OMG, I hate cold calling! It takes everything I’ve got to dial those numbers. I hate cold emailing just as much.
At least a cold call might go to voicemail.
Ring, ring, ring.
I’m praying they don’t pick up.
Voicemail, hang up, thank baby Jesus nobody answered.
Dial up the next prospect.
I’ve hung up on them when they do answer. I didn’t have the courage. I couldn’t muster up an opening.
Email on the other hand, it is getting delivered. Can’t hang up, can’t pull it back once that puppy is in flight.
Write, read, edit, re-read. It’s ready to go. Read it one more time.
Hover your curser over that send button, turn away, one eye closed, squinting.
Click.
So painful, the entire process.
So why do we do it? The cold calls, the cold emails, the cold outreach?
Momentum.
An object in motion stays in motion unless acted on by an external force.
An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an external force.
If you are just starting, you need to take action to get things moving. You need to supply the external force.
“The easiest thing is to react. The second easiest is to respond. But the hardest thing is to initiate.”
Seth Godin
Let’s look at SpaceX.
It takes an absurd amount of force to get a rocket off the ground, into the air, and then into space. Absurd! But once the ship is moving it releases its boosters, zero gravity, flying (floating?), and it takes much less energy to keep going. The smallest thrusters can navigate in space and keep the ship moving and on course.
The slightest effort is needed to keep you on route, but the slightest issue can get you off course as well, and potentially lost in space.
Long story short, if you are going to start anything, you’ll need to spend a huge amount of energy to get going, build momentum, and in business that means starting new relationships.
How do we kick off a new relationship? We need to connect with perfect strangers.
A good call or email can help us do that.
What follows is not a post full of tips. Tips are for waiters.
It’s not a list of scripts either, the world has enough bad actors.
Think of this as a point of view, some scaffolding for outreach. For sales, a job hunt, or even nonprofit work.
What follows are the 4 C’s; collect, connect, craft, and care. Ideas to improve your communication and connect with people who don’t know you, don’t want to know you, and certainly don’t want you in their inbox.
That leads us to the first part of our journey. Why the hell are you in their inbox?
If you can’t answer that question, take a walk. You need to do some thinking.
I know what is going through your mind, “Dave, this sounds hard, I just want to send a template email to 1000 of my best leads and see what happens.”
If that’s you, go do it.
You can skip all of this and have success. You can spray and pray and play the numbers game. I’ve seen people survive that way. I’m sure they ruffled some feathers along the way, I’m sure they had some embarrassing moments, but they made it work. More power to them, but it’s not me.
This approach is slower, but you’ll save time. It’s harder, but it’s less work.
It’s efficient. And I like efficient.
“Never mistake activity for achievement”
John Wooden
What are we up against?
Failure. There is always failure. But that is mostly in your head.
If you are just getting started, how far can you fall?
Twitter is full of people mocking us, mocking salespeople, mocking entrepreneurs. They are mocking the bad actors. The lazy approach. That’s not you!
People will even post the terrible emails they get. They will hashtag #bestoflinkedin and maybe if you are lucky, they will redact your name.
Hello –
Hope your day is going well. I’m hoping to touch base regarding your 2022 initiatives. Can you carve out 15 minutes later this week to connect?
Sincerely,
Salesperson of the Year
And those are just the emails that get opened, so they’ve done something right. Most outreach just goes direct to the delete folder.
How do we avoid a similar fate? Being ignored, or worse, being ridiculed.
The first things we need to do is have empathy, have understanding, and put ourselves in their shoes.
Remember the walk you took to think about why you are reaching out? What did you come up with?
Let me guess:
- My boss told me I need more sales activity
- They looked nice on LinkedIn
- I actually had an email address
These are all reasons. Bad reasons, but reasons all the same. What is the reason for THEM to meet with you?
We don’t know them, so how the heck do we get started?
Great question. Let’s take a look at how to find the answer.
Collecting:
We need to collect some information to get started.
Yes, I’m telling you to cyber stalk them. Not like a psycho. Just to understand what they do and how you can help. This is the good kind of cyber stalking you don’t hear about on the news.
You need to collect this information to warm up your pitch. This post is about cold outreach, and if you haven’t figured it out yet, cold outreach sucks. It doesn’t work. Let’s warm up a bit before you pull a muscle.
And don’t act like you don’t already do this. Your kid gets a new little league coach and you’re hitting the google machine to see what they do and who they know. This is just the world we live in.
You need to know about them, where they went to school, what they are interested in, what they are working on, what is important to them.
