6 Jul 2025
📘 How to Sell Without Slowing Down Delivery
Part 1 of 3. Learn how to define and discover the right targets so every outbound effort starts from solid ground.
Michael U
Founder @ Owtbnd
You might be delivering cutting-edge transformation - cloud, digital, AI - but under the hood, many consultancies are still running like it’s 2009.
Zero Marketing Stack.
Outdated CMSs.
Messy spreadsheets.
Untouched CRMs
And when it comes to sales and lead gen? The same story.
No clear system for targeting, ICPs are vague and broad.
Wasting time chasing bad-fit leads.
Lists built without buying signals in mind.
Messaging misses actual business priorities.
Lists are siloed & scattered across business units.
Pipeline dries up mid-delivery cycle or during bids.
But here’s the thing, it’s not your fault.
When delivery comes first (as it should), outbound gets deprioritised. And because you’re often selling large-scale projects - not £99/month software - the cost of poor targeting compounds quickly.
This playbook is here to help fix that, starting from the foundation:
If you don’t know exactly who you’re selling to, you’ll waste time, burn goodwill, and stall growth.
So in Part 1, we’ll help you build a lead list that actually means something:
Scope your ICP like a delivery project — not a guess
Enrich and score leads using real signals, not job titles
Most lead lists are scraped — either via Apollo, Sales Nav, or manually by w
Scope Your ICP Like You Scope a Project
As a marketer by trade, I’ve always believed that any activity where your work meets the eyes of others is a campaign, and no campaign succeeds unless you’re crystal clear on who it’s for.
This matters even more for consultancies. You're not selling a £99/month SaaS tool. You're asking organisations to commit tens or hundreds of thousands - sometimes millions - to long-term transformation projects. These aren’t quick wins. Sales cycles stretch from months to years. Decisions involve multiple stakeholders, layers of trust, and timing.
So when the stakes are that high, your greatest advantage is knowledge - and that starts with a defined, aligned, and insight-driven Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
The mistake most consultancies make? They default to broad ICPs like “public sector CIOs” or “banks with legacy infrastructure.” That’s not enough. You need to treat your ICP the same way you’d scope a client project: specific, evidence-based, and mapped to your actual delivery strengths.
Here’s how to break it down:
What does a great-fit org actually look like?
→ Think beyond surface-level attributes, include industry, size, digital maturity, internal change appetite, procurement structure.
Why are they your ICP?
→ Not just based on sector, but behaviour. Are they actively hiring, consolidating systems, expanding sites, or launching initiatives that play to your strengths?
What disqualifies a company - even if they look good?
→ Wrong tech stack, long procurement freezes, low operational complexity, no local presence.
What triggers urgency?
→ Signals like new leadership, mandates for change, funding cycles, RFPs issued, or post-merger transitions.
Who’s involved in the decision?
→ Remember: your champion ≠ your buyer ≠ your blocker. Map the full cast.
Enrich and Prioritise for Timely Outreach
Most lead lists are scraped - either via Apollo, Sales Nav, or manually by whoever’s on the bench this month.
The issue? Most teams stop there. They export, upload, and think the job’s done.
But the truth is, scraping is just discovery. The real value comes after: enrichment.
What is enrichment? Enrichment is the process of adding useful, relevant, and decision-making data to your raw lead list. It’s how you move from “just a title” to “this person is actively experiencing X, and we know why they’re worth talking to.”
What data should you enrich with? Use your ICP definition as your filter:
Fit Traits
Disqualifiers
Buying Signals
Then what? Build a basic scoring system:
+1 for each fit trait
-1 for disqualifiers
+3 for live signals
This lets you split your list into:
Ignore → Doesn’t fit, no signal
Warm → Fits, but no urgency
Hot → Fits + real signal
How to actually do it? You can do this manually - which is painful, but educational.
Or, use tools:
Clay
for enrichment and real-time signal detection
Airtable
to clean, structure, and score the list automatically
The result? You don’t just get a database. You get a prioritisation engine.
Map your real ICP
Run a session with your team and define what good-fit really means - not just by title or sector, but by structure, signals, blockers, and stage.
Audit your existing lists
Review your lead lists. How many actually match your new ICP? How many would you disqualify today?
Set up enrichment
We handle targeting, signals, and messaging, so you stay visible without hiring SDRs or extra tools.
We handle targeting, signals, and messaging, so you stay visible without hiring SDRs or extra tools.
What to Expect in Part 2
📘 Build Outreach That Feels Timed, Not Templated
Now that your lead list is enriched and prioritised, it’s time to activate it.
In Part 2, we’ll cover:
Which buying signals matter most for consultancies
How to time outreach based on urgency, not guesswork
Why relevance beats personalisation - and how to prove it
How to structure your messaging to land with decision-makers
This next edition is all about building signal-timed outreach flows that match your buyer’s moment, without relying on mass spam.