Cold email if you sell B2B products
❷ Finally someone else I can talk to about FSA's, 401k's and ERISA's. ;)
❸ Wondering - does your day look something like this?
Tick tock. Spend time approving time off requests.
Tick tock. Spend time onboarding new hires.
Tick tock tick tock.
Wanted to share something you may find interesting:
❹ [animated screen capture showing how your product alleviates the pain point(s) mentioned above]
Freeing up your time to devise high level HR strategy like how to further reduce turnover.
Something you'll be actually recognized for. Instead of grunt work.
❺ Would you have 10 minutes to chat? Just click a time below:
Tomorrow at 2pm EST
Wednesday at 10am EST
Thursday at 11am EST
Signoff
❷ Build rapport by relating to their work.
❸ Activate your prospect's pain related to your product by painting the scenario of when they would experience it.
❹ Use a screenshot or animated screen capture to visually show your product's biggest differentiating feature that resolves this pain point.
❺ Present 3 times in the next few days the prospect can 1-click to schedule an initial chat. Use a mailto link for each time slot that opens up a prewritten email the prospect can 1-click send. When a prospect does, email them back a calendar invite.
Use an event the prospect is participating in or affected by as a highly relevant reason for connecting
This is how Brian Anderson cold emailed Charlie Liang at Engagio and received an immediate reply.❶ I know you'll be spending big bucks at the Marketo Summit next month (unless Jon gets you a crazy discount).
❷ I wanted to see if we could help you convert more of that investment into pipeline, by boosting the number of leads that convert into post-event meetings.
❸ To quote your own blog post, poor event follow-up can result in S$$$ of pipeline being left on the table in your best-case scenario, you're only reaching 20% of your leads post-event.
❹ Our app reduces the need for "the follow-up dance" (as you put it) by directly scheduling a meeting into the calendar of your most-engaged prospects (and a hand-picked salesperson), all while on the event floor.
It works something like this:
❺ It's a different approach, but helps filter-out non-leads at the booth. prioritizes your sales team's efforts post-event, and saves your guys from "the dance" with unqualified prospects.
Happy to give you a 15 minute overview if you're interested.
Signoff
❷ Show that you understand their major goals or needs related to this event.
❸ Briefly describe the pain point that they may face (which your product solves) .
❹ Explain in one sentence how your product solves this pain point.
❺ Paint the scenario the prospect (and their team) would face by not using a product like yours to nudge them to learn more.
Cold email if your company sells B2B services
❶ Wondering - do you notice this happening around you?
The office slipping from 'conquer the world' mode to sleepy mode mid-afternoon?
❷ We've had a lot of success vanquishing those fades with delicious beef jerky.
[picture of people using, or in this case, eating your product]
❸ Would you like to receive a free beef jerky sample package?
They come in won't-find-these-in-Walmart flavors like chile limon and habanero
If so, please email back your office address and you'll receive a box of happiness soon! [3 days after they receive the free sample, send them a follow up email asking them to subscribe to the monthly plans.]
Signoff
❷ Present your solution and a picture of people using it. For social proof and to break up the email text with some visuals.
❸ Offer a trial package if available. Once they have an initial positive experience of your service, they're much more likely to buy.
Use an recent event that potentially affects the prospect as your reason for connecting
This is how Andrew Guttormsen cold emailed an aquarium after the state passed a new budget that reduced their funding. This approach shows the prospect you did your research and the effects of the recent event makes them more receptive to new solutions.❶ I saw that the new state budget will result in a 521K reduction in funding for the Aquarium. ❷ I think my company may be able to help the aquarium generate an extra $25K-$30K in new earned revenue this year, potentially offsetting that loss. ❸ Should we talk, or is there someone else at the aquarium that it may make sense to connect with for a quick phone call (20 minutes)?
❹ My company, Exploreous, helps aquariums generate new revenue and make their exhibits more engaging by creating interactive, smartphone-based games that take visitors on a self-guided adventure through your venue. ❺ We have already partnered with Aquarium and Zoo, helping them generate more than $[xx,xxx] in just two months since starting, and increasing their membership retention by 9%.
❻ Are you (or someone from your team) available to hop on a quick call (20 minutes) sometime over the next week or two?
Best,
Signoff
❷ Offer to help, framed in terms of how your services can make their pain stop.
❸ Ask them to take action or ask them to refer you to another colleague if they are a better fit for making a decision about a service like yours.
❹ Briefly describe what your service entails.
❺ Mention 1-2 companies you have worked with and the biggest result you delivered for them.
❻ Reiterate your call to action.
Cold email for contractors or freelancers who offer B2B services
❶ Really admire your interior design work - wish I could wake up inside a few of those houses!
