1. What is Sharpist

Sharpist is a Berlin-based digital coaching platform that empowers companies to develop leaders through scalable 1:1 coaching, microlearning, and personalized growth journeys. Trusted by global brands including Porsche, BASF, DHL, Zalando, Otto Group, and Axel Springer, the platform is known for its impressive engagement rates—over 90% usage by license holders—and measurable leadership outcomes.

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They’ve earned recognition across the industry:

• Winner of the Startup Coaching Award 2024, celebrating their contribution to coaching leadership in startups and scaleups 
• Backed by investors like Porsche Ventures and Endeit Capital; successfully closed a €20M (~$23M) Series A round in February 2022 

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When we began collaborating, Sharpist was aiming to scale their outbound outreach to new markets—engaging HR and L&D decision-makers across mid-market and enterprise-level organizations—while preserving the personalized, insight-driven essence of their messaging.

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2. Partnership with honeysales

We started working with Sharpist in 2024 with the goal of building a scalable, high-performing outbound engine tailored to their growth ambitions. The outreach was primarily focused on the DACH region and targeted a diverse set of industries. Together with the Sharpist team, we built an outbound strategy for scale and precision. The focus was on targeting the right people with the right message—while ensuring we stayed agile and data-driven throughout.

• 🎯 Refined ICP & persona strategy: We predominantly honed in on HR leaders at mid-sized and enterprise companies—the decision-makers who value measurable learning outcomes.
  
• 🧠 Clear and compelling messaging: The outreach highlighted Sharpist’s strengths—engagement rates, data transparency, and ROI-driven leadership development.
  
• 🛠 Systematic A/B testing: We continuously tested subject lines, messaging angles, and CTAs to learn what resonated best.
  
• 🚀 Automated, multi-channel outreach: Campaigns ran across email and LinkedIn, balancing automation with personalization to drive responses at scale.
  
• 📊 Tight feedback loop: Regular syncs with the Sharpist team ensured we could adapt quickly based on performance data and market feedback.
  
  

3. Results

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So far, we’ve built a strong and scalable outbound pipeline — and while the full impact is still unfolding, early results already show clear traction:

• 📊 ~3,000 leads monitored through the honeysales Signal Hub
• ✉️ 1,880 leads contacted across email and LinkedIn
• 🚦 Up to 1,000 signals per week generated to prioritize the most relevant leads
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One of the most important insights was the clear advantage of LinkedIn over email in terms of engagement. While email reply rates ranged between 0.1 % and 0.8 %, LinkedIn steps outperformed significantly:

• LinkedIn connection + follow-up steps achieved 10 %–14 % reply rates
• InMails performed even better, with 8 %–18 % response rates

This pattern became particularly evident in campaigns led by Felice—initial performance was modest until leads hit the LinkedIn steps, where response rates and booked meetings started to pick up. Even at a relatively low send volume, early meetings were booked, showing plenty of room to scale.
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These results represent a midway snapshot of our collaboration—momentum is building, and more is expected in the next phase.

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