EdTech Inbound-Led Outbound Readiness Checklist

Inbound-Led Outbound is about aligning sales and marketing to feed a healthy, relevant, and predictable pipeline.

While marketing creates demand, the tech stack identifies, enriches, and contextualizes accounts that haven’t submitted a form - but are warm - so SDRs can start building relationships.

All independent of leads.

The moment you get a lead, it might already be too late.

Your solution can’t be a commodity.
Your brand must be seen as a strategic partner.

It’s a relationship and trust-based process.

THE QUESTION IS:

Are you ready to:

• Move marketing from a cost center to a revenue center?

• Turn a long sales cycle into an advantage?

• Align sales and marketing under the same goals?

• Work together to influence key accounts?

• Bring buying groups on board?

Let’s evaluate:

1. Is your Annual Contract Value (ACV) over $35k?

Inbound-Led Outbound, as the name implies, aims to warm accounts for outreach.
Your topline revenue needs to support this approach.

If your market isn’t overly saturated, a $20k ACV can still sustain the program.

2. Is your average Sales Cycle longer than 6 months?

Typically, the longer the sales cycle and buying journey, the more effective Inbound-Led Outbound will be.

This is because accounts will flag themselves - indicating they have the problem you solve - early in the process.

Instead of waiting for them to enter the market, the program introduces them to the market and positions you as the solution from the start.

3. Does the Buying Process involve Multiple Stakeholders?

Does your solution need buy-in from multiple departments, senior roles, or users?

If yes, that’s great news!

Inbound-Led Outbound re-targets company-wide accounts, building trust across stakeholders.

Pair this with role-specific digital assets, and the combination is a game-changer.

4. Is the Buying Process Relationship-Intensive?

If you answered yes to the previous question, you’ll likely answer yes here too.

Inbound-Led Outbound nurtures engaging accounts so that when your SDRs reach out, it’s not a cold, out-of-the-blue call.

Not only will the contacts already be aware of your solution, but the program will also provide SDRs with meaningful insights for starting conversations - bringing us to the next point.

5. Do you already have content channels in place?

While this isn’t a dealbreaker, having content channels like blogs, demand-gen articles, or social posts can accelerate the entire process.

If you don’t have them, they can be created as part of the program.

Content is critical - not just for generating demand but for creating contextualization.

Your CRM and SDRs will receive accounts and contacts along with insights such as:

• What they’ve been reading

• How many times they’ve visited your website

• Interactions with digital assets

• Form submissions

In addition to enriched work emails, mobile numbers, and LinkedIn profiles, this creates a treasure trove for SDRs to find common ground when reaching out.

6. Do you have SDRs? Do they have capacity for scalable outreach?

The tech stack supporting Inbound-Led Outbound integrates seamlessly with most tools.

Your SDRs can receive real-time alerts when contacts visit your website.

This means Sales Managers need a plan and clear instructions to enable quick, relevant outreach.

Imagine a school district superintendent or a university provost reading a key piece of content.

How long would you wait to get in touch?

7. Do sales and marketing collaborate on the same goals?

It’s time to get both departments on the same page.

Sales and marketing need shared accountability toward a common goal.

Is it $2M in extra pipeline?

Then the strategy (Inbound-Led Outbound) should be aligned and attributed to opportunities and sales outcomes.

Did you check most of the boxes?
Does this sound like something that could generate extra pipeline for your EdTech company?

Hi, I'm Rod👋

I share marketing content for #EdTech marketers and leaders.

I help EdTech companies build resilient pipelines.

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