Hey {{first_name}}
Ashley asked me a question last week that made me feel a bit stupid.
"What actually makes our outbound work?"
I knew the answer. Or at least I thought I did.
But when I tried to explain it properly, I realised I'd never actually broken it down.
Joe Testouri
The Question That Made Me Feel Stupid
So I sat down and went through everything we consistently do across our campaigns.
Turns out we'd built the system. We'd just never written it down.
No magic AI agent. No secret email template. Just the fundamentals, done properly and consistently, at the same time.
A few of the ones that matter most:
Define the ICP down to the attribute, not just "insurance" or "advisory"
Score every lead before it's touched, not on gut feel
Reply within the hour, not the day
Track pipeline value, not activity volume
Re-engage non-responders at day 7, not day 30
Make the offer outcome-led, not feature-led
Predictable pipeline rarely comes from one clever tactic. It comes from getting a lot of small things right at the same time, consistently, whether or not you've ever written them down.
The Messy Middle
I recorded a podcast episode last week with Jennifer Scott, co-founder of Higher Effect. Her firm handles bookkeeping, payroll, HR and recruiting for owner-operators, and she's spent a lot of time inside businesses stuck between £1m and £5m.
She's got a name for that stretch. The Messy Middle.
In the early days, a founder has full visibility. They know the revenue, the expenses, who's doing what. As the business grows, that proximity erodes, and founders end up stuck making minor twenty pound decisions instead of running the business.
Her point landed hard. Clean financials and proper systems aren't just about tax season. They're what let you secure a loan at a decent rate, plan an exit three to five years out, or simply know what's actually going on inside your own company.
She also talked about what she calls catastrophic growth, scaling sales faster than your operations can support it. I've lived a version of that myself.
There was a point where I deliberately slowed things down to fix our systems before pushing growth again. It doubled our customer lifetime value and gave us something to actually scale.
Same idea as Ashley's question, really. You can be doing the work and still not know exactly why it's working.
🎧 Full episode here: EP #128 — Jennifer Scott, The $1M to $5M Gap Has a Name. It's Called the Messy Middle
Partners Pipeline
Here's what actually happened in our clients' pipelines this week, running on the same fundamentals we're talking about.
One client saw 8 leads engaging and 5 meetings booked, another solid week across both channels
Another landed 10 meetings booked from just 6 engaged leads, conversations converting exceptionally well
Written down or not, the system works when the fundamentals are actually followed.
10 meetings booked
5 meetings booked
If you've got a system that's working but you've never actually written it down, or a business that's outgrown your visibility into it, happy to talk it through.
Talk soon,
Joe Testouri
Founder, Bespoke Agency | Host, Grappling Growth Podcast
Support A Friend
Know someone who's looking to grow their business?
Refer them to us and you'll get $500 cash, paid out once they sign on as a client.
