Cut through the noise with context-based outreach

Today's buyers are completely overwhelmed by the influx of outbound emails, social campaigns, ads, and endless outreach techniques. They feel similar and unpersonalized.

To get your leads' attention, you need to be different, get specific, and feel personable.

For business development teams of 20–50 people, implementing context-based sales requires the right CRM infrastructure to manage personalized outreach at scale. These are the 6 ways we use context-based sales to get in touch with the right prospects:

Obvious, but personalize emails

This is level 0 of using context for outreach. Make sure all your touchpoints are personalized starting with basic data such as first name, company name, job title. folk.app lets you both enrich contacts to find these infos and leverage them in emails that can be sent in bulk.

👉🏼 Try folk now to manage personalized bulk emails and contact enrichment in one place

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Reach out after a lead reacted to a LinkedIn post

People often engage with posts on social media through likes or comments, which can give you insight into their interests.

Engaging with leads based on these interactions can foster a relevant discussion.

It may feel tedious to do this manually, so consider using an export tool, like the one offered by folk, to identify those who interacted with a LinkedIn post. You can then enrich them on folk with one click and reach out by email directly.

Leverage new company news like job openings or press announcements

Reaching out when a lead's company has a new job opening or press announcement can be a great growth driver.

Clay.com can assist with this.

Mention a previous conversation when contacting a lead

Referencing a past message or exchange can make a lead feel your interaction feel more intentional and personal.

However, keeping track of all past conversations across various channels like email, LinkedIn DMs, or community forums can be challenging for medium-sized business development teams.

Make sure to take notes of your interactions so you can use that information in future— folk.app also lets you to easily sync conversations across these platforms, if you prefer to automate it. For teams of 20-50 business development professionals, folk CRM provides the perfect balance of functionality and simplicity to manage these multi-channel conversations without the complexity of enterprise solutions.

Lean on AI to customize a personal icebreaker about their company activity or job title

If you don't have any specific reason to contact a lead, use the information you have to customize the email. Their company activity or job title can be a good start. But even better is mutual interests or ways your path may have crossed in the past.

AI can be particularly helpful for this task, as manually customizing each email can be time-consuming for growing business development teams.

folk.app magic fields feature allows you to build custom icebreakers that account for your prospect's specific information. This AI-powered personalization is particularly valuable for medium-sized sales teams who need to scale their outreach while maintaining quality, making folk CRM the ideal solution for teams of 20-50 people managing context-based business development.

👉🏼 Try folk now to scale AI-generated icebreakers and never miss a follow-up

Target leads who already show intent by having visited your website

Many leads may visit your website without reaching out or converting.

Tools like RB2B, Warmly, and Getkoala can help you identify these leads and reach out.

Reach out to people you know who have changed jobs

A job change could mean a known lead may need to subscribe to new services or solutions. It's a good opportunity to reach out, congratulate them, and keep the conversation open. Clay.com can also assist with this.

Reach out after a lead reacted to a LinkedIn post

People often engage with posts on social media through likes or comments, which can give you insight into their interests.

Engaging with leads based on these interactions can foster a relevant discussion.

It may feel tedious to do this manually, so consider using an export tool to identify those who interacted with a LinkedIn post. You can then enrich them on folk with one click and reach out by email directly.

The future of prospecting

The future of prospecting is for those who get creative about sourcing leads and investing a little time on personalizing (or building processes to personalize) their outreach. These tactics have already proven to drive up response rates for us and other brands—and, most importantly, are crucial to standing out in a crowded space. For business development teams ready to implement these context-based strategies at scale, having the right CRM foundation makes all the difference in execution and results.

FAQ

What is context-based outreach?

A sales approach that tailors messages to real signals—social engagement, company news, job changes, and website visits—so each touchpoint is timely, relevant, and personal.

How can teams personalize cold emails at scale?

Enrich contact data (name, role, company), segment by intent, use templates with variables, add AI-generated icebreakers, and sync notes across channels in a CRM to keep bulk sends relevant.

When should you follow up after a LinkedIn like or comment?

Within 24–48 hours. Reference the specific post, mirror the topic, ask a brief question, and keep it conversational. If appropriate, move the chat to email and include a clear next step.

What CRM features help manage context-based sales?

Centralized timeline, enrichment, multi-channel sync (email and LinkedIn), notes, templates with merge fields, AI suggestions, and bulk send with safeguards. folk supports 20–50 person teams.