Why do I need to know that? I just want that biz baby!?!
So, you can offer value! Hard to offer up something meaningful if you go in blind.
Okay okay, then how do I get that good intel??
Follow on social, set google alerts, read their blog.
Once you’ve done some homework, we are ready for the next phase.
Connecting:
Comment, like, try to warm them up before you reach out directly.
Network based on something they mentioned. Maybe they are hosting a fundraiser you can help with, introduce them to other people in your network that are working on the same cause.
Other ways to catch their eye:
- 10 ideas to improve their product based on customer feedback
- Podcast or book recommendation that covers an issue they are having
- Do they cook? I just had a twitter chat about pizza with a prospect.
Maybe they are implementing a solution and you’ve supported others doing the same thing…connect those jokers and let them talk.
Example: Years ago, Starbucks implemented a “Tech Café” for walk up deskside support on devices. Expedia was doing something similar, “Tech Concierge”, so I connected the two directors. Epic Games is looking to implement a vendor management system, Activision just did the same thing, connect the two leaders and let them talk shop. Value to the customer, partnership from you, just one email connecting people adds more value than other initiatives that cost thousands.
How else can you catch their attention?
“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”
Eleanor Roosevelt and a few others
If you want to meet with Elon, try to connect with him on one of three levels:
- People – I’m friends with Johnny, you are friends with Johnny, we should be friends.
- Events – I’m interested in SpaceX launches, you are interested in SpaceX launches, we should be friends and talk about SpaceX launches.
- Ideas – I believe Dogecoin is the future of interplanetary currency and I have a few ways that could work at scale, attached is a prototype, I’d like to work on this with you if you are interested.
Ideas are the strongest but also the hardest. Ideally you have all three legs of the stool. Use what you have.
Before you get all bent out of shape because people are not getting back to you, remember nobody cares about you. Even your mom will miss a few emails, and you literally lived inside of her. Prospects need clarity on how you can help them. People are busy. Don’t take it personally, they just didn’t get to your amazingly well-crafted message. Assume thousands of unread notifications. Inbox zero is dead. Your note is in there somewhere and may never get discovered, and that’s okay.
But what if they do open it? How do we craft something the prospect will act on?
Crafting:
Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.
Attention:
Dwarkesh Patel wrote a blog post. He got Jeff’s attention.
If Dwarkesh wanted a meeting with one of the world’s richest people, his chances just went up, because he shared something of value freely with the world. People noticed. Even better, his kind of people noticed.
Make it through the hundreds of notifications they get each day by being authentically you.
Funny, cute, curious, direct.
Thoughtful and thought provoking works even better.
Interest:
Social Proof is one way to gain interest. Show them a line out the door, a celebrity endorsement, a five star review.
Sprinkle in the data, quotes, and case studies that stand out.
A great story can catch someone’s interest, underdogs are a favorite, Rocky vs. Apollo.
The other thing people are really interested in, themselves.
Pull one of these threads and you’ll find that people read on to see how the story ends.
Desire:
Luke Burgis writes about mimetic desire. The idea being, many of our desires are based on models, people we admire, people who are on the path we hope to walk. Your boss gets a Lexus and all of the sudden you feel like that might be the car for you as well.
Working from social proof, you showed them a line out the door to gain interest, but they may not want to head in until they see a friend, a coworker, an ex-girlfriend heading in as well.
Show them why they would be happier with you.
Action:
Tell them what to do next, make it easy, make it low risk, regardless of their decision.
The goal is not necessarily too close, it’s to play, to keep the game going. Keep the volley alive rather than spiking it for the win. If they see it’s safe to engage, to further the conversation, action becomes more likely.
Caring:
Last but certainly not least, you’ll need to care if you want all of this cold emailing to pay off. I know that sounds corny but please understand what caring means.
It means you put in the time and effort, you follow up and add value, you focus on quality and positive outcomes.
Most people don’t even follow up. In sales it’s called a drive-by, you spray some bullets and drive off at top speed.
And in absence of a story, people will make one up.
No call back after the first date? Bad breath, bad conversation, ugly, old girl is back, heard a rumor about me, all this stuff runs through your head, 99% is false.
When you leave a void in your story they think, dude is a slacker, dude can’t help, dude is not interested in the work.
Follow up, show your work, show your progress, and show them that you care.
Look at us, we made it. Collect, connect, craft, and care. These are the 4 C’s you’ll need to use when passing notes to strangers.
This post lead to my first book, Passing Notes to Strangers, a guide to improved cold emailing and communication.
Available now.
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