Balancing Activity and Quality in Prospecting

Every month, I host a Zoom with 40 - 70 VPs and CROs from our members. We dig into what’s working, what’s breaking, kick around ideas, etc. Last month, one prospecting theme dominated: How do we get consistency in outbound without turning into a compliance cop? And one tactic came up - not theory, but something leaders have actually rolled out with success: A point system. Here’s how it works, and why it scales better than the usual activity theater: The premise: Not all activities are created equal. So don’t treat them that way. Assign point values based on downstream impact, not just volume. - 1 call = 1 point - 1 net-new contact added = 2 points - 1 reply = 3 points - 1 qualified meeting set = 10 points - 1 meeting held = 15 points Set a weekly target (eg 100 points) and let reps decide how they get there. Now you’ve got a system that: - Measures progress without micromanaging - Rewards impact, not just effort - Encourages reps to play to their strengths So, why does this work? Activity based metrics punish your top performers and exhaust your new hires. A points based system introduces proportionality. - If you’re great at cold calls? Dial away. - If you’re a master of sequenced emails? You’re covered. - If you’re ramping? You’re still earning points and building confidence. And here’s the kicker for managers: It gives you a smarter lens on performance. Low points? You know WHO to coach. High points but low pipeline? You know WHAT to coach. You stop managing like an air traffic controller, reacting to every dip on the dashboard, and start leading with actual signal. tl;dr = Activity isn’t the enemy, but arbitrary targets are. Move from measuring motion to rewarding momentum.

Two leaders. Same market. Same list of producers. Completely different results. One showed up to coaching frustrated. Weeks of calls, almost nothing to show for it. No conversions. Barely any real conversations, just voicemails, polite brush-offs, and "I'm happy where I'm at." The other launched a team inside 90 days. Here's what almost everyone gets wrong about why. The struggling leader took what looked like the shortcut. He pulled the list, knew who the producers were, and went at them: "Would you be open to a better opportunity?" That sentence feels efficient. It's the longest path in recruiting. The moment you lead with "a better opportunity," you're one more option on a menu — and now you wait. Wait for a comp change. Wait for a bad quarter. Wait for them to get dissatisfied enough to move. You control none of it. The other leader did something that looked slower. Before a single call, he researched the market — not the people, the market. He built a vision for what he wanted to construct there, drilled it until he could say it in two minutes, then pulled a short list: seven people who fit exactly what he was building. His opener wasn't a question. It was a statement: "You were one of a handful of people I wanted to talk to in this market. We're launching something here, and I wanted to share the vision with you." One leader started with a list of people. The other started with a picture of the market. Volume play: 200 names, 200 identical conversations, a pipeline of tire-kickers waiting for one to get unhappy enough to move. Precision play: one market, one vision worth building, seven chosen people who hear something no other recruiter is offering. The volume leader only converts the already-dissatisfied. The vision leader moves people who weren't even looking — because he isn't asking them to leave something. He's inviting them into something. Want to be the second leader? Start here: 1. Research the market before the people. Pick ONE market and study it before you dial. 2. Build your vision and make it sayable. Write the big, specific thing you want to build there — then drill it until you can deliver it in two minutes. 3. Trade 200 names for 7. Pinpoint the few who fit your avatar, and open with a statement, not a question. Anybody can find the producers. They're on the same lists you have. The leader who wins shows up with a vision for the market that no one else can offer. Stop shopping for people. Start building a market worth joining.

I spent years thinking I could do both at once. Build pipeline. Close deals. Repeat. But here's the truth: you can't give 100% to both at the same time. One always suffers. When I focused too much on prospecting, my active deals stalled. When I poured everything into closing, my pipeline dried up. The cycle was brutal. The real challenge isn't just time management. It's mental bandwidth. Prospecting requires creativity and energy. Closing demands focus and precision. Switching between them drains you fast. Here's what I learned the hard way: Block your time ruthlessly. Dedicate specific days or hours to each. No mixing. Protect your closing deals first. If you're close to the finish line, don't let new outreach distract you. Build pipeline during slow periods. Use the gaps between negotiations to fill the funnel. Accept the imbalance. Some weeks you'll prospect more. Some weeks you'll close more. That's normal. Neglect one side for too long and you'll pay for it later. The pipeline you ignore today becomes the quota you miss next quarter. The deal you don't nurture becomes the lost revenue you regret. Balance isn't about doing everything at once. It's about knowing when to shift gears. Plan your time. Protect your focus. And remember: both matter, but not always at the same moment.

