Email roulette. Gut-feel lead scoring. Manual CRM updates.
In this Builder Series post, we break down why outdated prospecting tactics still haunt sales teams—and what RevOps leaders must replace them with heading into 2026.
Email roulette.
Gut-feel lead scoring.
“Just checking in.”
Manually updating the CRM with nonsense.
If any of that sounds familiar, you’re not doing something wrong.
You’re doing something old.
That’s why **Tom Boston’s post hit a nerve. Not because it was funny (it was), but because it named a quiet truth most GTM teams already feel:
Modern prospecting isn’t broken.
The way we’re running it is.
These tactics didn’t fail — the system around them did
Let’s be precise.
Sending emails didn’t stop working.
Lead scoring didn’t stop mattering.
CRMs didn’t suddenly become useless.
What failed is the manual layer wrapped around all of it.
Prospecting used to work like this:
- Pull a list
- Guess who’s “hot”
- Reach out
- Update a spreadsheet
- Hope something sticks
That model survived because volume masked inefficiency.
In 2026, volume doesn’t save you.
It exposes you.
The real cost of outdated prospecting isn’t performance — it’s friction
RevOps teams see this every day:
- Reps waste time validating bad data
- Leads sit untouched because scoring is unclear
- CRMs fill up with half-truths
- “Pipeline” becomes a feeling, not a system
None of this shows up immediately in dashboards.
It shows up later as:
- Slower follow-ups
- Lower confidence
- Burned sellers
- Missed timing
This is why new age prospecting conversations keep circling the same three words:
data, signals, automation
Not as buzzwords — as requirements.
What RevOps leaders are actually asking for in 2026
Tom framed it as a wishlist. RevOps hears it as a mandate:
1. Verified data (or nothing else works)
If reps don’t trust the data, they won’t trust the system.
If they don’t trust the system, they’ll work around it.
Bad data doesn’t just cause bad outreach.
It causes system abandonment.
2. Live signals (not static guesses)
Spreadsheets don’t understand timing.
Gut feeling doesn’t scale.
Signals do.
Modern prospecting isn’t about “best accounts.”
It’s about best moment.
3. Automation that complements the sales motion
Automation that replaces reps creates resistance.
Automation that removes prep work creates relief.
That difference matters.
The shift from “doing prospecting” to running a prospecting system
High-performing RevOps teams aren’t asking: “How do we get reps to prospect more?”
They’re asking: “Why is prospecting still something reps have to manage?”
So they design systems where:
- Enrichment happens automatically
- Signals route leads without debate
- CRMs update themselves
- Prospecting never pauses
The rep’s job becomes judgment and conversation, not admin.
Where Lusha fits (quietly, by design)
In this model, Lusha isn’t a destination.
It’s infrastructure.
It provides:
- Unified, verified contact data
- Enrichment that runs in the background
- Inputs RevOps can trust enough to automate around
That’s why it shows up naturally in modern stacks.
Not because teams want another tool but because they want fewer reasons to slow down.
The Builder takeaway
If your prospecting system still depends on:
- Guesswork
- Spreadsheets
- Manual CRM hygiene
- Hope
It’s not underperforming.
It’s outdated.
Revenue Builders don’t fix this by pushing reps harder.
They fix it by removing friction upstream.
Prospecting doesn’t need more effort.
It needs better systems.
Next in the Builder Series:
How one Revenue Builder proved that sales isn’t “just talking”
