What’s working in B2B outbound right now?

Pipeline + Plates is a roundtable series hosted by Homie, the warm introduction platform for B2B GTM teams. We hosted the inaugural lunch in London earlier this month and brought GTM leaders together to share what is working in pipeline generation right now.

Why is cold outbound getting harder?

Buyers are absolutely flooded with automated messages asking for “15 minutes of their time”. The room agreed that instead, SDR teams should lead with value, not a meeting request. A compelling offer of value e.g. a benchmark report, an audit, something the buyer can gain a no strings value-add, will earn attention and increase replies far more than a generic ask for a call and their finite time will.

What still works for SDR teams?

• Focus around a campaign. What still works is a marketing and SDR collaboration, aligning SDRs around one event or campaign so invites and follow-ups have a clear reason and offer of value.
• Research before reach. Consider ensuring that SDRs do not touch an account until they can explain what the prospect does in two lines and name a couple of reference customers worth mentioning.
• Twenty seconds of relevance. It’s harder to get people to answer a phone call, so when they do connect, the cold call must prove relevance immediately.
• Warm numbers first. Parallel dialers such as Orum and Nooks flag the numbers most likely to answer.

How should GTM teams use AI in outbound?

The room agreed that AI works best for deeper account research, versus low-effort emails. Examples shared below (with a Homie use case for each of the examples).

Cold emails built on three custom variables

Claude finds a hiring or growth signal, the outbound pain it creates, and a matching proof point.

Hi [name], spotted [brand] is hiring four SDRs in London. {trigger}

More reps on cold sequences usually means more volume and the same reply rates. {pain}

[relevant brand] augmented their outreach efforts with warm intros which saw 8x more conversions than cold outbound. {proof}

Want to see which of your team already knows your top 20 accounts?

Automated and personalised LinkedIn connection requests and follow-ups

Claude reads the prospect’s recent posts and picks up a trigger related to your company offering.

Request: “Your post on reply rates dropping below 1% resonated, have a few ideas on that”

Follow-up (day 3): “A few SDR leaders we work with now open with warm intros before any cold touch, and around 20% of those asks turn into a meeting, interested in more info on this?”

Mining Gong or Granola transcripts for buyer questions

Run your own discovery calls through your LLM and pull the questions that keep coming up.

Finding: SDR leaders kept asking “won’t my team feel awkward asking their network for intros?”

Outreach angle: “Most SDR leaders worry reps won’t want to ask for intros. Homie drafts the ask and a forwardable note, so all your rep does is hit send.”

That objection becomes the hook, and it’s in the buyer’s words, not yours.

Bespoke landing pages for enterprise personas

For a priority account, automate the creation of a bespoke landing page.

When an account hits a high intent score in the CRM, Claude pulls their website, recent news and LinkedIn activity, then generates a page built just for them. This could show the prospect’s logo, a headline about the warm paths their team already has into their top 20 accounts, a case study from a similar-sized GTM team, and an estimate of extra meetings based on their SDR headcount.

Which buying signals convert best?

Job changes remain one of the highest-converting signals, especially when a former customer changes company. Search intent is another, tracking competitive terms such as “Company X renewal” identifies prospects feeling friction with an incumbent before a formal buying cycle begins. UserGems or custom Claude workflows can automate both.

Where is the hidden pipeline?

The CRM is the goldmine, but only when it is up to date. Revisit deals that stalled six months ago and multi-thread into new personas. Check the fundamentals: accurate data and whether you have a compelling case study for each target persona.

Why do warm introductions cut through?

A warm introduction is a referral to a prospect from someone the buyer already knows and trusts. Tech brands are utilising best in class warm introduction platforms such as Homie to map a company’s collective network, including colleagues, investors and partners, and rank every path into a target account with a Warmth Score. Based on Homie’s internal data, around 50% of warm introduction requests lead to an introduction, and around 40% of those introductions become a meeting, so roughly 1 in 5 requests turns into a sales meeting.

What other touchpoints are worth testing?

• Benchmark reports, which are high-click, high-intent and easy to offer as a free audit
• Direct mail and strategic gifting that ties back to your offer
• Website chatbots synced with your CRM insights that are programmed for conversion
• Events and roundtables that give SDRs something genuine to invite people to

The takeaway

Pipeline rewards relevance and trust over volume. Get the data right, use AI for research, and use your network’s network wherever a warm path exists.