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Tag: Outbound

Everyone Else Is Slowing Down. That’s Exactly Why You Should Be Prospecting This December

Posted on by Hannah Sanders
air marketing sales in december - prospecting - outsourced sales agency uk

Everyone Else Is Slowing Down. That’s Exactly Why You Should Be Prospecting This December

The Christmas decorations are up. Calendars are filling with end-of-year socials. Slack messages start to include phrases like “back in January”.

And inevitably, the same question comes up in sales teams across the UK:

“Should we just ease off prospecting until the New Year?”

Our Founder & CEO, Owen Richards , has been answering that question for over a decade. His response hasn’t changed.

Carry on as normal.

Not because he’s allergic to Christmas cheer – but because the data, the behaviour, and the commercial reality all point in the same direction. December isn’t a dead month. It’s a misunderstood one.

Why December prospecting still works in 2025

At Air Marketing, outbound is our day job. We make hundreds of thousands of calls every year across multiple sectors, seniority levels, and markets. That volume gives us a clear view of what actually happens in December – not what people assume happens.

As the year winds down, decision-makers are more open to conversation, call quality improves, and meaningful discussions happen faster.

Inbox pressure drops. Meeting overload eases. People finally have breathing room to think rather than react.

Even in the final two weeks before Christmas, engagement rates remain strong. Appointments may land for January, but the groundwork happens in December.

And when teams switch prospecting off entirely? January becomes a cold start instead of a warm continuation.

Three reasons December still delivers results

1

Conversations are better, not worse

December isn’t quieter because people stop working. It’s quieter because the noise reduces. Decision-makers are clearing desks, reflecting on the year, and are often more relaxed and open. That leads to longer, higher-quality conversations with less defensiveness and more honesty.

2

Budgets and priorities are already in motion

By December, leadership teams are shaping the year ahead. Budgets are being finalised, suppliers reviewed, and performance gaps acknowledged. December is ideal for positioning your proposition and securing January conversations with real intent.

3

Switching off costs more than people realise

Write off December and you lose around 8% of the selling year. Add summer, Easter, and other “bad timing” periods and suddenly a quarter of the year disappears. Top-performing sales teams prioritise consistency, not perfect conditions.

A realistic December caveat

December isn’t the time to launch brand new sales initiatives from scratch. If a campaign is already running, keep momentum going and build pipeline for January. If something requires heavy onboarding or major change, wait until the New Year when teams are refreshed.

December feels like the wrong time to prospect. That’s exactly why it works.

While competitors slow down, the teams that keep going quietly build advantage – and reap the rewards in the new year.

If you want January to start with momentum rather than zero, our sales specialists can help build pipeline that lasts beyond the Christmas break.

Get in touch with Air Marketing to see how we can support your growth into 2026.

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Outbound: The Sales Function That Refuses to Die

Posted on by Hannah Sanders

Every few years, someone writes its obituary. The market moves. Budgets tighten. A new technology promises shortcuts. And yet, outbound keeps delivering.

It happened in 2020, when remote work and shifting priorities made cold outreach feel tone-deaf. It happened again in 2023, when leaders were told to do more with less. And now, in 2025, AI is the latest silver bullet pointed at SDR teams, hailed as the cheaper, faster, smarter alternative.

Each time, the same story plays out: outbound gets cut first, then rebuilt later. Because when the pipeline slows, every business rediscovers the same truth: you can’t grow predictably without outbound.

Why outbound keeps coming back

On a spreadsheet, cutting SDRs looks tidy. In the real world, it creates a different cost: the cost of silence. Inbound puts you in front of buyers who are already looking. Outbound gets you in front of the ones who should be.

  • Creates net-new conversations with accounts that aren’t coming inbound yet.
  • Brings timeliness – you don’t wait for intent signals; you create them.
  • Builds reach across buying groups where deals are won (or quietly lost).

The problem isn’t outbound – it’s bad outbound

Much of what gets labelled “outbound” is just mass automation. That isn’t strategy, it’s noise. Effective teams treat outbound as a craft.

  • Precise ICP & segmentation over spray-and-pray lists.
  • Human talk tracks that show understanding, not just personalisation tokens.
  • Consistency and coaching that compound into pipeline, not just activity.

