go beyond personal outreach.

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FAQ

What is the difference between inbound and outbound sales?

In inbound sales the buyer reaches out first, after finding you through search, content, referrals or ads. In outbound sales you reach out first to prospects you have chosen.

What is a good cold email reply rate?

It varies widely with targeting, offer and market, so track your own rate by segment and message. Tightly targeted, personally researched outreach replies far better than bulk sends to a broad list.

Does outbound still work for B2B SaaS?

Yes, especially for higher-priced products with a clearly defined ideal customer. It works poorly as bulk, generic messaging and well as specific outreach tied to a real trigger at the prospect company.

Who wrote this

Madalena Rugeroni built Mazo. She's an ex-Googler, a startup advisor and investor, and runs a portfolio of internet companies. Before that, as Head of Growth at Amplemarket, she scaled a B2B SaaS to $10M ARR. LinkedIn

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Further reading. Specialised outbound prospecting roles were popularised by Aaron Ross and Marylou Tyler (Predictable Revenue). This is a published methodology credited to its authors; Mazo is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.