How to choose a B2B sales pipeline for your task
A pipeline starts with the conversation your sales team needs, not with an email draft. If you need a steady flow of relevant conversations with new companies, use a lead-generation approach. If you do not yet know whether the market will buy a new offer, validate the hypothesis first. When the account list is short and each deal matters, focused account work is more appropriate. See how a campaign is structured in our <a href="/en/how-we-work/">outreach process</a>.
| Situation | Commercial task | Suitable playbook |
|---|---|---|
| Sales needs new conversations | Reach decision-makers | Lead generation |
| The product is not yet market-tested | Get an honest market response | Smoke test |
| You need a small number of high-value deals | Engage priority accounts | Account-based outreach |
Ready-to-adapt outreach playbooks by commercial task
- Lead generation: a repeatable flow of conversations with decision-makers for ongoing B2B prospecting.
- Go-to-market: test a segment, region or country before committing to a broader launch.
- Smoke test: validate demand before development by hearing the market's response to a hypothesis.
- Customer development: speak with decision-makers when you need market language, buying criteria and sharper ICP definition rather than immediate leads.
- Partner network: identify resellers and integrators that could bring your solution to market with you.
- Database reactivation: reopen careful conversations with older leads and former customers.
- Account-based outreach: work a limited list of genuinely prioritised companies.
- Events: build conversations before and after an industry event so useful contacts do not disappear into a list.
- PR and media: make a specific, relevant approach to editors and specialist publications.
- Hiring: reach rare specialists where inbound applications are weak.
- Dealers and distribution: start conversations with potential dealers and distributors.
- Re-engaging past no's: return to prior refusals when the offer, trigger or prospect's situation has materially changed.
When a ready-made playbook is not for you
A pipeline does not solve a product or positioning problem. If your team cannot explain in a few sentences who the offer is for and which specific problem it addresses, a sequence will only collect refusals faster. Do not use a lead-generation playbook when you need deep positioning research, and do not start account-based outreach without real account priorities.
A playbook is a working framework, not a promise of a pre-set number of leads. What counts as a lead and how results are recorded are defined in our <a href="/en/guarantees/">lead guarantees</a>.
A common mistake is writing to everyone about “optimising processes.” That gives a decision-maker nothing concrete to answer. A workable starting point is a testable question, such as whether the company plans to review a particular process this quarter. If the market responds but does not request a meeting, refine the offer and the route for handing replies to sales.