Last quarter I watched one of my top clients scramble to hit quota. He was the THIRD highest performer in his company (out of 10 reps). His activity levels were high. His close rate was even better. But something was VERY wrong... When we looked at his calendar, we discovered he only had THREE discovery calls the ENTIRE MONTH. The pipeline was a mirage. Here's the hard truth most sales leaders won't tell you: Activity ≠ Results Another rep I know made 14,000 calls in a month without booking a SINGLE meeting. Elite performers don't just work harder - they work DIFFERENTLY. 👇 THE ELITE PROSPECTING FRAMEWORK 👇 This is the exact system I've used to build a 7-figure sales career and coach hundreds of reps to double their pipeline in 30 days: 1️⃣ BLOCK YOUR CALENDAR RELIGIOUSLY Schedule 8 hours of dedicated prospecting time weekly (2 hours per day, Mon-Thu) Make these blocks SACRED - nothing overrides them Set them early (8-10am) when your energy is highest Put them as recurring meetings in your calendar NOW Label them clearly: "PROSPECTING - DO NOT BOOK" 2️⃣ RESEARCH BEFORE YOU REACH OUT Dedicate a separate full 2-hour block weekly just for research Validate contact data quality (bad data = wasted time) Identify true buying signals (not just basic triggers) Create a targeted list of 50 PERFECT prospects Document 2-3 personalization points for each target Use tools like LinkedIn, company news, and your CRM data 3️⃣ TARGET THE RIGHT ACCOUNTS Quality ALWAYS trumps quantity Focus on 50 perfect-fit accounts, not 500 random ones Build your list based on clear ideal customer criteria Segment your list by industry, pain point, or use case Prioritize accounts showing buying signals Remove any contact with questionable data quality 4️⃣ EXECUTE WITH PRECISION When you sit down to prospect, it's EXECUTION time only No researching, no planning, no "figuring it out" Follow your pre-built list in order of priority Mix methods: calls, emails, LinkedIn, video Track your results meticulously Adjust your approach weekly based on data 5️⃣ LEVERAGE YOUR SDRs Schedule weekly 15-minute alignment sessions Coach them on messaging that's working for you Give specific feedback on recent meetings they've booked Share your target account list with them Create a feedback loop on what's generating responses THE RESULTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES! My client implemented this system and went from 3 to 8 Enterprise discovery calls per month. That's 166% more pipeline. That's 166% more potential commission. That's the difference between missing quota and crushing it. The math is simple but brutal: If your prospecting is inconsistent, your results will be too. If your calendar doesn't protect prospecting time, it won't happen. If you're not tracking the right metrics, you can't improve them. Want to prospect better? Start with a great cold email: https://lnkd.in/gKSzmCda

Your sales rep logged 50 activities this week and moved zero deals forward. Activity isn't progress. But most sales managers still celebrate the activity. Here's what those 50 "activities" actually looked like: 15 emails to prospects who will never respond  10 cold calls to people who can't buy anything  8 LinkedIn messages that sound like everyone else's  7 follow-up calls to dead leads  5 demo requests to unqualified prospects 🤯 Zero actual sales momentum. Meanwhile, another rep logged 12 activities: 3 qualified discovery calls with real buyers  2 follow-up meetings with decision makers  1 proposal to a funded project 😎  1 contract negotiation Guess who's actually building pipeline? Activity metrics feel productive because they're easy to measure. The reps who close the most deals often have the lowest activity scores. Stop rewarding reps for being busy. Start rewarding them for being effective. What metrics do you use to measure real sales progress versus just activity? #SalesManagement #SalesMetrics #SalesProductivity #SalesLeadership #B2BSales

Activity metrics might have made sense when everyone wanted to buy. When budgets were overflowing. When “sure, let’s talk” was the default....But that was then. Today? More dials, more emails, more tasks on your “to-do” list do not mean more progress. Really, it just means you are super busy. It’s kind of like taking a baseball player, giving them a bat, and saying: “For the next 8 hours every single day, just swing. Just keep swinging. Nothing else. You’ll hit something eventually.” Maybe they will every once in a while, but those few hits are not going to win them the World Series. Instead, for professional athletes, every swing is done with intention. Paying attention to the wind. Adjusting to the pitcher’s rhythm. Reading the outfield. Knowing where the gaps are. Then they swing. They adjust, they swing again. They make it to base, they keep analyzing, playing their best, and so on for run after run. And that’s what makes the difference. The same goes for sales. We’ve treated outreach like a checkbox, but it’s more like a series of chain reactions. Each moment earns you the right to the next. ✒️ You write a smart, relevant subject line? You might earn the right to the open. 🤓 Then a thoughtful SMYKM? You might earn the right to pitch. ⚾ Then a pitch that nails the “so what” of your value? You might earn the meeting. ❓ Discovery uncovers the why? You might earn the right to the second meeting. 🪴 You nurture with intention? You might earn the right to stay top of mind. But none of that happens just because you checked a box. It happens because the rep treated each step like it mattered. That’s the sales game. Not swinging more, but swinging better.

