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

Q3’s in the red zone. If you’re leading outbound this is not the week to spin up “new ideas”

This is the week to focus the team, strip out noise and lock in 3 repeatable plays that create momentum fast

I’ve carried a bag, run SDR teams and owned the number so if I were in your chair right now here’s exactly how I’d run the next 5 days 👇

Executive Summary (drop this straight into Slack)

• Run 3 plays: Re-engage, Value Nugget, Social Nudge

• Cadence: 30 min kickoff Mon, 15 min standups Tue–Thu, 20 min retro Fri

• Owner: SDR Leader (you) + AE partners (conversion)

• Weekly KPIs (team-level)

  • Re-engage replies: 8–12% | Positive mix: 25–35%

  • Value-nugget replies: 5–8%

  • Social accepts: 30–40% | DM replies: 10–15%

  • New meetings set: ≥1 per rep | Show rate: ≥70%

Kickoff Talk Track (say this to your team Monday AM)

“Alright crew Q3’s in the red zone. We’re not adding new plays this week we’re doubling down on three that win: ee-engage, value nuggets and social nudges

Here’s the bar

• Re-engage replies: 8–12%

• Value-nugget replies: 5–8%

• Social nudges: 30–40% accept, 10–15% replies

• Each rep: ≥1 new meeting set

Stay disciplined
Strip out the noise

If you feel stuck bring it to standup we’ll solve it together. Let’s finish Q3 strong and roll clean into Q4”

👉 Now let’s break down each play with scripts, guardrails and the KPIs I’d track if I were running your team this week👇

Sponsor of the Week - Smartlead

Quiet truth from my Smartlead run 👇

I ran a real campaign with Smartlead (inviting sellers into my community)
Not a demo, not cherry picked

Here’s what happened

• 7,015 leads contacted

• 82 replies (1.17%)

• 19 positives (23% of replies)

Not flashy numbers but nearly 1 in 4 replies turned into real conversations
That’s pipeline

What actually moved the needle

• Infrastructure > dopamine → multiple domains + warmed inboxes, 30–40 sends/day

• Short sequences → 2/3 touches max exit fast if no fit

• Context > clever → “Saw you’re hiring 5 SDRs” beats “hope you’re well”

• Light CTAs → “Worth a quick look?” not “30 minutes?”

• No fake personalization → just relevance and respect

👉 Who should care?

• Sales leaders with 5–15 SDRs who want fewer fires and cleaner handoffs

• Founders/lean teams who need multichannel + deliverability without duct tape

Smartlead gave me the scaffolding to scale safely
The rest was writing like a human

If you’re pressure testing tools before Q4 spin up a trial and measure replies and meetings not opens

👉 smartlead.ai

The Three Plays

You don’t need 15 new ideas right now
You need 3 plays your team can run on repeat this week

Here’s how I’d set it up if I were in your chair

1️⃣ Re-engage (fastest path to meetings)

Objective: Turn timing “no’s” + ghosts into Q4 convos
Targets: Stalled opps from Jan-July, past evals, warm threads

Messaging (swipe this)

• Email/DM: “Hey [Name] timing might’ve been off when we last spoke about [topic]. Worth another look for Q4 or should I check back later?”
  

• Call: “Quick one back in [month] we discussed [X]. Is Q4 a better window or still bad timing?”

Guardrails: Don’t write novels. Keep it strictly timing based
KPI: 8–12% reply rate with 25–35% positive/deferrable

Leader move

• Pull 30 accounts per rep (last-touch >45 days, no active opp)

• Record a 90 sec Sendspark modeling tone + pacing

• Pair SDRs with AEs for quick handoffs (Slack channel: #reengage-q3)

2️⃣ Value Nugget (earn the convo)

Objective: Win attention with one useful insight not a pitch
Targets: Net-new ICP + stale threads

Messaging (keep it under 70 words)
“Noticed [company] is [initiative]. Teams we help saw [micro outcome] by [one-liner tactic]. Worth a 10 min pressure test for Q4 planning?”

