A majority of sales organizations that I’ve worked with do a nice job of training their salespeople on the phone and preparing them for cold calling. Over the years, I’ve worked with hundreds of these types of sales organizations, which has provided me with a strong understanding of what’s working and what isn’t. Many of the organizations that I’ve worked with have sales scripts, conduct role playing exercises, shadow their sales team’s phone calls in order to provide feedback, and offer metrics that need to be surpassed.
However, I’ve noticed that these same companies that provide thorough training in cold calling don’t look at a single email, whether they are sent to an existing customer or a “cold email” to a new prospect.
I’m fully aware of the fact that plenty of individuals out there are better at writing than I am, as I’m guilty of the occasional mistake when crafting emails. Despite this, I’m still amazed at some of the emails I receive from candidates looking for a job or sending cold emails.
As an example, here is a recent email I received, with the name changed in order to provide some anonymity to this individual:
Hey Gregg,
What are you doing to generate leads?
John Doe
Why would I ever take the time to respond to this stranger? What is he even trying to sell?
If you are a sales leader, it would be my strong recommendation to create an approach to cold emailing. This should be done in the same way that you create an approach to cold calling. Compose a script that you then provide to your sales team, and make sure that you’re monitoring them just like you’d do by phone.
One of my clients recognized the value in this and went so far as to bring in a writer to help one of his salespeople to better construct emails. I think that this is a great approach.
Two of the biggest recruiting deals that I’ve ever closed were a result of cold emailing. This is how I did it:
1.) Personalization
When crafting the email, I made sure that it was obvious that the recipient was aware that I knew about their company and industry rather than it looking like part of an email blast. Additionally, I specified that I had reviewed their open positions, detailing which ones I was confident that I could fill and why.
2.)Brevity
Nobody wants to read an email that is long winded and sitting at 5 paragraphs long. It is safe to assume that the individuals you are contacting are regularly bombarded with an onslaught of cold emails. This is why it is extremely effective if you can immediately address the pain point.
3.) Warmth
Making an email warm by providing mutual connections can instantly establish a rapport. If I have worked with similar companies or have a connection in common, I made sure to mention that within the email. If we went to the same college, I also added that into my email.
4.) Expanded Reach
I am shocked by the number of people I talk with that tell me, “I reached out to the VP of HR and he didn’t respond.” How do we know he’s the decision maker? Who’s to say there isn’t a better person to contact? In most organizations that I’ve worked, there are typically 3-5 decision makers and it usually varies based on the account. This is why it can be effective to strategically reach out to multiple people at an organization.
Cold emailing can be equally as effective as cold calling, and in some cases more effective. This is why sales organizations should be training their sales people in the art of cold emailing. Why limit the scope of your reach, or handicap your team by only preparing them for success in one medium?