AI won’t replace SDRs – it’ll expose weak ones

AI will sharpen research, trigger detection and message drafting. Useful. But the decisive moment is still human: a relevant opener, control of the conversation, confident qualification.

Reality check: Buyers don’t buy the model. They buy the person who makes the problem feel solvable.

What high-performing outbound looks like in 2025

  • Clean, segmented data with role and timing context.
  • Tight talk tracks focused on pain, impact and next step.
  • Phone-first discipline supported by email, social and paid, not replaced by them.
  • Outcome metrics: meetings, opportunities, revenue, not just dials and opens.
Bottom line: Outbound isn’t dying, it’s evolving. Pair disciplined SDRs with smart data and pragmatic coaching, and you get the one thing the board cares about most: predictable pipeline.

Final thought

Every few years, someone will try to retire outbound. The businesses that keep growing don’t argue, they execute. They modernise the function, back their people, and keep the phone ringing.

Opinion piece by Gracie-May Bryan, Client Strategy Manager at Air Marketing

Inbound Plateaued? Here’s How Outbound Can Restart Your Growth Curve

Posted on by Hannah Sanders

Inbound has had a good run.

It’s consistent, measurable, and when it works, it works well. But for many B2B businesses, especially in competitive markets, the growth curve eventually starts to flatten. Content takes longer to convert. SEO rankings stabilise. Paid campaigns become less efficient. And despite best efforts, pipeline momentum begins to stall.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. We speak to growth-focused leaders every week who tell us, “We’ve hit a ceiling with inbound.”

So what’s the next move?

It might be time to take outbound seriously.

Why outbound — and why now?

Outbound today is a different beast. It’s not about scripted calls or generic outreach. When done properly, it’s a scalable, insight-led growth channel that drives proactive pipeline. It targets the right personas at the right time with the right message.

Crucially, outbound doesn’t replace inbound. It enhances it. When layered into your demand engine, it turns inconsistent interest into consistent opportunity.

1. Outbound gives you control

Inbound relies on timing. Buyers need to be looking for your solution when they find you. Outbound changes that. It lets you choose who to target and when, based on strategic priorities rather than search traffic.

You’re not waiting for the right leads to come to you. You’re going to them.

2. It builds predictable pipeline

With outbound, you can model volumes, track conversions, and forecast with far greater precision. This makes it much easier to report with confidence, plan with clarity, and justify investment.

It also speeds up pipeline generation. You’re not reliant on how well a blog performs or whether this month’s paid campaign hits.

3. It complements inbound, not competes with it

Some of your best-fit prospects may never engage with inbound. They’re not searching for your solution. They’re not reading your whitepapers. Outbound lets you reach these audiences directly and spark commercial conversations earlier.

In many cases, outbound turns passive prospects into active pipeline.

4. When it’s informed by insight, it works

Modern outbound is powered by data — intent signals, firmographics, technographics, and buyer behaviour. This allows for highly relevant messaging that feels timely rather than intrusive.

When it lands well, it doesn’t feel like a cold outreach. It feels like you’ve read the room.

5. It tightens the sales and marketing loop

Outbound brings marketing and sales closer together. Sales teams benefit from the awareness marketing has already built. Marketing gets real-time feedback on what messages are landing with decision-makers.

This insight makes every part of your demand strategy sharper.

Time to restart your growth curve?

If your inbound activity is no longer moving the needle, outbound can help you break the plateau. It brings structure, accountability, and commercial urgency into your pipeline strategy.

But outbound only works when it’s done properly:

  • Dedicated, experienced resource

  • Accurate, segmented data

  • Sharp, pain-led messaging

  • Consistent, multi-touch follow-up

  • Continuous testing and refinement

That’s exactly what we deliver at Air.

If your current approach isn’t cutting it, let’s build one that does. Talk to us today.

Take Control of Your Sales Pipeline

Your pipeline shouldn’t depend on who finds you.

At Air, we help businesses reignite growth by designing and executing outbound strategies that work in the real world. We uncover where opportunity is being missed — whether that’s in targeting, messaging, cadence or conversion — and build outbound engines that generate consistent, qualified pipeline.

Our approach surfaces what’s holding you back and unlocks faster, more predictable revenue.

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