The sales cadence is a process of continually refining your pitch using feedback from potential customers. You start out with an initial hypothesis about what you think the customer might want.

You then test this hypothesis with live prospects to see if it's valid. If not, you refine your pitch until you have something that the market seems to want. Eventually, this way you would also get to know the agoge definition. 

The advantage of this approach over simply trying to "sell" or "pitch" is that by taking an iterative approach you are able to work towards success without forcing the product onto the market before it's ready for primetime.

If you can find enough people who value what you're doing at each stage, you will quickly land orders and build momentum as long as they then influence more people who value your product. The agoge sequence is a combination of cold-calling, cold-emailing, and working your way up the corporate ladder

The agoge definition is "Ancient Spartan (Greek) training and hazing process for young boys to turn them into soldiers". Today we're going to talk about a different kind of Agoge, one that's hopefully done in fun and can be used to land you meetings with the largest eCommerce companies in the world.

This is an Agoge aimed at helping founders and sales reps get as much experience as possible as quickly as possible, by maintaining a laser focus on their #1 goal. The goal will need to be articulated before this process starts, but it should revolve around a number of meetings held / opportunities pursued.

This article does not include a template for what a Sales Cadence looks like, because every company has needs and would approach things differently.

The idea behind using a sales cadence is to have something repeatable that you can use with every prospect so that you are being as effective as possible. This may mean spending less time on prospects who don't want what you're offering and more time with prospects who do.

Yes, the process may take longer this way but it means you will be getting significantly better results for less effort (which is always a good thing).

This approach also has the advantage of making things easier to track and therefore helping everyone involved feel like they're doing their part effectively (and making it easy for management to hold people accountable).

A focused effort is a good way to work on a project that might not be your primary job. You can use this time to get better at sales or whatever else you want while still being able to log hours and have it count towards your quota.

Scalability means the system will continue to work for an increasing number of people, which in our case would be more new customers. If done right, each new customer should reduce the cost per acquisition for everyone involved so it's a win-win situation. 

This process of using a sales cadence is what I did when trying to land meetings with some of the largest eCommerce companies in the world (11 of them). Some of them responded favorably and we ended up doing business together.

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Here's the actual email sequence I used:‍

Subject: How would you like to work with a team that does $1 Million+ in revenue every month?

Hey ____,

I'm writing because we've worked closely with companies like _______ and done very well for them. It seemed like there might be an opportunity here, but before we jump into anything too quickly I wanted to start off with some brief calls just to see what they're looking for and whether or not they'd be open to discussing things further. Would it be alright if I reached out and sent over my thoughts on what they're looking for? If so, can you let me know a good time to reach out either today or later this week?

Thanks so much for your help and I look forward to hearing back!

- ____

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This was the initial email. It's short and simple because we wanted to keep things moving quickly. Emails that take too long to write may start off as a good idea but end up getting cut off before they're ever sent (and then you've lost whatever momentum you had going for you). With this, you must be understanding the agoge definition and how to use it well.

After waiting a few days without hearing back, I'd send this follow-up:

"Hey _____,

I know it's been a while now since my last message but I wanted to make sure no emails got lost in the shuffle and provide an update: _______ is still interested and looking at other similar possibilities (they haven't decided on anything yet). I wanted to see if there was a date and time when you'd be available for me to chat with you on the phone so that I could more quickly get their questions answered. If it would work, can you let me know what days are best for you this week?

Thanks again!

- ____"

If they were not yet ready to talk on the phone, we went with another email instead:

"Hey _____,

I've done some research on what _______ is looking for automated solutions like ours that integrate into their existing software. It sounds like something that might work out but before moving forward too quickly I wanted to make sure everything got discussed in detail over the phone. Is there any good date and time when you'd be available next week to chat on the phone?

Thanks so much!

- ____"

We continued with this process until we finally got someone who was ready for a call. Once they were, I called them within 15 minutes of getting their email (unless it was too late in the day at that point).

During the call, I'd explain what our product does and answer any questions they might have had about how exactly it would integrate into their existing software. If they were still interested after the call ended, we scheduled another one for later that same day or early the following morning so we could go over things again.

If they said no during the initial call but wanted to keep us in consideration, I'd send the next email:

"Hey _____,

It seems like we might not be a good fit for what _______ is looking for right now. I wanted to thank you for spending some time on the phone with me and sharing my thoughts on how we could potentially work together in the future. How frequently do you review new solutions similar to ours? Is there any chance that if we kept you up to date every few months (unless something better came along) that they would still be an opportunity? Let me know either way and thanks again!

- ____"

And of course, I'd follow up with this person later on down the line when we did have a better solution. Then it would go something like this:

"Hey _____,

I know it's been over 6 months since our last call but wanted to reach out and see if there might be any interest in what we've built since then. We updated the software with new features like ______ (add value here) that I think you would definitely be interested in. Can you let me know if there is still some time available early next week to chat via phone? Thanks!

- ____"

This way, instead of hearing 'no', they're hearing 'yes' every few months which clearly makes them more likely to take your call when you actually do have something worth talking about. If they never got back to us after saying no, we'd move on to another prospect.

One of the most impactful things you can do to land meetings with big eCommerce companies is to create a sales cadence. It's something that will make prospecting faster, easier, and more scalable for your SDRs (Sales Development Representatives).

The goal of the cadence is to quickly but politely move past gatekeepers/SDRs straight into speaking with decision-makers at these companies until they eventually end up in front of an executive. 

