When 100% outbound means everything depends on phone numbers
Lance Burnstein is Head of Sales at Explorium, a Tel Aviv-based data science platform founded in 2017. With 51-200 employees and $50.1M in revenue, Explorium helps companies integrate internal data with thousands of external sources to power superior machine learning models.
Lance’s sales method: nearly 100% outbound cold calling.
Not email sequences supplemented with calls. Not warm intros with phone follow-up. Almost entirely cold calls to decision-makers at target companies.
That approach created one existential requirement: working phone numbers that reach decision-makers directly.
Before Lusha, Lance didn’t have them. He’d call company switchboards. Hit gatekeepers who stopped him dead in his tracks. Guaranteed to lose half the prospects he was trying to reach.
Before Lusha, I did not have access to my prospect’s phone numbers, instead, I would have to call a company switchboard, oftentimes encountering gatekeepers who stopped me dead in his tracks. Because of this, ‘You could guarantee you won’t ever speak with half the people you were trying to reach.
Then Lance joined Explorium. First action: “Tell them to purchase Lusha.”
Not “evaluate options.” Not “consider prospecting tools.” First thing: buy Lusha.
Why that urgency?
Without Lusha there would be zero outbound leads.
Zero. Not “fewer.” Not “it would be harder.” Explorium’s outbound motion wouldn’t exist.
Results with Lusha:
30 SQLs quarterly: Every single one relied on Lusha to make contact
65% first-call demo rate: Two-thirds book demos on initial conversation
10X ROI: Paid for itself ten times over
Strategic accounts closed: Some of Explorium’s biggest deals
Out of my 30 SQL’s per quarter, each and every single one of them relied on Lusha to make contact with these prospects.
During COVID, when office buildings emptied and switchboards stopped answering: “I’m clicking my mouse on Lusha and speaking to the world’s largest C-level executives, booking demos.”
Asked to describe Lusha in one word: “Game-changer.”
Because when your entire sales motion depends on cold calling decision-makers, and gatekeepers guarantee you’ll lose half your prospects, and you have SQL targets to hit, infrastructure that provides direct mobile access isn’t optional. It’s the only thing that makes outbound possible.
When 100% outbound means everything depends on phone numbers
Most sales teams blend approaches. Inbound marketing generates leads. SDRs qualify them. Cold outreach supplements pipeline. Multiple channels feeding the funnel.
Lance operates differently. Nearly 100% outbound cold calls.
Lance’s sales method is made up almost entirely of outbound cold-calls.
That concentration creates clarity. Success or failure doesn’t depend on marketing spend, conference attendance, partnership deals, or content strategy. It depends on one thing: reaching decision-makers by phone.
When 100% of your pipeline comes from cold calls, contact data quality determines whether you hit targets or miss completely.
The gatekeeper guarantee
Before Lusha, Lance’s prospecting workflow looked like this:
Identify target company → Research decision-maker → Call company number → Reach switchboard → Request transfer → Hit gatekeeper
Before Lusha, I did not have access to my prospect’s phone numbers, instead, I would have to call a company switchboard, oftentimes encountering gatekeepers who stopped me dead in his tracks.
“Stopped me dead in his tracks” describes the outcome. Gatekeepers don’t transfer cold calls. They protect executives from unsolicited outreach. That’s their job.
The conversion rate Lance could guarantee: 50% loss.
You could guarantee you won’t ever speak with half the people you were trying to reach.
“Guarantee” doesn’t mean “estimate” or “roughly.” It means certainty. When your prospecting method requires switchboard transfers through gatekeepers, you will lose half your targets before ever having a conversation.
For a 100% outbound sales model targeting 30 SQLs quarterly, that math doesn’t work.
First action at new company: buy Lusha
Lance joined Explorium with clear priorities.
The first thing I did when I got to Explorium was tell them to purchase Lusha.
Not “evaluate prospecting tools.” Not “test a few options.” First thing: purchase Lusha.
That urgency reveals conviction from experience. Lance knew what infrastructure he needed because he’d used Lusha before. He knew what happens without it because he’d lost half his prospects to gatekeepers.
First day decision: buy Lusha. Because without it, outbound wouldn’t work.
The assessment Lance gave Explorium leadership:
Without Lusha there would be zero outbound leads.
Zero. Not “fewer leads.” Not “slower pipeline development.” Zero outbound leads.
That’s not hyperbole for emphasis. It’s operational reality. When your sales method is 100% cold calling, and gatekeepers guarantee 50% loss, and you need direct mobile access to decision-makers, infrastructure that provides working phone numbers determines whether outbound exists.
30 SQLs quarterly: 100% Lusha attribution
Lance’s quarterly SQL target: 30.
Attribution: Every single one relied on Lusha.
Out of my 30 SQL’s per quarter, each and every single one of them relied on Lusha to make contact with these prospects.
“Each and every single one” emphasizes completeness. Not “most.” Not “the majority.” All of them.
100% attribution means:
Zero SQLs came from methods not using Lusha
Every qualified prospect started with Lusha contact data
Total dependency on infrastructure that provides working numbers
When asked about ROI without Lusha:
I’ve got SQL targets to reach, without Lusha, our ROI’s are nowhere because I wouldn’t be able to reach my prospects or my targets.
“ROI’s are nowhere” describes what happens when you can’t reach prospects. You can have perfect pitch. Ideal timing. Compelling value proposition. None of it matters if gatekeepers block access.
65% book demos on first call
Contact rates matter. But they’re meaningless if conversations don’t convert.
Lance’s first-call demo booking rate: 65%.
65% of Lusha-found prospects book a demo on the first call.
Two out of three prospects book demos during initial conversations. That conversion rate reveals something important: Lance reaches the right people.
