{"id":837,"date":"2015-01-26T05:00:35","date_gmt":"2015-01-26T13:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salesfolk.com\/?p=837"},"modified":"2015-10-07T20:28:27","modified_gmt":"2015-10-08T03:28:27","slug":"4-reasons-vanity-ruining-cold-emails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salesfolk.com\/blog\/4-reasons-vanity-ruining-cold-emails\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Reasons Vanity is Ruining Your Cold Emails"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Vain<\/a><\/p>\n

The overwhelming majority of the emails in my \u201cbad cold emails\u201d folder have one thing in common: they\u2019re too company centric. Every day I get emails that drone on and on about about how great their company or product is, while failing to acknowledge my needs as a customer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>This week\u2019s cold email critique focuses on how to make your outbound efforts more customer driven. So if you\u2019re cold emails are falling flat, take notes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/h3>\n

1.You\u2019re focusing too much on yourself instead of the customer<\/h3>\n

\u00a0\u201c We’ve been getting ready for a huge year here at _______after helping scale 16 companies in 2014. We’re gearing up and scheduling our next few companies that are preparing to scale in 2015. \u201c<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Your opening sentence should be engaging and dynamic enough to reel your prospects in and keep them reading. The issue with this line is that it\u2019s far too self-focused. It\u2019s not exciting and it doesn\u2019t keep me interested.Your prospects don\u2019t care what you\u2019re up to; they want to know how you can help them be better. How can you expect your potential customers to buy into your services when you haven\u2019t even explained the very basics of your product?<\/p>\n

Cold Email ProTip #1:\u00a0<\/strong>Be specific about how you can improve your prospects\u2019 business or life. Speak to the customer like they\u2019re your only client; not one of many on a list. Think about issues commonly associated with scaling a business: How can your product or service help ease those pains? The more you can personalize your cold emails, the more your prospects will connect with your message and respond.<\/p>\n

2. You\u2019re reaching out to the wrong people<\/h3>\n

\u201c We have 4 spots before the end of March and wanted to see if it makes sense to dig a bit deeper and explore if we are a good fit.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The recipient of this email was not a qualified lead for this company, and so they shouldn’t have been emailing them in the first place.<\/p>\n

You should be building a good targeted list instead of relying on your cold emails to disqualify leads. If you\u2019re not sure whether or not you\u2019re talking to a potential customer, don\u2019t send the email.\u00a0Remember, it\u2019s all about quality over quantity<\/strong>. Sending out 3,000 emails isn\u2019t doing anything for your business if you\u2019re reaching out to the wrong people, and will brand you as a tactless spammer. While buying large pre-made lists might seem like a convenient way to cut corners with your outbound, they can actual cause more harm than good if you don\u2019t check the quality and filter out noise. Bounced and untargeted emails are a waste of your time and money. Worse yet, bombarding the wrong prospects with unsolicited emails can get you labeled as a spammer, which can hinder your ability to execute cold email campaigns in the future.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cold Email ProTip #2:\u00a0<\/strong>Spend time building a solid list for specific persona(s) based on title, company size, industry, location, etc. The higher quality list you have, the more effective your outbound efforts will be.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

3. You\u2019re distracting your prospects from your core message<\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cHere’s a quick program overview in case you have any questions:________\u00a0\u201c<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Don\u2019t overcomplicate your message with links and graphics in cold email. Save these things for your content marketing campaigns; not your cold emails. If you have a high quality product, you don\u2019t need bells and whistles to make is appealing to customers. When you ask prospects to click away from your cold email, you risk losing their attention. Your prospects don\u2019t have time to be redirected to another site, so give them an overview of your product in as few sentences as possible.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cold Email ProTip #3:<\/strong>\u00a0Keep your cold emails to 2-5 sentences. You don\u2019t need to sell potential customers on all your product\u2019s features in your first email. Focus your cold email efforts on intriguing prospects enough to get them on the phone, where you can explain your product in greater detail.<\/p>\n

4. Boring your prospects with generic facts and figures<\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\u201c PS. We have done 8 Marketplaces and 8 Saas companies since March. The first 5 raised over $215 Million in follow on funding from Top tier VC’s such as Sequoia, Google Ventures and NEA.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Numbers mean nothing to your prospects without context. $215 million sounds like an impressive number, but your customers are looking for specifics. How did you help company X reach this goal, and how can this be applied to\u00a0them? The problem with this line is that it\u2019s not clear how this product\/service helped these companies raise this level of cash. If you\u2019re going to include figures in your cold emails, make sure those numbers are directly related to the performance of your product.<\/p>\n

Cold Email ProTip #4:\u00a0<\/strong>Invest in creating a quality case study with hard numbers that convey your strongest value add. Providing social proof (like the names of companies you\u2019ve helped and your measurable impact) is a great way to instill confidence in the minds of your prospects. Remember, you\u2019re asking potential customers to invest money in your product, so you need to lower their risk in trusting you and ease their doubts with a good track record.<\/p>\n

Share this:<\/h3>