Harris Kenny: Why outbound sales just got interesting again (Episode 01)

“Cold email is dead.”

If you believe outbound sales is dead, you’re missing one of the hottest growth opportunities of 2025.

While AI is steadily eroding the returns from paid ads and content marketing, it’s supercharging what’s possible from outbound.

In this debut episode of Data Beats Opinion, SegMetrics founder Keith Perhac sits down with Harris Kenny, founder of OutboundSync, to explore how AI, programmatic outbound, and precision targeting are revolutionizing cold outreach.

Harris shares insider tactics from his 15+ years in go-to-market strategy, including how companies are achieving 40% phone connect rates, why outbound is moving under the marketing umbrella, and the attribution challenges that are blindsiding agencies everywhere.

Watch the full episode on YouTube →

Meet Harris Kenny

Harris Kenny is the founder of OutboundSync, a platform that integrates outbound sales tools with CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce. Harris has helped over 100 companies with go-to-market strategy and has personally closed hundreds of deals from venture-backed startups to Fortune 150 companies. He previously ran Intro CRM, a Gold Tier HubSpot Solutions Partner agency, before building OutboundSync. Harris is a TinySeed-backed founder based in Denver, Colorado.

Connect with Harris on LinkedIn or via OutboundSync.

Show Notes

[00:00] Intro [02:11] Going from agency to SaaS [07:41] The current state of Outbound Sales [11:00] Parallel dialing, propensity scoring and other advanced phone tactics [14:21] AI-powered segmentation [16:21] Outbound as a marketing strategy [21:05] When & how to start outbound [25:40] The ROI on agencies [29:41] Measuring outbound success [32:37] Outbound & advanced attribution [34:19] Quality vs. AI-spam [38:17] How to reach offline industries [46:40] Favorite metrics?

Tools & Resources Mentioned

• Outbound Platforms: Smartlead, Instantly, EmailBison
• Dialing Tools: Orum, Nooks
• Data Sources: ZoomInfo, Angi’s List, Google Maps
• Automation: Apify, PhantomBuster
• Analytics: ChartMogul, SegMetrics
• CRMs: HubSpot, Salesforce

About Data Beats Opinion

Data Beats Opinion is SegMetrics’ monthly podcast exploring what’s actually working in growth and marketing today. Host Keith Perhac, founder of SegMetrics, sits down with domain experts to uncover practical strategies you can implement — not just theory.

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Data beats opinion. Growth beats guesswork. 🚀