Cold emailing prospects is a great way to establish new relationships and build your clientele. If you’re looking to improve your technique, well I have you covered. These are the best tips to writing a successful and eye catching email.
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Are cold emails effective?
Cold emails have personally worked better for me than any other sales or closing strategy.
The process of sending out cold emails to grow my network and follow up database has allowed me to grow a 6-figure clientele.
For some people cold emails might not drive results. Maybe you’re better at expressing yourself via voice. In this case cold calling might be your best bet.
I love words so I favor writing. I can also speak to a prospect or client confidently over the phone but my choice for initial contact is by cold email. This is what has worked for me and I’m going to show you exactly what I’ve done to make my cold email strategies effective.
Be sure to go grab your copy of Reaching The $10K Mark: How Perseverance Overrides Adversity on Amazon.
#1. Write an attractive subject line
Do you know what the purpose of an envelop is? It’s to get the receiver to open it and read the contents within the envelop. Cold emailing prospects will work the same way. You are going to need them to open your email instead of trashing it on sight.
Your subject line must sell the contents within the email so that a prospect takes what you have to say into consideration. Cold emailing prospects will require you to get creative with drawing attention to your emails. An attractive subject line will draw the prospect to your world.
You might have a great idea on how you want to draw a prospect in. You’ll come to find out it takes a lot of practice through trial and error. The persistence that goes into creating great emails will eventually bear fruit. Don’t get discouraged if prospects aren’t replying immediately.
One strategy I found very effective is to simply call them to follow up to let them know you sent out an email with some information you think they can obtain value from. Not only does the prospect hear your voice and has an intro of who you are, but they feel more inclined to find this cold email.
Tips for writing an attractive subject line
There are actually quite a few subject line email hacks that increase your open rate and get your emails seen. Here are some I’ve implemented myself:
- Keep your subject line short
- Avoid using CAPS AND EXCLAMATION MARKS!
- Put yourself in your prospects shoes
- Use a positive sentiment
4 major key points to writing an attractive subject line
Keep your subject line short: this tells your prospect you’re not going to waste their time and demonstrates personality. Long subject lines tend to come off as wasteful and sales pitchy.
Avoid using caps and exclamation marks: The purpose of your email’s subject line is to get your email opened and read. Throwing caps and exclamations marks screams SPAM. Avoid this at all cost.
Put yourself in your prospects shoes: Start from the inside out. Begin thinking what type of email you would be more inclined to open if you were in your prospects position. A good way to find out what your prospect needs to see is to know your industry very well.
Use a positive sentiment: Using a positive sentiment is going to make your prospect curious. They’re going to want to know who’s emailing them before even getting to the actual message or purpose of your email.
Here’s an example of a recent success pitch
The sales director of the company I do 100% commission-based sales for let me in on some recent news. One of the biggest clients in the company had acquired another multi-million revenue generating company in our industry.
Within a two weeks timespan I had closed my first sale with this acquired sister company using only emails. The initial email went like this:
And the rest is history. A rep from the company contacted me a week later for a quote on a rather large project and I sealed the deal via email days later.
Did Jamie respond?
Yes, she did. She was pleased to ‘meet me’ and advised she would be sharing my information with her team. Jamie is the CEO of this now acquired sister company.
So, what made this email very successful?
- I implemented the 4 key points to writing an attractive subject line. I kept it short with positive sentiment without the need to use an exclamation mark or caps. Who doesn’t like to be congratulated for a big move right?
- My email body demonstrated to Jamie what type of connection I could be for her business and for her team. Lets talk a little bit more about what made this email body an attractive email for the CEO of this company to share with her team.
If you’re enjoying this post so far be sure to bookmark it and come back to it a week from now to refresh your memory on these skills that have allowed me to build a 6-figure clientele.
#2. Write a body email that gets noticed
In the example email above you will find that there’s a lot of details packed into an easy-to-read format that delivers exceptional value from the get go.