Guardrails: One nugget, no decks, light CTA (“worth a look?”)
KPI: 5–8% replies - short, curious notes you can flip into calls

Leader move

• Publish a 1-pager with 5 role-specific nuggets + 3 approved CTAs

• Spot coach 3 reps live on brevity. Cut anything over 70 words

• Source nuggets from CS call notes, Gong snippets, analyst reports

3️⃣ Social Nudge (warm → DM → meeting)

Objective: Build familiarity, then ask
Targets: ICP leaders posting on LinkedIn

Flow

• Day 1 (comment): Add a useful angle on their post. No “great post!” drive bys

• Day 2 (connect): “Saw your note on [topic] curious how you’re approaching [X] for Q4”

• Day 4 (DM): “On your [topic] post quick angle we’re seeing [one-liner]. If helpful I can show the 10-min version this week”

Guardrails: Don’t pitch in the comment. Keep DMs to one scroll
KPI: 30–40% accepts, 10–15% DM replies

Leader move

• Share 3 sample comments + 3 DMs in your voice

• Assign 10 ICP accounts per rep to warm. Track in a simple sheet

• Coach reps: if someone bites jump to a call fast. Don’t linger in the inbox

Cadence for You

• Mon (30m): Kickoff. Demo one play live. Set micro-goals per rep

• Tue–Thu (15m): Standups. Each rep shares 1 win + 1 block. Rewrite 1 message live

• Fri (20m): Retro. Review KPIs. Capture 3 keepers, 2 kills. Lock what rolls into Q4

👉 Run these 3 plays with discipline and you’ll leave Q3 cleaner, sharper and rolling momentum straight into October

Explore. Engage. Evolve.

🎥 Video of the Week: 10 Outbound Sales Hot Takes – What Actually Works in 2025?

Outbound isn’t dead bad outbound is. This session breaks down 10 hot takes on what’s actually working in 2025

👉 One gem I loved - FOMO based messaging beats problem based messaging. Try weaving that into your value nugget play this week

📚 Book of the Week: Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount
Still the #1 reminder that prospecting discipline > random bursts of activity.
Don’t worship volume use it to reinforce daily focus blocks for your reps. Pair it with your social nudge play and watch pipeline consistency go up

⚙️ Evolve habit
Close each day with a 5 min team audit

• Did we run all 3 plays?

• Who needs coaching tomorrow?

• Which nugget/comment hit hardest (double down)?

The best leaders don’t just set plays they refine them in real time 🤙

💬 Your Turn: If you test one of these hot takes or habits this week hit reply and let me know how it landed. I might feature your play (and results) in next week’s issue

🤑 Bonus Sales Tactics (quick wins for this week)

1. 10-account re-engage sprint

• Assign 10 “timing stalled” accounts per rep

• Sequence: 1 timing email + 3 calls

• Goal: 2 convos → 1 meeting

• Coaching angle: Listen for reps slipping into “pitch mode.” Keep it strictly timing based

2. One-Insight Challenge

• Have each rep send 5 net new outreach emails

• Rule: max 70 words must contain 1 clear insight

• Goal: 1–2 replies you can convert live

• Coaching angle: Review emails for clutter. Kill anything over 70 words. The insight should pop in one scroll

3. Micro Social Warmup

• Each rep comments meaningfully on 3 ICP posts per day

• After 3 touches send a short DM

• Goal: 1 DM reply for every 3 DMs sent

• Coaching angle: Spot check comments. If they read like “nice post” coach reps to add a useful angle

🌐 Outbound Underground Plug

We just crossed 100+ members in 4 weeks inside Outbound Underground 🚀

What’s happening in there

• Managers are dropping live call recordings for feedback

• SDRs are practicing objections and role plays

• Leaders are trading playbooks + sharpening their top-of-funnel motion

and we’ve got a mini tech enablement kit for members: ConnectAndSell, Sybill, Expandi, Sendspark with Apollo + Leadlabs joining this week

👉 If you’ve got reps who need more live reps or you want to level up your own coaching game send them my way. It’s free to join or $50/month ($500/year for founding members)

🔗 Join here: thesdlab.com/outboundunderground

Final Thought

Quarter end isn’t about heroics. It’s about discipline

The leaders who win aren’t the ones throwing Hail Marys they’re the ones who strip out noise, run a few simple plays with precision and hold the line on standards

Do that this week and you won’t just close Q3 strong… you’ll roll into Q4 already moving with momentum 💪 

💬 If you run one of these plays hit reply and let me know how it landed I might feature your team in next week’s issue

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

- Tom Slocum ✌️

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

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