Before You Expand Into That New Vertical...

The calls we're having with BPO leaders right now all sound eerily similar.

"We're not seeing the response rates we used to get. Prospects aren't engaging. We'd like help breaking into a new vertical."

It's the natural reaction when things get tough — but it's also the fastest way to kill what's left of your conversion rates.

Why Going Broader Shrinks Your Pipeline

Here's what tends to happen: desperation makes you generic, and generic doesn't convert. The further you stretch beyond your ICP, the more your message becomes watered down and irrelevant — inbox noise. Or worse, you start leaning on cost savings as your primary value proposition — the deeper differentiation problem that price-based positioning is usually hiding. And the clients who choose you only because of cost are the worst clients to work with.

The Counter-Intuitive Fix

Instead of going wider when things get tough, go deeper — a structured way to trade a broad vertical for a tightly scoped micro-vertical and workflow. Before sending that new sequence, do this:

Step 1: Talk to Your Current Clients in Your ICP

Seriously, go do it. Have your client services team arrange the calls if needed. This isn't about upselling — it's about intelligence gathering.

Step 2: Check Your Sales Agenda at the Door

Approach with genuine curiosity and empathy. Be there only to listen and understand what's really happening in their world right now.

Step 3: Ask the Right Questions

What are you focused on or prioritizing right now?
What keeps you up at night these days?
What's your organization struggling with that wasn't an issue six months ago?
Where are you feeling the most pressure from leadership?

Step 4: Sharpen Your Outbound Strategy and Messaging

Rebuild outbound around authority instead of the next referral by using these insights to refine how you're reaching prospects. If your clients are grappling with a lot of unknowns right now, a focused webinar bringing together experts to address those specific areas can be a good way to add value — keep it tightly focused on your ICP. Have your salespeople send personalized invitations, then re-tool the content into guidebooks, social posts, and follow-up emails.

Step 5: Identify and Fill Gaps in Your Offering

These conversations can also help your organization spot gaps in what you offer — additional capabilities (customer support → voice-of-customer analytics), technology to incorporate (agent assist, voice deflection, training simulators), or software platforms worth partnering with and getting trained on — treating your tech stack as a deliberate part of your positioning, not a checklist add-on.

The Hidden Opportunity

If your market is at a standstill because of uncertainty, use the time to build a point of view and an offering that's genuinely compelling to your buyer. Show up consistently with helpful advice and content, and your prospects will take note — they'll turn to you when things become less murky.

Market chaos is opportunity, for those with the right mindset.

Where the Problem Actually Lives

Before you expand into a new vertical, get a clear read on whether the gap is in your market or in your motion. The Commercial Gap Check scores go-to-market narrative, sales process, business strategy, and account management in ten questions — results shown immediately, no email required.

Start the Gap Check →

So — who's the first client you'll call this week to gather intelligence?

FAQ: Expanding Into a New Vertical

What if response rates are already dropping across my whole ICP, not just one segment?

Then talk to your current clients before you touch messaging. A market-wide slowdown inside your ICP is a signal to gather, not a signal to leave — the client calls in Step 1 tell you whether the problem is timing, budget, or something you can fix, before you decide the ICP itself is exhausted.

How many client calls do I actually need before I trust what I'm hearing?

Enough to see a pattern, not a single anecdote — for most BPOs that's 8 to 12 conversations across your current ICP. One client's answer is an opinion. Three or four saying the same thing unprompted is a signal worth building a webinar or a sequence around.

What if my current clients don't reveal anything new?

That's still useful information — it tells you the gap isn't intelligence, it's positioning or reach. At that point the next move is sharpening how you're saying what you already know, not gathering more input, and it's worth getting an outside read on where the actual gap sits before you spend on new content or a new sequence.

Isn't staying narrow risky if my ICP itself is shrinking?

It's only risky if you mistake a temporary dip for a structural collapse without checking. That's exactly what Step 1 is for — the client conversations tell you whether your ICP is contracting for good or just under short-term pressure, and that distinction should drive the decision, not fear of a quiet quarter.