❷ Based on my experience helping designers use their websites to capture more qualified leads, there are a few updates you can make now that'd make a big difference:
- Add a full width image slider on your homepage featuring 2-3 of your best projects so visitors can immediately see your design style and talent
- Add Share to Pinterest and Houzz buttons on all your pictures - a lot of people decorating or de-decorating their houses create inspiration boards. By letting them save your work, they'll be able rediscover you when they're ready to bring their vision to life.
- Add video customer testimonials to the homepage and to their respective project pages. Video testimonials are more believable and engaging than written ones and they can simply be shot with the phone in selfie mode (actually more realistic this way). You can incentivize testimonials with monetary rewards (for example: gift cards).
Signoff
❷ Even listing what benefits you offer may not work for an initial cold email. Why? This still requires your prospect to take an imaginative leap to visualize how you may be able to apply your skills and experience to help them. Most prospects won't. You'll get more responses if you provide a specific action plan related to the prospect's business goals and to your services. This will be time-consuming if you had to create an action plan for each prospect so to scale it, you can create an action plan for each prospect 'bucket'. Each bucket consists of prospects who come from one source or who share a similar need. Example bucket: all prospects who have listed a job opening similar to the services that you provide.
❸ Prompt your prospect to reply by asking for their thoughts.
Present the prospect concrete ideas of how you can use your skills to help them
This is how Devesh Khanal cold emailed Brian Dean at Backlinko and secured ongoing work with him. Presenting a few improvement ideas or a brief action plan in your initial cold email is key to getting replies from people you want to work with because it helps them visualize exactly how you can apply your skills and experience to help them. Devesh also created a personal video for Brian to elaborate on his recommendations for improving Brian's email signups . This is obviously more time-consuming than writing an email but the potential payoff is worth it for prospects who can offer well paid ongoing work and a lot of credibility.❶ I got introduced to you through the awesome detailed guest post you did on Noan's blog! And great content since. Love your recent social squeeze page post.
❷ Obviously you care about email opt-ins.
I made a personal video for you where I go over the details of certain parts of Backlinko that could be optimized via an A/B testing system that doesn't waste a bunch of your time.
I KNOW you just posted the huge post on a social squeeze pope, but video is short and super specific to a few of your pages:
[Youtube link]
❸ I go over 3 specific recommendations including:
1) The homepage hero unit optin form
2) The 'Get Exclusive Tops' sidebar
3) A cool idea for really boosting end-of-post opt-ins
❹ Take a look at the video and let me know if this is something you'd be interested in. Would love to get your thoughts!
Signoff
❷ Review their business and website so see which areas related to your services can be improved.
❸ Present 2-3 concrete ideas of how you can improve this area in the email or in a video.
❹ Ask for the prospect's thoughts to open the conversation.
Cold email to prospects who use complimentary products
Hey Prospect,
❶ I came across your comment on Sales IQ on Product Hunt.
❷ Here are a few other tools I use in the prospecting process that allowed me to contact 100+ prospects a day semi-automatically:
- Snapper - Search for prospects on Linkedin and download all the profiles that match your criteria. Includes their full names, position, company and smart guessed email addresses (from experience, 80%+ of them work).
- Verified - Upload all the email addresses to verify which ones are working.
❸Recently, I used this process to generate 300+ warmed up prospects for Redeem. 35% of them converted into paying customers, representing $20 000 in new business.
Let me know if you have any questions about how to semi-automate your prospecting to consistently get new customers.
Signoff
❷ Provide them valuable lesser known insights related to the topic they commented on and the services you provide.
❸ Mention a specific result you achieved for a client to intrigue them into asking for more details.
Cold email to users affected by a change in a similar product
Follow the news about products that are similar to yours. When they roll out a change its customers reacts negatively to, browse different sites to compile a list of customers who use this similar product. Good places to find them: Nerdy Data (if your competitor's product is something people add to their sites, Nerdy Data lets you find all the sites that use their code), Capterra (customers who reviewed your competitor's product), Reddit (find people who mentioned they use your competitor's product). Add each person's full name and the company they work for (search for it on Google or Linkedin if this info is not readily available) to a spreadsheet. With a prospect's full name and company information, you can smart guess their email address to send them a cold email introducing your product as a better solution.❶ As you may have heard, Alvo acquired Trellis. Sometimes acquisitions work out and sometimes ... the product gets shut down. Or starts drifting from its vision. Or the new owners increase its price by a lot.
