Platform admin Outreach foundations checklist

5 days to complete

01. Configure org settings

System configuration

Configure the following baseline settings in Outreach:

• Users and access for sign-in and authorization settings for users
• Set up single sign on (if applicable)
• Outreach Support to allow Support access to the organization when troubleshooting
• Sequences to set limits on how many steps are involved in a sequence and enable the option to automatically pause and resume sequences if an out-of-office is received.
  TIP: Sequence limits should be set between 2-5 steps
• Exchange Service Account to setup your organization's mailbox
• Tracking to see open and click rates when sending emails in Outreach
• Company logo to add a company logo to public calendars
• Sequence rulesets to apply customized rulesets to sequences without making manual adjustments as a prospect progresses through a sales cycle
• Sequence schedules to ensure prospects receive emails at the right time
• Review call recording laws and consult with legal counsel using this document for users or prospects in two party consent states to ensure compliance
• Define team forecasting hierarchy for users using parallel forecasting
• Load quota goals for use in sales forecasting

Email configuration

Configure email settings and establish governance to improve email deliverability

• Activity feed and records to hide emails and email activity for prospects or users with a specific domain
• Emailing prospects to detect communications from a prospect whose email is the same as the email address in Outreach
• Email font to create a default font across all users
• Set up a branded URL to improve your backend spam score and deliverability and so that users can personalize public calendar, unsubscribe, and open- and click-tracking links, promoting trust between senders and recipients
• Review tips for avoiding spam filters to establish best practices
• Establish email limits to maintain a healthy spam rate by automatically scheduling newly created Outreach mailings to be sent the next available date and time
• Configure sequence throttles to safeguard against reaching mailing caps and ensure tasks generated by sequence align with rep bandwidth
• Set up a custom unsubscribe link to reduce the changes of a prospect marking a mailing as spam
• Set up granular opt out (if applicable) so if a prospect opts out of a specific channel, reps can still reach out via others
• Authenticate your domain for improved security and deliverability
• Attend our Optimizing Outreach for email deliverability Office Hours to learn more about email strategies for ultimate reach and engage with Outreach experts

Profiles and teams

After reviewing the out of box, default profiles available to you in Outreach, configure the following profiles (as applicable) to build core profiles that meet the requirements of your team and establish governance:

• Admin
• Leadership
• AEs
• SDRs
• Default
• Content creator

Establish your team's in Outreach for content and reporting views so users have the most relevant content and reports at their fingertips:

• Review this article on team hierarchy to incorporate best practices when creating reporting views
• Manually set up teams in Outreach based on how your sales reps are currently organized so users can quickly access content and reporting views relevant to their role
• Attend our Governance 101: Building strategy and systems Office Hours for expert guidance on seamless system governance

Sync data

Once you've configured all org settings you will need to work with your CRM admin to sync your data into Outreach before assigning users in Outreach. See these University Courses for a step-by-step guide.

21 days to complete

02. Content

Build a content committee for ultimate ROI

It is a best practice for all Outreach customers to use content committees to create, review, and maintain content. Work with your sales leader to determine if your organization would benefit from a content committee. If so, use these resources to get one up and running:

• Build a content committee for ultimate ROI on content companywide
• How to build an effective content committee
• Consider attending our Creating and managing a content committee Office Hours for live, expert guidance on building a committee from the ground up

Content foundations

Take the following Outreach University courses for a crash course in creating content that will boost your team's efficiency so they can engage more prospects

• How to Build Content so you can plan, execute, and organize your content strategy in Outreach
• Success Plans so you can create Success Plan templates your organization can customize

Building content in Outreach

Work with your sales leader or content committee to create the following content in Outreach using the learnings from the above University Courses and the following resources:

• Sequences to drive deeper engagement.
  
  To build sequences use Outreach blueprints which have best practices, tasks, timing intervals, variables (and more!) built-in. We recommend you create and customize the following sequence blueprints for your team:
  • High and Low Touch Persona for persona-based prospecting that delivers operational precision at scale
  • Email reply follow-up to ensure you follow-up on time, every time
  • Meeting follow-up to keep prospects engaged
  • Meeting no show to ensure prospects
  • Inbound request to respond to a prospect quickly
  • Event to address large volumes of customers and streamline rep workflows
  • Sales nurture to develop relationships with buyers at every stage of the funnel
  
  
  OUTREACH TIP
  Did you know

  • Building persona-based high and low touch sequences allows you to use scalable, data-driven, targeted messaging that increases win rates and qualified opportunities so reps book more meetings
  • Email reply follow-ups automatically re-engages a prospect, even when they've gone cold, so no prospect falls through the cracks and reps never forget a follow up

  
  Be sure to prioritize these sequences for your team to help them create and close more pipeline

• Templates so reps have easy access to accurate, brand-approved emails that they frequently use.
  
