Included AI’s Cold Calling Renaissance: Why This ‘Dead’ Channel Drives Their 150% QoQ Growth

Most B2B SaaS startups follow a familiar marketing playbook: create content, build email sequences, and optimize for inbound leads. Included AI tried all of that – and it failed spectacularly.

In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, CEO Raghu Gollamudi revealed why they abandoned the conventional playbook in favor of what many consider an outdated tactic: cold calling. The results? A staggering 150% quarter-over-quarter growth and their first quarter-million-dollar deal in the pipeline.

The Failed Content Marketing Experiment

Before discovering cold calling’s effectiveness, Included AI invested heavily in traditional B2B marketing. “We churned out so much content for our website, we churned out so many outbound email campaigns,” Raghu shared. The logic seemed sound: create valuable content to attract and educate potential customers.

But there was a fundamental problem with this approach. “The problem that we are facing is that the buyer, who is essentially CHROs, they don’t have time to read these emails or they don’t have time to go and read content,” Raghu explained. Their target customers – busy C-suite executives – weren’t engaging with their carefully crafted content.

The Counterintuitive Discovery

The breakthrough came from an unexpected admission: “I hate getting sales calls, but that is working for us,” Raghu revealed. Despite his personal aversion to cold calls, the data was undeniable. Their SDR team was consistently reaching and engaging Chief Human Resource Officers through direct phone outreach.

The key to their success wasn’t just picking up the phone – it was understanding when and how to reach their target audience. “The thing that is working out for us is our SDR being tactful in figuring out when to reach out to these ICPs that we’re targeting,” Raghu noted.

The Two-Pronged Approach

Included AI’s current growth strategy relies on two primary channels:

1. Rostered introductions through existing customers
2. Strategic cold calling by their SDR team

This combination of warm introductions and targeted cold outreach has proven more effective than their previous content-heavy approach. “We are doing a great job in landing high quality deals,” Raghu shared, attributing their success to their “small but mighty SDR team.”

The Segmentation Secret

The effectiveness of their cold calling strategy hinges on precise segmentation. “The key thing is segmentation is very important. So if you don’t segment, then, yes, cold calling will fall on space,” Raghu emphasized. Their team carefully identifies and targets specific segments of potential customers rather than taking a broad-brush approach.

Why It Works for CHROs

The success of cold calling for reaching CHROs comes down to three factors:

1. Direct access to decision-makers
2. Immediate value communication
3. Respect for the buyer’s time

When CHROs pick up the phone, “they ask us questions, we answer and they make a quick decision of where to take a meeting on,” Raghu explained. This direct interaction proves more efficient than hoping they’ll find time to read marketing content.

The Broader Implications

Included AI’s experience challenges the common wisdom about B2B SaaS marketing. While many startups invest heavily in content marketing and demand generation, sometimes the most effective approach is the simplest one: picking up the phone and having direct conversations with potential customers.

For founders building enterprise products, this suggests the importance of testing conventional wisdom against real-world results. The most effective go-to-market strategy might not be the most fashionable one – it’s the one that actually reaches and resonates with your specific buyers.