First, let’s address that big ol’ elephant in the room….

DOES COLD EMAILING ACTUALLY WORK?

YES. Of course, or we would be the jerks who just wasted the last minute of your life following this useless bit of clickbait.

WHO ARE WE TO TELL YOU IT WORKS?

Good Monster has used cold Emailing every single day for the last four years. We’ve followed trends and consistently adapted our strategies so we know exactly what works and what does not work for 2020. Some of the techniques that used to work, such as the infamous ‘quick question!’ no longer work. Yes, we used to use that method. And yes, it used to work. It no longer does and so we no longer use it. Simple as that.

Now, we put a focus on merging marketing and sales so that the personalization, relationship-building, and trust from the marketing end meets the analytical, growth-focused sales end. What does that mean? It means that we’ve focused on being real people reaching out to other real people and tried to focus less on making a sale and more on finding the right match between our company and our clients. And what does that beautiful partnership equal? Success. It equals SUCCESS.

In fact, we’ve gotten so effective in our strategies that we’ve launched an outbound social sales program in which businesses hire us to quickly and efficiently capture the attention and start a relationship with potential clients.

So that’s our qualifications. Now, because we genuinely want to help you succeed, we want to pass on some tips and tricks on how to make cold emailing work for your business.

SO HOW DO YOU ACTUALLY SEND A COLD EMAIL THAT WORKS?

Let’s think of cold emailing like dating. You can blame the romantic in us that grew up watching early 90’s rom coms. Many companies make the mistake of doing the hard sell email, which sets up a precedent for a one-sided relationship. If you approach cold emailing like dating (healthy dating), you will start out with a dialogue between you and your client to see if you are a good match for each other. The hard sell, much like in dating, will only make you come off as narcissistic or impossibly desperate. Let us explain:

EXAMPLE 1. THE NARCISSIST.

Imagine you’re on a date and the person across from you has talked for 45 minutes about themselves without you being able to get a word in edgewise. You now know the story of how they are an undiscovered guitar/business/skiing prodigy and how they haven’t found the right person that can handle their awesomeness. Right. You believe that? Us either. It’s the same if you are a business reaching out with the hard sell of “Look how great we are!” “XYZ BIG company has worked with us and aren’t you lucky that we are giving this opportunity too?” “We have the power to change your business!” If you can’t treat your client with respect as an equal taking their interests in mind as well as your own, you will lose their business real fast. It is easy to detect BS, and in 2020, no one will put up with that anymore. Most companies have more self-respect than that.

EXAMPLE 2. THE CLINGER.

Now imagine that person across from you is staring deeply into your eyes, in fact they haven’t broken eye contact for the last 3 minutes and it’s getting awkward. Really. Awkward. They tell you how you are the most INCREDIBLE they have ever met….even though you just met literally 30 minutes ago…and how, ha ha, isn’t it funny that their parents are in town and they know they’d love to meet you? Oh hell no. Applying this to cold emailing, it’s great to show genuine interest in potential clients, but if you jump in feet first and email 10,000 potential clients without assessing if you are a good fit for them and they are a good fit for you, you will lose the respect of your potential client. If you’re too eager to commit, it seems like you’re desperate for business and that’s never a good look.

WANT TO ACTUALLY GET THE CLIENT WITH COLD-EMAILING? TRY THIS INSTEAD:

BE AN ACTUAL HUMAN.

If you were on a date with someone and they said, “Quick question: how often have you being attending a ball and thought ‘if only I could be here with my prince/princess charming?’ Well, you’re in luck! Recently I’ve come into your life.” You would run. Fast. They’re obviously a psycho. No one wants to receive an email that feels like it was written by a robot. Using approachable language that actually feels like it’s coming from you, the individual emailing, directly to whoever is reading that email, will make it feel like you value and respect this interaction. It will feel real. If you are personable, you set up a chance to be humans together. You show them that you have the capacity to genuinely care about them and their business.

STAY AWAY FROM SELLING.

We said it before and we’ll say it again. HARD SELLING DOES NOT WORK. Got it? Hard selling. Does. Not. Work. So, don’t do it. For that matter, try not to sell at all. You are reaching out to your client to let them know about you and your product to see if you two are a fit for each other. No selling needed. If they like the product and like you, you will make the sale.

BE HONEST.

It’s important in any relationship, romantic or working, that you establish trust. This means that you’re honest about your capabilities and what results they can expect from their partnership with you. It may be counter-intuitive, but this also means that if you recognize at some point in a partnership may not be a good fit, you should be honest about that as well.

SHOW THEM THAT YOU CARE.

This means doing your research. Choose your targets wisely. Find clients you actually are interested in and try to bring up specifically why you think they and you would be a good match. It will establish that you have done the work to try to make a connection and that you like them. And if you like them and you show them why, they are more likely to like you and want to do business with you.

STOP. EXAMPLE TIME.

If you’ve watched the great video by John Timmerman on Good Monster on the socials, he uses this fantastic, easy-to-use template:

“Hi John,

I’m in charge of finding great partners to sell our mustard waffles.

Yea. Mustard. Waffles. Together.

I am not a sales person, in fact we might not even be a good fit for you. I mean, not everyone likes mustard waffles. But I reached out because your brand seems fun and exciting and it really looks like you’re trying to surprise your customers.

Just one question: Do you think you could see mustard waffles on your menu? Or are you more of a ketchup guy?”

Now let’s break this email down a little bit:

1. The Introduction. It’s personal, it’s colloquial, not overly formal. No ‘Dear Johns’ or ‘To Whom It May Concerns’ here. He follows it with a simple statement of who he is.
2. The Body. He’s honest about who he is, he makes no false promises, but he’s straightforward and specific about why he likes you, the client. Like any good date, he throws in a little something to make you laugh. Maybe you have the same sense of humor, maybe not, but it’s a bit of personalization that puts you at ease.
3. The Ask. He doesn’t make a definitive statement that you need mustard waffles on your menu. Instead, he asks if you think you would be a good fit. He shows respect for what you need by not trying to sell you on his product.

And that’s it. Simple as that.

If you want more clarification or you want to watch John eat AN ACTUAL MUSTARD WAFFLE, you can watch John’s video below.

Try this strategy out and let us know how it works for you in the comments! Hopefully, you’ll find the clients of your dreams in no time.

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