Attention is the currency you are betting on.
So in a world where marketers are bombarded with hundreds and thousands of emails everyday, sending a single email will not get you to people who haven’t heard about you (read:your product) before. In a cold outreach reaching out to someone requires patience because most of your mails are unopened and time your calls go to voicemail.
A B2B buyer is more elusive and selective than ever, so relying on a single channel, be it phone, email, or LinkedIn, is not even an option. You need a tactical multichannel approach. An email can only take you so far, but for a sustainable result you need to give it all.
This is where a specialized partner, like Valasys, can help SDR teams develop, manage, and execute the complex, high-volume, and hyper-personalized MCOS required to truly cut through the noise.
The decision makers you are intending to reach are checking LinkedIn between meetings, reading emails after hours, and answering the phone only for local or known numbers.
As a Sales Development Representative (SDR), your job is to cut the crap and have a meaningful conversation. The solution is not doing more of the same; it’s doing it smarter across multiple fronts.
In this blog, we will focus on the true power and weakness of each core outreach channel: cold calling, cold email, and social selling. We will then show you how you can tune it together as a Multichannel Cold Outreach Strategy that’s designed not just to get the attention, but to book more meetings and build a reliable pipeline.
Single-Channel Outreach is Dead
Traditionally, SDRs focused on nurturing and qualifying warmer inbound leads from marketing and BDRs were supposed to get new businesses through purely outbound sourcing. Today the lines are blurred, the market demands SDRs to be proactive pipeline builders. They are responsible for qualifying the vital stream of inbound interest and initiating the high-volume outbound engagement necessary for stable, scalable growth. To ensure long-term pipeline stability and success, SDRs have to master the core competencies of outbound prospecting to effectively and strategically reach decision-makers. The Multichannel Cold Outreach Strategy (MCOS) is like a toolkit that gives you the power to command this blended role.
Channel Deep Dive: Strengths, Weaknesses, and Best Use
Before an SDR can coordinate a full multichannel strategy, they need to understand the unique strengths and weaknesses of each primary weapon in their arsenal.
A. Cold Calling (The Immediacy & Conversion Play)
Let’s start with the phone, while the inbox looks like a battlefield, cold calling is still hot. It’s the most direct way you can reach out and start a conversation. Cold calls are like a heat seeking missile; they are specifically designed for immediate impact and offer the unmatched benefits of real-time connection, so you can build a rapport instantly and clear any objections on the spot. This urgency is why, despite the reputation, the phone call still accounts for 51% of generated leads. But this comes with a price to pay, it has a notoriously low success rate demanding over 22.5 dials just to secure a single meaningful conversation. So to ensure your efforts don’t go in vain, you must ditch those generic scripts, and lead with stronger, problem-solving openers, and always integrate the call with a digital follow-up.
B. Cold Email (The Scalability & Detail Engine)
If cold calls were missiles then cold email is a drone installed for surveillance and deployment. The strength is clear: scalability and measurement. It is cost effective and can be automated into a comprehensive sequence. It gives you different types of data through many metrics like open rates, clicks, and replies. The response rate is 1% to 5% at modest, but if you hyper-personalize it, that number can soar up to 17% (simple rule quality>quantity.). A big pain point is that high volume of email means your message is constantly at risk of being flagged as spam or simply deleted unread, leading to frustratingly low engagement if your message is generic. To move past these filters and get attention, SDR best practice would be simple: keep the body short, on point and add a clear CTA. Know that a personalized line, like even using the name of the recipients is proven to give a big boost up to 43.41%.
C. Social Selling on LinkedIn (The Trust Builder & Priming Tool)
If cold calling gives you immediate impact and cold email, a scaled engine then social selling on LinkedIn is your relationship foundation and Priming Tool. The primary objective would be to establish trust and credibility within a platform that hosts more than 65 million decision-makers. The goal is to not be salesy; it is purely for engagement and recognition. By checking a prospect’s profile or interacting with their content even before you make that call or send an email, you effectively “prime” the well, making your eventual outreach feel familiar which results in increase of callbacks and reply rates. The best practices are tactical: make sure your profile is optimized as your digital storefront, you need to also interact with prospects posts consistently(like, comment, and share relevant insights). Adding a personal note in the connection request is like a cherry on the top. The final step would be to utilize this activity by referring to their recent posts in your mails or subjects or even your call scripts to convert that “cold” touchpoint into a genuinely warm conversation.