Prospecting isn’t about chasing everyone—it’s about focusing on the right ones. Too many salespeople still believe that the more calls they make, the more demos they run, the more activity they generate… the better their results will be. But activity without qualification is just noise. And noise doesn’t build pipelines. The real differentiator in sales is your ability to quickly determine who actually has potential—and who is simply taking your time. It starts with identifying true buyer intent—not just interest. Then, understanding the problem they’re trying to solve, whether your solution is truly viable, and who the actual decision maker is. From there, you uncover the level of proof they need and how they personally define success. When you ask these questions early, you protect your time, increase your close rate, and build stronger relationships with customers who genuinely value what you deliver. Great prospecting isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing what matters. Focus on the right prospects, and everything else becomes easier.

I was in a call this week with a team that genuinely wants to be exceptional… but they’re playing the game on the wrong setting. They’re chasing “500 dials a week” because that’s the mandate. So they do the logical thing: they optimise for the number. They dial anything with a pulse. They hit the activity target. Everyone gets to feel productive. And then leadership asks the stupidest question in revenue: “Why isn’t pipeline going up?” Because you set the bogey as dials, not conversations. Let’s kill the “scoring is abstract” idea while we’re here. Scoring isn’t a vibe. It’s not a badge. It’s not “AI”. It means: these are the people most likely to pick up the phone. That’s it. If your list is full of people who won’t answer, you can do 5,000 dials a week and still get nowhere. You’re not building pipeline; you’re building wrist pain. What I watched on that call was top-of-funnel confusion in its purest form: Mix “likely to pick up” prospects with “never pick up” prospects Don’t track which is which Measure reps on dial count Then argue about tools when results are muddy It’s madness. But it’s common madness. So here’s the fix, in plain English (English, English, not that horrible American English Ryan 🏋️☎️ Reisert): Change the bogey. Stop rewarding dial tones. Reward conversations. Stop running mixed lists. Call the “will pick up” list first. And follow up like a professional, because timing is where meetings come from. If you want exceptional pipeline, stop managing activity like it’s 2009. Manage outcomes like you actually mean it.

It's not enough to get leads; they need to be the right leads. That's what I discussed in my last post. Budgeting wisely means focusing on quality rather than quantity.  So, how do we do that? 👉🏾 Start by knowing your ideal customer. I know you've heard this many times, but it's amazing how many companies skip this step.    👉🏾Get clear on who you're trying to reach. The more specific you are, the better. 👉🏾Don't just create content for the sake of creating. Focus on targeted content for your ideal customer, not your assumptions. 👉🏾Using intent data can reveal companies actively researching solutions like yours. This data lets you focus your efforts on the accounts most likely to convert. 👉🏾If relevant, use ABM to target specific, high value accounts. From experience, a well-structured plan can improve lead quality and maximize your budget. 👉🏾Rework and optimize your existing landing pages. Ensure they are clear, concise, and focused on a single call to action. This will help improve your conversion rates. 👉🏾Don't just generate leads and then forget about them. As elaborate as your marketing and lead generation plan is, you should also have an elaborate plan for nurturing these leads at each stage of the buyer's journey. 👉🏾Always keep a close eye on your metrics. What's working? What's not? You can use this data to improve your lead generation efforts continuously. I know that improving lead quality is an ongoing and time-consuming process. However, a strategic approach coupled with a willingness to experiment and adapt is worth the long term payoff. #demandgeneration #b2bmarketing #marketingstrategy

Last week, I sat through a call with a prospect that had the right title and a great company. Ten minutes in, it was clear they weren’t even close to being a fit. That’s when it hit me, the real unproductive calls aren't the ones with no show. They're the ones that should never have been scheduled. That’s why, inside our team, we don’t measure success by the number of meetings booked. We measure it by how many right conversations we protect. Here’s how we do it before anyone hits “Join”: 1. We define the non-negotiables with our clients. Industry, company size, buyer role, must-have problems, and red flags that instantly stop a call. 2. One of our team member calls the prospect to confirm the call and ask prequalifying questions to ensure that it aligns with what our client offers. 3. We reconfirm the intent before the call with a simple reminder like a short email, a quick “still good?” message, and flexible reschedule options. It keeps attendance high without spamming anyone. The goal isn’t to fill the calendar, it’s to protect it. Because every unnecessary call steals time from the ones that actually matter. PS: What's one sign you look for that tells you a call isn't worth taking? #B2BSales #LeadGeneration #SalesStrategy #ClientSuccess #RevenueGrowth