Framework

5-7 touch outbound sequence template

The 2026-vintage UK B2B outbound cadence. Replaces the 14-touch high-volume playbook that stopped working post-2024. Lower volume per SDR, higher per-prospect investment, multi-channel mix.

The cadence

Account: __________________________________
Prospect: _________________________________
Title: ___________________________________
Critical-event hypothesis: ____________________

DAY 1 - EMAIL 1 (genuinely personalised)
Subject: ____________________________________
- Specific reference to their company / role / recent
  public statement / hiring move / product launch / news
  (5-10 minutes of research surfacing this)
- Two short paragraphs maximum
- One specific question (not "want to chat" or "20 mins")
- Identify your organisation; include opt-out mechanism
- No CTA-stuffed paragraph; no calendar link

DAY 4 - LINKEDIN CONNECTION REQUEST
- No message in the request itself (UK norm: connection-first,
  message-after-acceptance)
- Or short personalised note (under 200 chars) referencing
  email 1 lightly

DAY 6 - PHONE CALL TO NON-MOBILE NUMBER
- TPS-screen first (mandatory)
- Voicemail script:
  '5 sec: Name and company.
   15 sec: One specific reason for the call referencing
           the buyer's situation.
   10 sec: Phone number, said twice, slowly.'
- Total under 30 seconds.

DAY 9 - EMAIL 2 (different angle from email 1)
- References the call and the LinkedIn touch
- Different hook from email 1 (pick a different research
  angle; don't re-pitch the same thing)
- Two short paragraphs
- Different specific question

DAY 14 - LINKEDIN MESSAGE (after connection acceptance)
- One sentence
- References the email thread
- Conversational, not pitch-shaped

DAY 21 - BREAK-UP EMAIL
'I haven't heard back; I'll stop reaching out unless I hear
otherwise. If timing's bad, when's better?'

That's it. Six touches over three weeks. Break-up email is
consistently the highest-response touch in 2026.

Volume guidance

PER SDR PER WEEK
- Net-new prospects added to sequence: 20-50
- Active prospects in mid-sequence: 80-200
- Personalised email work per prospect: 5-10 minutes

TOTAL HOURLY ALLOCATION
- Research and personalisation: 15-20 hrs / week
- Active outreach: 5-10 hrs / week
- Calls: 4-6 hrs / week (concentrated in 2 days)
- Admin / CRM: 4-6 hrs / week

Compliance considerations (PECR / UK GDPR)

  • List sourced from a provider with documented compliance position; written confirmation of the legal basis under which the data was collected
  • TPS screening run within the last 28 days for any list including UK numbers; CTPS for business numbers
  • Sole traders and unincorporated partnerships outside Scotland are individual subscribers under PECR; flag and exclude from cold-email-without-consent campaigns
  • Legitimate Interests Assessment documented for the campaign type (one per type, not one per send)
  • First email discloses identity, organisation, purpose, and an opt-out mechanism
  • Suppression list updated within 28 days of any opt-out request, applied across all campaigns
  • No automated dialling without prior, specific, named consent

What 'genuinely personalised' actually means

Not "I see you went to UCL". Not "noticed you're hiring SDRs". Both are auto-extractable from LinkedIn and the recipient knows it. Genuine personalisation is a specific reference to something the buyer has said publicly or done publicly that you have actually read: a recent talk, a podcast appearance, a blog post, a comment on someone else's post, a specific bit of company news tied to a specific implication for their role. The test: would a stranger reading the email be able to tell that this email is to this specific buyer rather than a template?

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