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Article · Standing out

Before You Expand Into That New Vertical...

When response rates fall, going broader makes the message generic. Go deeper in your current market instead, starting with calls to your existing clients.

September 2025 · 3 min read

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Short answer

When response rates fall, don't go broader. Go deeper in the market you already serve.

Chasing a new vertical makes the message generic, and generic doesn't convert. Before you send a new sequence, talk to your current clients, and use what they tell you to sharpen your outbound and your offering.

Why does chasing a new vertical shrink your pipeline?

Desperation makes you generic, and generic doesn't convert.

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.

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. That's 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.

Who should you talk to before you send a new sequence?

Your current clients in your ICP, with no sales agenda.

Instead of going wider when things get tough, go deeper. It's a structured way to trade a broad vertical for a tightly scoped micro-vertical and workflow.

Start by talking 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.

Then check your sales agenda at the door. Approach with genuine curiosity and empathy, and be there only to listen and understand what's really happening in their world right now. Questions worth asking:

  • 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?

What do you do with what you hear?

Sharpen your outbound and messaging, and fill the gaps in your offering.

Rebuild outbound around authority instead of the next referral by using these insights to refine how you reach prospects. If your clients are grappling with a lot of unknowns right now, a focused webinar that brings 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.

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

What if your market is at a standstill?

Use the time to build a point of view and an offering your buyer wants.

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.

Next Step

If buyers compare you on price, we can talk it through.

Frequently asked questions

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 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 need before I trust what I am hearing?

Enough to see a pattern, not a single anecdote. One client's answer is an opinion. Several clients 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 say what you already know, not gathering more input.

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 what the client conversations are for. They 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.

Amanda Quinn, Principal at Evostr

Amanda Quinn

Amanda Quinn is a Principal at Evostr. She is an independent analyst for Fourcasters, was named to ICMI's 2026 Top 25 Thought Leaders in Customer Experience, spoke at and judged awards at Matchboard BPO Exchange 2026, and co-hosts the Build a Better BPO podcast.

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