The keyword here is value.
Every email you send out should provide value in its highest form possible. Yes, even when simply responding to a prospect or a client.
See, when Jamie had responded to my initial contact email I responded back to her.
Wonderful – thanks, Jamie!
Looking forward to providing the team with tons of value.
Thank you,
(Signature)
Frank Nez
Always be the last person to respond.
Address your prospect by their name
It’s common courtesy to address someone by their name. Avoid writing ‘to whom it may concern‘. This form of introduction completely disregards who you’re looking to do business with; especially if their name is already on their email address.
Use your prospects name in the email to be direct and personal.
If the prospects email does not have a name and it’s simply an info or sales email, address the team. You can start your email with ‘hello team‘ or ‘good morning team‘ to show comradery and respect to anyone reading the email.
Doesn’t that just sound so much better than ‘to whom it may concern’?
Establish a connection
Figure out how to establish a connection with someone you’ve never met before. I did this on my email by advising that our company has been a long-time partner with the acquirer company as well as another sister company.
This established the possibility of being trusted. Remember, I still have to deliver and won’t be fully trusted until I do business with them and exceed their expectations.
Tip: don’t work to meet your customers needs. Work to exceed your customers expectations.
Make yourself known
Let your prospect know who you are, as well as a little bit about your responsibilities in your company.
Remember, you’re a stranger to your prospect. Giving them a little bit of background lets them know what type of value and commitment you are able to provide to them and their team.
Demonstrate a willingness to help
People are more inclined to work with people who put their customers first. Demonstrating a willingness to help shows you’re:
- a team player
- committed to seeing a project through
- customer-oriented
- reliable and confident in your work
I did this on my email by making myself available to my prospect at their convenience.
Use a professional signature
Your signature should be clear and easy to understand and read. There’s no need to personalize it with dated script or flashing banners. Often times this comes off as spam.
My email has a headshot image along with my contact information. By personalizing my signature with a headshot, it lets my prospects know who they’re communicating with.
People like to do business with people, not with logos or company names.
When you’re cold emailing prospects you’re going to want to make a great first impression. Your signature is the icing on the cake. It’s the dessert after dinner. It’s the farewell after a meeting.
Your signature should contain the following:
- Headshot image
- Your name
- Company name
- Your title
- Contact number
- Address
- High quality art linking to your website or social media
This information tells your prospect exactly who you are and what company will be doing business with them very soon. They have easy access to your address and number. If they want to explore a little more then they can click on your website or social media link for an in-depth look and insight of your company.
#3. Get Remembered
There’s someone else like you targeting your prospects for their business. But not exactly like you, right? You’re different, you want it more. So get remembered.
Wow your prospects with your demeaner and willingness to help. You already know that no one out there can service them like you can. All you need is ONE opportunity. One opportunity to prove there’s no one like you out there.
Cold emailing prospects is an attempt to get them to look at you. Strategize how you can make that happen. Be honest, never sell yourself short, and genuinely strive to make some else’s lives better.
Read: Cold Emails VS Cold Calls: Which Gets Better Results?
Advice for retaining your clients
Since we’re talking about emails, my best advice for you is to get remembered on every email. Once you’ve turned a prospect into a client, keep getting remembered. Each email should leave the client thinking about how much value they get from working with you.
This can easily be accomplished by:
- Being courteous and thankful
- Responding to emails quickly
- Overcommunicating
- Making work easier for them
- Using exclamation marks to demonstrate a great attitude (e.g. absolutely!)
- Closing emails on kind terms (e.g. have a great weekend, enjoy your time off, etc.)
- Overall presenting exceptional customer care
Cold emailing prospects is about strategizing so don’t get frustrated if your emails are not being responded to. Get creative to see how you can tweak your emails to eventually receive a response.
Tip: Leave a great impression every single time, just like when you first began cold emailing prospects.
For more on client retention, read 6 Amazing Strategies For Retaining Your Best Clients
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