Most reps handed a blank territory default to copying what worked somewhere else. Jake Ragkousis and Ricky Pearl have both built pipeline from nothing – in markets with no brand, no relationships, and no proven playbook. This webinar is the unfiltered version of how they did it.
About this webinar
Jake Ragkousis is National Sales Director at Ready Media Group, a commercial property portal competing directly against REA and Domain with a fraction of the resources. He made the decision to leave one of Australia’s most recognized brands at the height of COVID and build market share against two blue-chip incumbents.
Ricky Pearl is co-founder of Pointer Strategy, where he has run outbound programs for hundreds of companies entering the APAC market – many of them without an established brand, a proven product, or any existing pipeline.
In this webinar, hosted by me, Luke Williams, Head of Sales ANZ at Firmable, Jake and Ricky cover the process of how to build pipeline form scratch. How to define your ICP before you have enough data to be confident; how to layer signals to build lists that write the message for you; when to pivot your targeting and how to know if you’re pivoting for the right reasons; and why the phone is still the fastest feedback loop in B2B sales.
This is not a theoretical conversation about pipeline generation. Both of my guests have been accountable for the number. The insights here are drawn from campaigns, lists, deals lost, and territory built the hard way. If you’re staring at a blank CRM or inheriting a market that hasn’t been worked properly, this is the most useful 40 minutes you’ll spend this week.
How to build pipeline: key topics covered
- [02:14] Why starting with the pain – not the brand – is the right entry point for new market pipeline
- [05:30] What Jake saw at REA that convinced him a disruption opportunity existed in commercial property
- [09:45] How the advertising model inherited from print classifieds created a gap that Ready Media could exploit
- [14:20] Why copying the playbook from your last company is the most common and most costly pipeline mistake
- [18:55] Ricky’s framework for layering ICP signals: from broad TAM to a list that practically writes its own message
- [24:10] How Jake used Firmable to match entity-level transaction data to real decision-maker contacts
- [29:40] Why productive procrastination – excessive list research that delays the first call – kills early pipeline
- [33:15] Account-based vs. signal-based targeting: how to blend both depending on deal cycle and segment
- [36:50] The case for doing more unscalable things: networking, small events, and direct outreach over automation
- [39:20] One tactical change each guest would go back and make from day one
Notable quotes
“You’re not looking for people who recognize you. That’s irrelevance. What you’re looking for is that pain in the wild: where can I find people that have the problem and are exhibiting the symptoms of that problem, which my product was created to solve?” – Ricky Pearl
“The list is the strategy. The messaging writes itself. If I had to ask anyone on this webinar what messaging you’d use for that persona, the message would be quite obvious.” – Ricky Pearl
“AI is becoming incredibly good at helping you build context on who to contact and why. If you’re trying to use AI for outreach, you’re just creating more room in the market for the sales professionals doing it the hard way.” – Ricky Pearl
“Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. If I could go back and give myself advice five years ago, it would have been: do more unscalable things.” – Ricky Pearl
FAQs on how to build pipeline
Focus on the problem, not the product. Ricky Pearl’s approach, developed across hundreds of APAC go-to-market programmes, is to identify the symptoms of the pain your product solves and find prospects exhibiting those symptoms. Brand recognition is largely irrelevant outside enterprise. What matters is finding people who have the problem right now.
Start broad with your TAM, then layer in signals and assumptions to narrow to a priority list. Ricky Pearl recommends building a hypothesis-driven list where each layer — company type, role, trigger event, hiring behaviour — makes the target more specific and the message more obvious. Test by measuring all the way through to closed revenue, not just booked meetings.
Yes. Ricky Pearl’s outsourced SDR programmes average over 17.5% connect rates across Australian campaigns, with similar results in New Zealand. AI call screening has had minimal impact. The phone remains the fastest channel for getting a no (and understanding why) which is what lets you refine your targeting faster than any other method.
Who this is for
This webinar is for BDMs, AEs, and sales leaders who are building pipeline with limited brand presence, no inherited territory, or a product that’s still finding product-market fit. It’s also directly relevant for founders and GTM leads running their first go-to-market and anyone who has been handed a CRM with no pipeline and told to build.
Next steps
Subscribe to B2B Sales Blueprint – new podcast episodes covering how sales leaders actually build pipeline.
Read the companion blog (coming soon) – the key frameworks from this webinar, written up for reference and application.
Explore Firmable – the sales intelligence platform Jake and Ricky both use to build the lists that make outbound work.
