Welcome to the GTM Launchpad newsletter! Each week I will share a sales play to help you grow your business, level up your sales game and succeed in the trenches

AI is coming for your outbound motion whether you’re ready or not
Every week I see SDRs plugging ChatGPT into their workflows and calling it “innovation”

But here’s the truth: tools don’t book meetings

Reps do

AI can amplify what works or it can accelerate failure
The difference? How you use it

This issue I’ll break down

👉 Where AI actually helps in outbound
👉 The traps that kill your pipeline
👉 How to test AI without burning your domain or sounding like a robot

Let’s dive in 👇

Sponsor of the Week - Lemlist (But Real Talk)

I’ve been putting Lemlist through the wringer these past few weeks

Here’s what I love →

• LinkedIn → Lemlist in seconds
  I can run a Sales Nav search, click a button and boom contacts are inside a campaign. No CSV headaches, no Zapier gymnastics 😎
  

• Profile-to-Campaign flow
  I’m literally adding prospects to sequences straight from their LinkedIn profiles. It feels like cheating (in the best way)
  

• Data that actually hits
  I expected garbage enrichment. What I’m seeing? Solid data accuracy and clean pushes into active campaigns
  

• Small team friendly
  I don’t have 20 ops people. Lemlist makes it stupid simple for me and Leal to run big boy outbound plays without enterprise overhead

Here’s a snapshot from my campaigns right now

• One sequence hit 51.6% reach rate + 15.9% replies (not vanity opens, actual conversations)

• Another pulled 21.8% LinkedIn acceptance from a cold push

• and I’m still just scratching the surface

👉 If you’re running outbound and want to scale LinkedIn + email in one smooth motion Lemlist is worth a serious look

Check it out here: Lemlist

(PS: if you do end up trying it DM me I’ll share the prompts + sequences I’ve been testing so you can skip the trial-and-error)

What Works vs. What Kills

So what’s real?

✅ Personalization at Scale
AI can scrape LinkedIn, websites and news feeds to pull insights. Use it to tailor intros and hooks that feel researched - not robotic

Example: One of our Accelerator teams used AI to pull recent press mentions into cold email openers. Instead of “I help companies like yours…” they were writing “Saw your team just raised $15M congrats! Curious how you’re scaling SDR coverage during the expansion.” Reply rates doubled

✅ Conversation Coaching
AI can break down call recordings, flag patterns and help SDRs level up faster than old school ride alongs

Example: We ran call coaching for a team last month. AI flagged that one rep said “um” 27 times in a 4 minute pitch 😱 Once the rep became aware they cut it down by half in two weeks and their talk time dropped by 30%. More room for the prospect to talk more deals advanced

✅ Efficiency Boosts
Summaries, drafts, list cleanup… let AI handle the grunt work so reps can focus on conversations

Example: A client SDR team shaved 4 hours a week per rep just by auto-summarizing their call notes and syncing them to CRM. That’s 4 extra hours back for actual selling

And the traps

❌ Over Automation
AI blasting equals spam blasting. When every sentence screams “template” you lose trust

❌ Data Decay
Garbage in, garbage out. If your lists are stale AI just helps you fail faster

❌ False Confidence
AI writes with authority even when it’s wrong. Always fact check before hitting send

👉 The Winning Formula: Treat AI as your copilot not your replacement. Reps who marry AI efficiency with human curiosity will out-sell everyone else

🔥 Outbound Underground Update (Labor Day Special)

Quick plug because this is important

The Outbound Underground™ is now live
Think of it as your team’s fractional enablement partner

Inside you get

• Weekly live cold call office hours + email tear-downs

• A Slack vault of templates, scripts and frameworks

• Tech perks (ConnectandSell, Expandi, Sybill, video tools, AI assistants)

• A crew of 100+ SDRs and AEs sharpening iron with iron

Normally $50/month per rep

💥 Labor Day Special: Lock in your reps for just $45/month (or $450/year) if you join this week

Get your team plugged into the only sales community built for outbound killers

→ Join The Outbound Underground

Explore. Engage. Evolve.

🎥 Video of the Week - How To Get 5X More Sales Meetings Using AI
A breakdown of how one team scaled meetings by 5X without burning their lists. Proof that smart AI = pipeline

📚 Book of the Week: Tech-Powered Sales by Justin Michael & Tony Hughes
Still one of the best guides on blending AI + human selling without losing your edge

🤑 Bonus Sales Tactic: The AI AB Test

Here’s a challenge for your team this week:

1. Take a cold email you already send.

2. Use AI to create 3 fresh variations

3. Run an AB test (original vs. AI versions)

4. Track reply rate → meetings booked → opps created

Example: One of our clients ran this exact experiment with their SDR team. Their baseline email was getting ~2% replies. The AI generated variations lifted one version to 6% replies! 3x more meetings booked that week

But here’s the kicker the winning prompt included a custom hook per account (funding round, job posting or product launch)

The AI only “generic” version tanked

👉 Takeaway: AI can give you a lift but only when paired with relevance. Use it to sharpen not shortcut

Final Thought

AI isn’t here to replace SDRs
Its here to replace the boring parts of being an SDR

Reps who use AI to research faster, prep smarter and connect deeper will bury the ones who try to outsource their personality to a prompt

👊 Keep selling smart not lazy

Thanks for reading. See you again next week at 8 am MST!

- Tom Slocum ✌️

Step Into The Lab

If your outbound pipeline is stuck we fix that

The SD Lab works with founders, sales leaders and enablement pros to install outbound systems that actually generate pipeline

Here’s how we help teams level up fast 👇

🚀 The Revenue Accelerator

2 to 12 week outbound consulting sprints for B2B orgs with 10–20+ reps

✅ Lift SQLs by 20–30%
✅ Coach reps with real call reviews + AI scorecards
✅ Rebuild outbound messaging + targeting
✅ Deliver a scalable system your team can own

👉 Best for: Series A-B SaaS orgs, new SDR teams, stalled pipeline

📓 Custom Sales Playbooks

4 to 8 week builds of cold call flows, email copy, objection handling and targeting strategy

You bring the ICP, we build the message and motion
Final asset = plug-and-play playbook your team can use or scale

👉 Best for: founders, enablement leaders, agencies building outbound

🎯 Targeted Workshops + Power Hours

Live tactical sessions for your team. No fluff, just results

💥 Cold call clinics
💥 Email teardown sessions
💥 Social selling & DM strategy
💥 SDR workflow optimization

👉 Best for: fast enablement, rep upskilling, team offsites or new hire ramp

🧠 Outbound Underground

Our private Slack community for reps & rising sellers

🔓 Weekly office hours
🔓 Tech tool perks
🔓 Peer feedback, templates and real talk

🎟️ Join here » — free & paid options available

Curious what this could look like for your org?
Book a 20 min strategy chat no pitch, just clarity 👇

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