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Sales sequence

A sales sequence is the ordered set of steps run for each prospect: the emails, LinkedIn messages, calls and tasks, the waits between them, and the rules that end it. A reply usually takes the person out.

Updated October 2026 · 3 min read · GetSales team

What goes into a sales sequence

  • Sending steps. An email, a LinkedIn connection request or message, sent by the tool or drafted for a rep to send.
  • Tasks. A call, a hand-written email or anything else a person has to do.
  • Waits. A set number of days, or until something happens, such as an accepted invitation.
  • Branches. Different next steps for people who opened, clicked, accepted or did nothing.
  • Exit rules. A reply, a booked meeting or an opt-out takes the person out.

HubSpot's sequences have this shape: automated emails, manual email tasks, call tasks and general tasks, with a delay between steps, and by default a contact leaves the sequence when they reply or book a meeting.1

In GetSales a sequence is a workflow. People enter from a view, a filter, an event or by hand, and a condition has 1 to 9 branches plus an else. A reply pauses that person in every live workflow, unless a workflow is set to Continue the sequence. Each sending step shows what it sent, who replied and the rate.

Sequence and cadence

The two words get swapped all the time. Kept apart, the sequence is the steps and their content, and the cadence is the timing around them: the gaps, the channels and the days that count. A sequence answers what you send. A cadence answers when.

The rules an email sequence follows

A sales email promotes what you sell, so each email step is commercial email in the law's eyes. In the US, CAN-SPAM wants an opt-out honored within 10 business days and a valid postal address, and it covers email between businesses too.2 Gmail asks every sender to keep the spam rate below 0.3%, and anyone sending more than 5,000 messages a day to personal Gmail accounts must support one-click unsubscribe on marketing mail.3

The practical result: give every email a way out, take people off the moment they ask, and stop the sequence for anyone who answers, at least until someone has read the reply.

Sources

  1. HubSpot Knowledge Base, Create and edit sequences, last updated 20 October 2026. Read 28 October 2026.
  2. Federal Trade Commission, CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business, August 2023, edited January 2024. Read 28 October 2026.
  3. Google, Email sender guidelines, Gmail Help, requirements in force since 1 February 2024. Read 28 October 2026.

Last updated: October 2026

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