How IDR showed 7x ROI to its CEO in 5 months of LinkedIn Outbound
"I was just doing the calculation - we're at about $40,000 of closed revenue so far from leads that have been generated through Uptown."
Challenge
IDR needed to build a repeatable outbound engine for a sales team that had never had one.
IDR is one of the fastest-growing expert networks globally: 250+ employees across eight international offices, sourcing hard-to-reach experts one-to-one for market research and insights teams at lower fees than the legacy networks. The product was winning, but new business still arrived unevenly, and the incumbents IDR competes with are household names inside the insights industry.
Alyssa Quinn joined as Chief Revenue Officer to build the sales team and commercial structure. Lead generation was the gap: account executives sourced their own deals, and most client work was project-based and billed after the fact, with very few upfront commitments to build a predictable pipeline on.
Alyssa needed net-new conversations with market research decision makers, at volume, without waiting on new headcount.
"There wasn't any engine or resource we had that was helping with top-of-funnel leads."
Solution
Uptown ran LinkedIn outbound that earned the conversation instead of pitching the firm.
Alyssa came into IDR with a mandate to build the commercial engine before making new hires. So the first move was scoping who actually buys expert insights: the market research and consumer insights decision makers sitting inside brands, consultancies, and funds.
Uptown built an audience of the most active decision makers in Sales Navigator and wrote outreach that led with the problems those people carry every day. That resulted in conversations that earned trust instead of pitching the firm.
Uptown worked directly with Alyssa to:
- Define an ICP around market research and consumer insights decision makers
- Launch a LinkedIn outbound campaign using Sales Navigator and problem-oriented messaging
- Protect the brand with a competitor exclusion list, so outreach never landed on a rival's desk
- Test new segments through InMail first, so the proven targeting never got diluted
LinkedIn outreach went out at a volume no working Chief Revenue Officer could sustain and the warm conversations landed in her lap ready to book sales meetings.
"I came in to build out the sales team and the commercial structure. There wasn't an engine helping with top-of-funnel leads."
Results
IDR showed a 7x ROI within the first 5 months of running LinkedIn Outbound.
The market answered fast. More than a hundred prospects raised their hand and asked for the conversation. These were exactly the buyers IDR had named on day one: the people who commission research, at the companies IDR wanted on its client list. The revenue followed the conversations.
- $40,000 in closed revenue, first deal inside the first 90 days
- Two more deals at bid stage by month four
- 110 positive responses feeding the pipeline behind them
The first deal closed inside the engagement's first 90 days. By month five, Alyssa was reporting the return to her CEO.
"Being able to show my CEO we've already generated $40,000 in 3 months. He's like, great. Done."