  To build templates use Outreach blueprints which have best practices, content, variables (and more!) built-in. We recommend you create and customize the following template blueprints for your team:
  • Meeting recap with action items to keep prospects engaged
  • Meeting reminders to make sure prospects don't fall through the cracks
  • Objection handling to proactively address concerns and reinforce value
  • Event to streamline rep workflows
  • Re-engagement to ensure you don't lose touch with a prospect
  • Pricing requests for accurate follow-ups

• Snippets so reps can easily add accurate, brand-approved content into emails they're sending
  
  To build snippets use Outreach blueprints which have best practices, content, variables (and more!) built-in. We recommend you create and customize the following snippet blueprints for your team:
  • Customer testimonials
  • Value proposition
  • Frequently used resources
  • Features

• Meeting types that have built-in, basic information for recurring meetings that reps can easily personalize for a more efficient scheduling experience. We recommend creating meeting types for your most common customer calls:
  • Intro/discovery
  • Follow up
  • Proposal
  • Onboarding
  • QBR/EBR
  • Renewal

• Success Plan templates to improve deal execution and boost win rates

• Kaia content cards to help reps easily handle objections and keep deals moving forward. We recommend creating the following content cards:
  • Key product features so reps remember everything included in a product offering
  • Top competitors so reps can share key differentiators
  • Confusing on complex features or integrations so reps can speak with confidence

Content organization

Organize your content so users have the most relevant content at their fingertips

• Review this article on content governance in Outreach
• Create content collections for quick access to role or team-specific content
• Assign content to collections to appropriate teams for improved organization
• Assign content to teams so they have the most relevant content at their fingertips

60 days to complete

03. Launch

User set up

With your org settings configured, profiles established, and content in place, it's time to add your team as users so they can begin creating and closing more pipeline

• Add users via the plugin
• Assign users to profiles and teams
• Unlock seats to ensure new users
• Send claim links, if you're not using SSO, so reps and leaders can log in

60 days to complete

04. Ongoing maintenance

System hygiene

Maintain your instance for optimal performance

• Attend our Automating Outreach with triggers Office Hours to learn more about creating and maintaining trigger automations that drive rep efficiency and deliver customer value

Each month take time to:

• Clean up sequence states to ensure prospects are moving through the sequence and not encountering errors
• Check in on adherence to task execution to identify coaching opportunities and optimizations
• Review trigger performance to ensure they're working as intended
• Monitor spam rates to ensure you comply with bulk send requirements

Each quarter take time to:

• Clean up orphaned prospects for improved reporting
• Audit user profiles and teams to ensure users have the appropriate level of access and your reporting remain accurate
• Review your Outbox for bounced emails and organization's bounce rate to improve email deliverability
• Review current send volumes to ensure reps are being strategic with their outbound prospecting motion and staying within limits

Measurement

Check in on the performance of your content to enable sellers to perform to their full potential and optimize the customer experience

• Attend our Reporting 101: Getting started Office Hours to see how you can use reports in Outreach to build and interpret data for revenue growth
• Analyze positive email sentiment to understand buyers and optimize your prospecting strategies
• Review open and reply rates to see how customers are responding to content
• Review underperforming emails to pinpoint why a prospect is objecting. Use these findings to coach reps to success or optimize your customer experience.
• Identify content that is performing well to see what sequences drive better outcomes
• Dig into persona-specific metrics to see how certain personas are responding to your sequences. Use these findings to fine tune your prospecting strategy to speak directly to your buyers needs.

Workflows

Implement workflows for your team for standardized efficiency at scale. We recommend starting with the following:

• Account based prospecting to book more meetings
• Manage objections and follow-ups to continue the dialogue with a prospect
• Promote events to increase customer engagement and renewal rates
• Meeting no show to keep prospects engaged
• Create to close