If your SDRs are constantly getting cut off by lower-level folks at large companies while trying to reach senior decision-makers, it'll be tough to scale your inbound efforts. Many of these people don't even know who they're talking to when they pick up the phone and start asking questions which prevent the SDRs from moving forward in the process. It's one reason we created this template for SDRs so they can efficiently pass through gatekeepers and get straight to an actual decision-maker.

A sales cadence is repeated series of actions with a specific goal or outcome in mind. This can oftentimes be used towards the beginning of your prospecting and lead qualifying stages by making outreach more efficient, effective, and scalable. Here's how Agoge uses a cadence to quickly get in front of 11 senior executives at the largest eCommerce companies in the world.

Advantages of a Sales Cadence

Many advantages come from using a sales cadence, but here's what Agoge sequence specifically uses it for:

Focused Effort 

Getting past gatekeepers and decision-makers is no easy task, so you'll need to use every advantage you can get. Having a series of emails and phone calls scheduled throughout the day will keep your SDRs efficient with their time while also providing the structure, which makes training new hires much simpler.

In order to accommodate this structured flow of communication, I had my SDRs set up 1 hour daily meetings where they would review their previous day's cadence as well as plan out their next day's. This way, we always knew what type of outreach we were going to do and who we were going after before even starting our day which made our process much more efficient. 

Quicker Results

One reason this cadence works so well at quickly getting past gatekeepers and decision-makers is that it's incredibly easy to track and refine based on response rates, call & email success %s, etc. For example, let's say you're trying to set up a meeting with an executive at Apple (one of the largest eCommerce companies in the world) but your SDRs aren't able to get through the gatekeeper/SDR level effectively.

By tracking this closely, you'll quickly see whether the cadence is effective in getting past this level or if it's not. If that's the case, then you can easily find a new cadence that is more successful. 

Scalability

Think about how much easier your life will be when you're able to set up meetings with senior executives at massive eCommerce companies simply because of a structured outreach process like agoge sequence.

This same process can be used for multiple verticals and industries so once perfected, it'll allow you to scale your efforts substantially while also saving time on training new reps on what type of outreach to do and who they should be reaching out to.

This is a much more effective approach than trying to sell from the start and it has been proven time and again in companies like Facebook, Amazon, Google, and others who have all developed their products in this way for this very reason - it works.

How to use Sales Cadence to Land Meetings with 11 of the Largest eCommerce Players in the World?

Now, use a sales cadence to build your business from scratch selling to small businesses anywhere in the world without spending a cent on paid marketing or advertising. In fact, you might even land meetings with 11 of the largest e-commerce companies in the world by following this simple process:

Once the Agoge sequence is determined based on your #1 goal, we will break that down into five phases. 

Phase 1: Self Awareness and Preparation

This phase is very simple than the following ones. Here all you must focus is on the personal inventory, preparation of materials, and planning for meetings. Once this is accurately chalked out, you can move ahead to the next phase!

Phase 2: Building Your Sales Cadence

Once you've identified your #1 goal, break that down into five phases to make it easier to track progress. 

Once the sequence is determined, it should be easy to figure out what needs to come next. It's important to emphasize that this Sales Cadence is about making countless little decisions every day that will help you accomplish your larger goal of getting meetings with large companies. Even the smallest wins are starting points for greater success because they demonstrate consistent effort.

A good analogy would be running a marathon. You don't just wake up one morning and decide to go run 26 miles; planning is required so you choose things like appropriate footwear, bring water/snacks, map out where certain refreshment points are located, etc... Doing these things might seem like tedious, unimportant details, but they can make all the difference in your performance.

Phase 3: Scaling the Agoge Sequence

Once you've completed one or two rounds of the Agoge sequence, you should be able to start getting meetings with companies on your target list. At this point, it's time for execution, so I won't go into specifics about what needs to happen during this phase, but that doesn't mean there aren't things you can do to increase your odds of success.  

Phase 4: Refining Your Sales Cadence / Doubling Down on Success 

At this point, you should be getting enough meetings that some stick, but not enough to reach your goals. This is where you need to focus on refinement of the process by figuring out what's working and what's not. Each meeting that doesn't result in a closed deal needs to be seen as an opportunity for improvement, which can then be feedback into the Agoge sequence (or other processes).

Phase 5: Acting Like a Professional Salesperson Even If You Aren't One Yet

This sequence is obviously not an end-all-be-all approach to sales. There are all kinds of moving parts that come into play when it comes to closing deals, so you'll need to assemble a team with all the requisite skills if you want to scale things effectively.

A good place to start would be by reaching out to someone who works in a relevant position at a company on your target list. Offer them a finder's fee for helping you land meetings and then use their insight as a sounding board for refining your Sales Cadence. 

Where most founders fail in their dealings with large companies is communicating ROI properly during the initial conversation, which results in an email thread with no activity from there on out. By simply setting a milestone for what you need from them, coupled with a general timeframe, you can generate interest and ensure your emails don't go ignored.

The trick is to come across as the kind of person/company they would want to do business with. It's pretty easy to do if you have a good product because companies simply love selling stuff people want to buy; it feels good and results in positive feedback loops that lead towards exponential growth.

Once you've completed your sequence "workout" (been through these five phases), it's time to scale up. Take anything you learned or experienced in this process and use it to help with getting 10 more meetings from the same list of people during phase 5. From there, scale things even further by doubling down on the 10 meetings you got during phase 5. Rinse and repeat until you're successful (defined as meeting your revenue goals).