❷ Just wanted to put another option in front of you: Swell. It has all the features you're used to:
- Draggable cards
- Using Kanban board, lists and cards to manage the workflow for any type of project
- Attach different content to cards including checklists, docs and images
❸ And where it gets juicer, Swell also has:
- Native iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets with real-time data sync
- Bug tracking (open/pending/closed statuses, priority, attach code)
- The ability to create subtasks under main projects
❹ If this sounds interesting, here's a demo account with preloaded projects and tasks you can play around with:
[link]
Let me know what you think!
Signoff
❷ Show the prospect your product has the most important features of your competitors.
❸ Then list a few valuable features you have that your competitor doesn't to entice them to migrate.
❹ Provide them a link to a demo account with pre-populated data so they can play around with its features. Have prominent Create Account CTAs on this demo playground.
Cold email to pitch a retail buyer to carry your product
❶ I’m Sam Svaard, the creator of GO, the “revolutionary smart carry-on luggage” (Travel Leisure March 2017).
❷ I saw you’re the buyer for Nordstrom’s luggage department, thank you for curating options that have the best from both worlds: tech and style.
❸ Here are a few reasons why GO's done-for-you travel conveniences and beautiful design would also fit this bill.
[Side by side: 1 image of the whole product, 1 image of a differentiating product feature, 1 image of another differentiating product feature]
❹ How GO makes travel easier:
- Axle-less wheels make the carry-on 30% easier and lighter to pull
- Has a built-in pull-out table so you can eat, snack or work in transit without having to precariously balance anything in your lap when a table is far away or unavailable
- Built-in charging station with 2 USB ports and 1 power outlet (fits a three prong plug) that can charge your laptop, phone and tablet at the same time. Never run out of juice again.
❺ The GO is selling briskly in 30 specialty stores and boutiques across the United States and we’d love to also help Nordstrom customers avoid pesky travel inconveniences in style.
❻ Can I send you a product sample?
Signoff
❷ Show your reason for connecting by saying you noticed they’re the buyer for X store and department. Praise their product curation in a way that subtly implies your product matches their criteria.
❸ Introduce a list of top reasons why your product would resonate with their customers by mentioning 1-2 of your product’s differentiating features. You can also mention how carrying them would elevate the store's reputation.
❹ List 3-4 of your product’s top differentiating features, framed in terms of how they benefit the buyer’s customers.
❺ Establish your product's credibility by citing a good sales history and/or reviews from authoritative sources.
❻ Ask for permission to send product sample as a way to gauge their interest level in your product.
Introduction email: open the conversation by leveraging a referral from the prospect's colleague
Getting a referral from your prospect's colleague lends you credibility. Also, letting your contact know someone else is aware of this exchange gives them more impetus to respond.❶ I wanted to get in touch with your colleague who manages Facebook ads. Who would the best person to connect about this?
Thank you!
Signoff
Using a referral from their colleague in a cold email
❶ I noticed your ads on a few websites - here's how they appear now:
[screenshots]
You may notice that some of the images aren't proportionally resized. On mobile, some of the text is too small to read.
❷ This is how your ad could look, dynamically adapted to any context it appears in:
[screenshot on news website]
[screenshot on mobile app]
You would only have to provide a few image and copy variations for this work.
❸ If this sounds interesting, would you be open to a behind the scenes look at how the tech works?
Signoff
❷ Show examples of how your product improves their existing setup or fixes a problem with it.
❸ Provide a curiosity piquing reason for them to agree to an initial chat framed in terms of something valuable or interesting they'll learn.
Ask for feedback: put yourself in front of a potentially influential customer
If you're just starting a business, find influencers and ideal customers who would benefit from your product and email them to ask them for feedback. The benefits are twofold. First, they can provide you with valuable insights about how your product can be improved. Second, they may actually end up being your customer if you like your product or share it with their audience. This approach is effective because by only asking for their advice, you’re not raising their don’t-sell-me defenses.Hey Prospect,
❶ I've looked up to you ever since I binge read Metamorphosis in high school (until my thumbs turned color!).
❷ I built a writing tool for writers like you and would love your valuable input on it.
❸ It's biggest difference from what's out there: it gets rid of the annoying in-between steps when you're writing.
- lets you create sections inside docs that you can easily rearrange - no more copy and pasting paragraphs to move them around
- you can also 'share' sections - this lets you insert a section from one doc into another. If you update that section in one doc, it automatically updates it in all the other docs it's being used in (you can turn this setting off for any section).
If this sounds interesting, can I invite you to a demo account for you to play around in? Your brutally honest feedback would make a world of difference.
Signoff
❷ Briefly describe what you built and say you're interested in getting their feedback.
❸ Explain your product's biggest difference from what's already available, then elaborate with 2-3 more bullet points.
❹ Ask them for their feedback and reinforce how helpful it would be for you.
