Outbound compounds, which means the first month looks worse than the third even when everything is going right. Here is what the first ninety days should look like.
Days 1 to 7: infrastructure and agreement
Buy and configure sending domains, set SPF, DKIM and DMARC, start mailbox warming. In parallel, agree the ICP, the definition of a qualified meeting, the exclusion list and the reporting cadence. First sequences go live at the end of this week on a small volume.
Days 8 to 30: calibration
Low volume, several angles running side by side. You are not optimising for meetings yet, you are looking for which segment and which angle produces replies. Expect the reply rate to move around a lot. Expect the first meetings in week two or three.
The number to watch here is reply rate by segment, not total meetings.
Days 31 to 60: volume
Kill the two weakest angles, scale the strongest by adding mailboxes and SDR hours. Add the second channel: LinkedIn on the email led segments, or phone where the buyer answers a phone. Meeting volume should roughly double over the month one baseline.
Days 61 to 90: compounding
The nurture pool from month one starts converting, which is where the step change usually comes from. Copy is now written from real objections rather than guesses. This is the first month whose numbers are worth judging the programme on.
How to judge it at day 90
- Reply rate between five and nine percent on the winning segments.
- Bounce rate under two percent.
- Show up rate above eighty percent.
- A clear, written answer to which segment and which angle works.
If you have the first three and not the fourth, you have got lucky rather than built something. The fourth is the asset.