Helping TruLeague Book Qualified Meetings with US Universities
How GroomLead built a repeatable outbound system to reach one of the hardest markets in B2B — higher education.
The Challenge
TruLeague needed to book meetings with decision-makers at US universities — one of the most difficult markets in B2B. Academic institutions move slowly, have complex procurement processes, and are notoriously hard to reach through outbound channels.
US universities are extremely difficult to sell into — they're slow-moving, bureaucratic, and resistant to unsolicited outreach.
Decision-makers are spread across departments — athletic directors, compliance officers, and administrators all play a role.
The buying cycle is long, and most outbound efforts give up before gaining any traction.
What GroomLead Took Ownership Of
We built and managed the entire outbound operation — from target identification to booked meetings.
University targeting — identifying the right institutions by size, division, conference, and athletic program structure
Decision-maker mapping — finding athletic directors, compliance officers, and key administrators at each university
Contact sourcing — building verified contact lists for a market where data coverage is limited
Higher-ed copywriting — messaging that respects the institutional context and speaks to real pain points
Campaign execution and reply management — running sequences and handling all responses
Meeting booking — converting interested contacts into confirmed meetings on TruLeague's calendar
Speed Was the Differentiator
In a market where responses are rare and interest is fleeting, speed-to-lead is everything. When a university decision-maker replied, we couldn't afford to wait hours or days.
< 5 Minutes
Response time using Underfive.ai
We deployed Underfive to handle reply management — ensuring every interested response was met with a personalized, context-aware reply in under 5 minutes. In a market where decision-makers are busy and move slowly, catching them while they're still engaged made all the difference.
The Outcome
Consistent Meetings
GroomLead delivered a steady flow of qualified meetings with university decision-makers — not a one-time burst, but a consistent, repeatable cadence.
Decision Makers
Every meeting was with the right person — athletic directors, compliance leads, and administrators who have the authority to evaluate and purchase.
A Repeatable System
A proven outbound playbook that can be expanded to more universities and more divisions
Validated messaging that resonates with higher education decision-makers
A reply management system that ensures no interested prospect goes cold
A scalable process that doesn't require TruLeague to build an internal outbound team
Why This Worked
We understood the university buying process — slow, committee-driven, and risk-averse — and built our approach around it.
Messaging was respectful and relevant — no hard sells, just value-first conversations about real problems universities face.
Underfive's speed-to-lead ensured that rare, high-value replies were never lost to slow follow-up.
Persistence paid off — we didn't give up after the first sequence, and the consistent effort built trust and familiarity over time.
Reaching a Difficult Market?
We build outbound systems for markets that most teams give up on. Let's talk about reaching yours.