Outbound sales: how to win new B2B customers in 2026

Short answer: outbound sales means you make the first contact with potential customers instead of waiting for them to come to you, by phone, email, LinkedIn or in person. It still works well in B2B, as long as the contact is targeted, personal and relevant to the recipient. In the UK, emailing limited companies does not need prior consent, but sole traders do, and business calls must be screened against both the TPS and the Corporate TPS.

Does outbound sales still work?

Yes, but not as it used to. Buyers do much of their research alone before speaking to a salesperson, so whoever reaches them early with something relevant has an advantage. In a RAIN Group study, 82 percent of buyers said they had accepted meetings with sellers who reached out to them (RAIN Group). The study is from 2018, but the pattern holds today as outreach becomes more frequent and worse: the relevant message stands out.

Outbound sales is also called outbound prospecting, cold outreach or new business development. Here we focus on selling to businesses.

The three channels

Phone

The phone is the fastest route to a real conversation. Gong analysed more than 90,000 cold calls and found successful calls were longer on average, 5 minutes 50 seconds against 3 minutes 14 seconds. Stating the reason for the call straight away doubled the success rate, while asking "is this a bad time?" led to 40 percent fewer meetings booked (Gong).

Email

Email scales and gives the recipient time to think. According to Instantly, the average reply rate for cold emails was 3.4 percent in 2025, and the top ten percent got replies on at least 10.7 percent. 58 percent of replies came on the first email (Instantly). The figures come from an email tool's own data and should be read as a guide.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn suits warming up a contact and reaching decision-makers who do not answer emails. LinkedIn limits how many connection requests you can send but does not publish an exact number. Go over it and your account is temporarily restricted, usually for up to a week (LinkedIn). Read more about LinkedIn lead generation.

The channels work best together: an email, a LinkedIn connection request and a call a few days later.

What does UK law say?

This is a simplified summary, not legal advice.

Email under PECR

• Limited companies, LLPs and other corporate bodies are "corporate subscribers". The PECR rule on marketing by email and text does not apply to them, so you can email staff at their work addresses without prior consent (ICO).
• Sole traders and most partnerships are treated as individuals, so they need consent or the soft opt-in for existing customers (ICO).
• Every message must say who you are and give a valid address to opt out, and you must respect opt-outs (ICO).

Phone

• You must not make marketing calls to numbers registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) or the Corporate TPS (CTPS) unless the person has consented. For B2B calls, the ICO says you need to screen against both registers, because sole traders register with the TPS and companies with the CTPS (ICO, TPS).
• Your number, or an alternative contact number, must be displayed to the person you call (ICO).

UK GDPR

UK GDPR still applies whenever you process people's names and contact details, even in B2B (ICO). The ICO confirms that direct marketing can be a legitimate interest in some cases, but you must apply its three-part test and comply with the other marketing laws (ICO). Document the assessment and always honour objections.

The stakes have risen. Under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, the ICO can now issue fines of up to £17.5 million or 4 percent of global turnover under PECR (ICO). In August 2026 it fined one company £190,000 for more than 750,000 unsolicited calls to TPS-registered numbers (ICO).

Technical rules for email

Since February 2024, Google has required senders to have SPF or DKIM and keep spam rates below 0.3 percent. Anyone sending more than 5,000 emails a day also needs DMARC and one-click unsubscribe (Google Workspace Help).

How to do it, step by step

1. Pick a narrow audience. Industry, size, role and location. Better 200 right companies than 2,000 roughly right ones.
2. Find a reason to get in touch. A new office, a hire, a change in regulation or a problem typical of the industry.
3. Keep it short and personal. Three to five sentences: why them, what you can help with, and one simple question.
4. Ask for something small. "Is this relevant for you?" gets more replies than "Can we book 45 minutes?".
5. Follow up two or three times with something new each time, then stop.
6. Measure and adjust. Reply rate, share of positive replies and meetings booked, by audience and message.
7. Have a plan for replies. Anyone who says yes should get a quick, simple route to a meeting. Read more about appointment setting.

Two examples from our projects

ClimateHero, a climate tech company, wanted to reach CEOs and sustainability leads. Two separate campaigns with different messages gave 119 replies from 1,634 emails, a 7.3 percent reply rate, and ten qualified meetings without spending anything on ads.

TR Producciones, a production company, wanted to grow in Colombia and Spain. Targeted outreach to marketing directors and communications managers led, in the second month, to a six-month contract worth €72,000.

What both had in common: a narrow audience, a separate message per role and ongoing tests of subject lines and wording. More on the method on our cold email page.

Common mistakes

• The same email to everyone. The recipient notices immediately.
• Talking about yourself. Start with their situation, not your company.
• Asking too much too soon. A meeting is a big step for someone who does not know you.
• Bought lists without checks. Wrong people, sole traders without consent and bouncing addresses damage both results and sender reputation.
• No follow-up. Many replies only come after the second or third contact.