Low-quality contact data provides numbers for anyone at target companies. Receptionists. Junior staff. Wrong departments. People who can’t buy.
65% first-call demo booking means Lance connects with decision-makers who:
Have purchasing authority → Can approve deals
Face relevant problems → Need what Explorium provides
Engage immediately → Book demos instead of deflecting
That targeting accuracy comes from Lusha providing mobile numbers for actual decision-makers. Not switchboard numbers. Not generic company lines. Direct mobile access to C-level executives.
During COVID, I’m clicking my mouse on Lusha and speaking to the world’s largest C-level executives, booking demos.
“World’s largest C-level executives” describes targeting scope. Not mid-level managers at small companies. Senior executives at major organizations.
When you reach that level of decision-maker, and two-thirds book demos on first call, your contact data quality is enterprise-grade.
10X ROI: paid for itself ten times over
Lusha subscription cost: X.
Value generated: 10X.
We’ve closed some of our biggest deals with Lusha, so Lusha has paid for itself 10 x times over.
“Biggest deals” provides scale context. Not small wins. Strategic accounts. Major customers. Revenue-significant contracts.
When outbound infrastructure enables closing strategic accounts, ROI calculation becomes obvious. One big deal pays for years of subscription. Multiple strategic accounts? 10X ROI is conservative.
COVID advantage: clicking and speaking to C-level executives
COVID emptied offices. Switchboards stopped answering. Traditional cold calling broke for most sales teams.
Lance’s experience: acceleration.
During COVID emphasizes timing. When other sales teams struggled because office infrastructure disappeared, Lance clicked and connected.
The workflow change:
Before COVID: Call office → Transfer through switchboard → Maybe reach executive
During COVID: Call mobile → Executive working from home answers → Direct conversation
Other teams lost access when offices closed. Lance gained access because mobile numbers still worked.
Now more than ever, with most of the world working from home, Lance relies on Lusha Extension to connect him with prospects via mobile numbers.
“Relies on” describes dependency. Not “prefers” or “occasionally uses.” Fundamental infrastructure that determines whether outbound works.
Conversion effectiveness during crisis
Results didn’t just sustain during COVID. They improved.
Now, the conversion is a lot more effective, and the numbers are greater thanks to Lusha.
“Numbers are greater” means more SQLs. Higher conversion rates. Better performance during conditions that hurt most sales teams.
The advantage came from contact type. Other teams relied on office infrastructure that broke. Lance had direct mobile access that kept working regardless of where executives worked.
Support that responds in minutes
Technical infrastructure matters. Support quality matters when infrastructure fails.
Lance’s support experience:
I send an email to you guys and literally within a couple of minutes, the email is responded to and you guys are on it.
“Literally within a couple of minutes” describes speed. Not “within 24 hours.” Not “next business day.” Minutes.
The service I receive from Lusha is great, I send an email and within a couple of minutes, the email is responded to and you guys are on it, it’s a pleasure to deal with you guys.
“Pleasure to deal with” describes relationship quality. Enterprise software often creates friction. Slow responses. Unhelpful support. Lusha’s support eliminates that frustration.
For a Head of Sales running 100% outbound motion with complete dependency on contact data, support quality isn’t nice-to-have. It’s operational insurance.
Complete dependency: honest assessment
Most sales teams hedge when describing tool value. “This helps.” “It’s useful.” “We like it.”
Lance’s assessment: complete dependency.
That honesty reveals something important. When infrastructure works so well that alternatives become unthinkable, users don’t hedge their descriptions.
I honestly don’t know where I would do without a solution like Lusha, thank you for making my life easier and more successful.
“Don’t know where I would do without” describes complete integration. Not “it would be harder.” Genuinely uncertain how the job would work without it.
“Making my life easier and more successful” connects infrastructure to outcomes. Easier workflow. More success hitting targets.
When “game-changer” means enabling the business model
Asked to describe Lusha in one word, Lance chose: “Game-changer.”
For most sales tools, “game-changer” is hyperbole. They improve workflows. Increase efficiency. Enhance existing processes.
For Lance’s 100% outbound cold-calling model, “game-changer” is literal.
Before Lusha:
- Guaranteed 50% loss to gatekeepers
- No direct mobile access
- SQLs impossible to achieve
- Outbound model doesn’t work
After Lusha:
- Direct mobile access to C-level executives
- 65% first-call demo booking rate
- 30 SQLs quarterly, every one attributed to Lusha
- 10X ROI from strategic accounts closed
- Zero outbound leads without it
That’s not improvement. That’s enabling a business model that couldn’t exist otherwise.
Every SQL. Every strategic account. Every outbound result traces back to infrastructure that provides working mobile numbers.
When your first action at a new company is “tell them to purchase Lusha,” and your honest assessment is “without Lusha there would be zero outbound leads,” and 100% of your SQLs relied on it to make contact, “game-changer” accurately describes infrastructure that determines whether your sales motion exists.
Gatekeepers guaranteed Lance would lose half his prospects before Lusha. Switchboards blocked access to decision-makers. 50% loss was certain.
First thing at Explorium: told them to buy Lusha. Because without it, zero outbound leads. Nearly 100% cold calling model can’t function without direct mobile access.
Results: 30 SQLs quarterly, every single one relied on Lusha. 65% book demos on first call. 10X ROI. Strategic accounts closed. COVID accelerated results—mobile numbers reached executives working from home while office infrastructure broke.
Support responds within minutes. Conversion rates increased. Numbers grew during crisis.
From guaranteed 50% loss to 65% first-call demo conversion. From switchboard gatekeepers to clicking and speaking with C-level executives. From impossible SQL targets to complete quarterly attribution.
That’s what “game-changer” means when infrastructure doesn’t just improve prospecting—it determines whether outbound exists at all.