III. The Winning Strategy: Building a Multichannel Sequence
The real win in outbound sales doesn’t come from any single channel, it comes from a strategic Multichannel Sequence. The key is, alternating channels to ensure you are not stuck in one silo, this makes you difficult to ignore. It’s like “priming” the pump because leaving a voicemail on day 3, will not deliver your message. It will warm your lead for a follow-up on day 4, so your email is recognized. This way every step builds on your last one.
Let’s look at 10-to-14 day strategy:
Start your day 1 with a cold email; then on day 3, follow up with a cold call, if the call is not responded, leave a voice note, this is you warming them up. On day 4 send them a connection request on linkedIn with a personalized note. In the note you could reference your voicemail so the touch feels familiar, not cold. Then send a follow up email on day 7 and give them a call on day 10. If the response is not positive, end with a no pressure “breakup” email on day 14.In this sequence you are constantly alternating channels and making sure that every message is a continuation, and not a start.
The key rules are simple: Alternate channels to break through different defenses, space out touches by 2-3 days to respect the prospect’s time, and always ensure each touch has a clear, small objective.
IV. Common Mistakes That Kill Multichannel Outreach
To run a winning multichannel sequence, you have to make sure you do not make common mistakes that might kill your outreach. The thing that kills personalization is mass blasting generic messages across every channel. And your prospects see right through it. You also have to avoid message repetition; you can’t use the same script for your cold call, emails and social message. Every channel has a different tone, so your message should be tailored accordingly. Third thing to note would be to never neglect the phone; skipping that cold call would be missing out on 51% of potential leads. And finally, the biggest mistake is not to lose track. Your sequence has to be strategic; you must test and optimize (A/B test your subject lines, call openings, etc.) depending on key metrics, reply rates and connect rates to refine your blueprint and improve performance.
V. Conclusion: Do It Smarter, Not Harder
The B2B landscape is changing everyday, everyday we move toward a hyper personalized outreach hence a Single-channel outreach is dead. And to constantly break through the noise to reach a selective and elusive B2B buyer a SDR must move past a single silo. We all know that attention is the currency and a tactical Multichannel Cold Outreach Strategy (MCOS) is the only way to earn it.
The true power lies in comprehension: Cold calling works well because of immediacy and real-time conversion, cold email delivers the scalability and measurable data needed to optimize and social selling is like a trust builder; this is where warming up the lead before the critical conversation begins. (Tap to Tweet)
The key takeaway would be to: Do It Smarter, Not Harder. Instead of just increasing the volume and sending more mails, we focus on closing more. It’s not a option really, it’s just how you could get sales done today.
By consistently alternating channels and ensuring each step builds on the last, you cut through the noise and get in front of decision-makers faster. Ready to stop guessing? Start building your own optimized 10-day cadence today with Valasys to convert more elusive B2B buyers
FAQ’s
1. What is SDR outreach?
: Sales Development Representatives use a strategic approach to proactively prospect and qualify the leads. It requires coordinated, multi-channel effort across platforms like cold email, cold calling, and LinkedIn (social selling).
The goal is to not just “sell”, it is to book qualified meetings and generate new sales pipeline. It relies on a carefully timed cadence, where each touchpoint builds on the last, ensuring the message is relevant, hyper-personalized, and makes the prospect recognizable before the final conversation.
2. How to be successful as an SDR?
To be a successful SDR, a consistent and intelligent outreach is must, key steps:
- Master Research: Understand your ICP and personalized value props.
- Multichannel Strategy: Use LinkedIn, phone, email, as well as voicemail for maximum reach.
- Persistence & Positivity: Follow up consistently and maintain a resilient, positive attitude.
- Continuous Learning: Always refine your messaging, techniques, and product knowledge.
- Efficiency: Use your CRM and tools to maximize productive time.
3. What is the best way to outreach?
The best approach is not relying on just a single channel and opting for a strategic multichannel sequence. This way you use alternating channels like Cold Email, Phone/Voicemail, and LinkedIn to build recognition and trust. The goal is to “prime” the prospect, making your follow-up touches feel familiar rather than cold. By personalizing each step and ensuring every message builds on the last, you cut through the noise and exponentially increase your chance of booking a qualified meeting.
