If your inbox is a graveyard of dead leads and your CRM looks like a junk drawer, you’re not alone. Cold leads are tough—they ignore your emails, ghost your calls, and clog up your pipeline. But if you’re using Upscale, you’ve already got some tools to wrestle those leads into something useful. This guide is for sales reps, SDRs, and anyone tired of chasing ghosts. We’ll get specific about how to sort, manage, and actually prioritize cold leads in Upscale, so you can stop spinning your wheels and start seeing real conversions.
1. Know Your Cold Leads (and Stop Wasting Time on the Hopeless Ones)
First off, let’s be honest: not every cold lead is worth the effort. Some will never buy, no matter how many clever sequences you put them into. The trick is to spot which ones have a shot and which ones are just eating up your time.
How to recognize a “cold lead” in Upscale: - They’ve never responded to outreach (calls, emails, LinkedIn) - Opened an email, maybe, but never replied or booked a meeting - Old inbound leads that went dark - Prospects who gave a vague “maybe later” and then disappeared
Don’t get sentimental. If you’re keeping leads around just because you “might” close them one day, you’re setting yourself up for busywork. Upscale gives you filters and custom fields for a reason—use them.
2. Set Up Your Upscale Workspace for Sanity
Cold leads are only manageable if you can actually find them and see what’s happening. Start by cleaning up your Upscale dashboard.
Quick wins: - Custom fields: Add a “Lead Status” field (examples: New, Working, Cold, Nurture, Dead) - Tags: Use tags like “cold,” “no response,” or “follow-up next quarter” to sort leads quickly - Views: Create saved views for “Cold Leads,” “No Response in 30 Days,” or whatever makes sense for your team
Pro tip: If you’re drowning in old leads, carve out an hour to mass-tag and update statuses. It’s a pain once, but it pays off every day after.
3. Build a Realistic Prioritization System
Now that you’re organized, don’t just blast every cold lead with the same template. Prioritization is what separates the reps who hit quota from the ones who just look busy.
A. Score Leads (Without Overcomplicating It)
You don’t need a PhD in data science. Just ask: - Did they ever show any intent? (Opened/clicked emails, visited your website, attended a webinar) - Are they in your ideal customer profile? (Right industry, company size, title) - Is there a trigger event? (New funding, job change, company news)
Score leads 1-3 for each factor. Total it up. Highest scores go to the top of your follow-up list.
B. Set Follow-Up Cadences That Make Sense
- High-priority cold leads: Try a short, targeted multi-touch sequence (call, email, LinkedIn) over 2-3 weeks.
- Mid-priority: Maybe just an email or two, spaced out.
- Low-priority/cold-as-ice: Drop them into a quarterly nurture drip, or set a reminder to revisit in a few months.
Don’t overthink it. The goal is to spend time where it could actually pay off.
4. Use Upscale Automations—But Don’t Go Full Robot
Upscale has automations for sequences, reminders, and task creation. That’s great... if you use them right. Here’s how to make them work for you without turning your outreach into spam.
What works: - Automated reminders for manual touchpoints: Set tasks in Upscale to call or check LinkedIn before sending another email. - Conditional branching: If a lead opens but doesn’t reply, trigger a custom follow-up. - Semi-custom sequences: Use merge fields to personalize with industry, company, or pain points.
What to ignore: - Don’t rely on “spray and pray” mass emails. It’s obvious, and most leads will tune you out. - Don’t set infinite follow-ups. If they ghost you after 4-5 touches, move on or downgrade their priority.
Pro tip: Write two or three genuinely different email templates for cold leads. Rotate them. If nothing works, accept it and focus elsewhere.
5. Track, Adjust, Repeat
The only thing worse than wasting time on cold leads is repeating the same mistakes. Upscale gives you reporting, but it’s only useful if you actually look at it.
- Review your numbers weekly: Which cold leads are converting? Which sequences fall flat?
- Kill bad templates: If a cadence gets zero replies after 50 sends, it’s not working. Change it.
- Refine your criteria: Maybe your “high score” leads aren’t responding. Tweak your scoring system.
Don’t get romantic about your process. If you’re honest about what’s working and what’s not, you’ll improve faster than 90% of reps.
6. Know When to Purge
Here’s the hard truth: Some leads are just dead. Keeping them around clutters your pipeline, gives you a false sense of progress, and wastes your focus.
Signs it’s time to let go: - Bounced emails or invalid contact info - No engagement after multiple (4+) varied touches - Out-of-date titles or left the company - They explicitly said “not interested” (don’t be that person who keeps pestering them)
What to do: - Mark as “Dead” or “Disqualified” in Upscale. Archive them so they’re out of your active views. - Set a quarterly reminder to revisit your coldest leads—sometimes, circumstances change.
7. Nurture Without Being a Nuisance
For leads who aren’t ready now but could be later, set up low-pressure nurture sequences.
How to do it right: - Send value: Industry insights, relevant case studies, or news—not just “checking in.” - Space it out: Quarterly or bi-annual touchpoints are enough for truly cold leads. - Keep it personal: “Saw this article and thought of your team at [Company]” beats “Just following up…”
What not to do: - Don’t hound them every month. That’s how you get marked as spam. - Don’t automate so much that you forget who they are. At least glance at their LinkedIn profile before sending.
8. Keep Your Sanity—And Your Pipeline—Clean
Managing cold leads is a grind. Upscale has features to help, but no tool can save you from busywork if you don’t have a system. Here’s the bottom line:
- Stay organized: Use statuses, tags, and views.
- Prioritize ruthlessly: Score leads, focus on the ones with a shot.
- Automate smartly: Don’t let the robots ruin your reputation.
- Review and adapt: Look at your results—don’t just hope things will get better.
You won’t convert every cold lead. That’s fine. The goal is to spend less time on the ones who won’t buy, and more on the ones who might. Keep it simple, don’t overthink it, and tweak your process as you go. That’s how you turn a cold list into real deals.