As the quarter rounds the bend, many of us are feeling the pressure of a sluggish pipeline.
Here are three cold e-mail templates that might be helpful in jump-starting the top of your pipeline. We’ve tested these e-mails with a number of clients following the framework outlined in “Predictable Revenue” (Amazon.com).
These three e-mails all ask for an internal referral – someone with whom you can have a meaningful conversation. To use the e-mails, follow these steps:
- Replace the brackets ([ ]) with your information. For example, [firstname] is replaced with the prospect’s first name
- Gather a batch of 25-30 contact names and e-mail addresses from companies you wish to start conversations – 2 to 3 contacts per company
- Send no more than 2-3 e-mails to each company. For example, 25-30 names yields 8-10 companies you are reaching out to
- Keep a record of the day and time you sent the e-mails as well as a count of the number of responses you got
- If you get no response from a company, recycle the same names into next week’s batch, or pull more names with different titles and send out a subsequent e-mail in 3-4 business days
Email Template #1:
SUBJECT: Where shall I start
BODY: [firstname],
I’m hoping you can help me. Who handles the [insert pain point here] decisions at your company and how might I get in touch with them?
Sincerely,
[yourname + your CAN-SPAM signature]
Email Template #2:
SUBJECT: [theircompanyname] and [yourcompanyname]
BODY: [firstname],
I’m sorry to trouble you. Can you tell me who makes the [insert pain point here] decisions at your company and how I might get in touch with them?
Thanks,
[yourname + your CAN-SPAM signature]
Email Template #3:
SUBJECT: Looking for best [insert job area where you’d like to start] contact
BODY: [firstname],
I am doing some research on your company to determine if there is (or is not) a need for [insert your strongest pain point]. Could you please help me by pointing me to the best person there for a brief discussion?
Thank you,
[yourname + your CAN-SPAM signature]
These e-mail templates can also be adapted for a “find-the-right-person” call (you call into the main number and make the same request to whoever answers the telephone).
For e-mails, your goal is a 7-9% response rate (positive, negative and neutral responses all count).
For calls, your goal is a 13-15% response rate (also look for a mix of positive, negative and neutral responses).
Be consistent with calling and e-mailing (set aside a block of time each day for cold e-mails and talk-to-the-right-person calls). The top of the pipeline will quickly fill with companies with whom you can start having meaningful conversations (uncovering problems, helping them understand the implications of not making a change, etc.).
Really?
You mean you send these emails, asking a person to take time out of their day to help you, when they dont know you, dont have any reason to trust you, and aren’t given any reason to care about helping you?
I do indeed use cold call email templates, but they are much more thorough and professional.
Yes, we really use these to ask for the name of someone in the company who is responsible for managing or working with the product you sell.
And, we work towards, on average, a 7-9% response rate. What is your response rate on your thorough e-mails? If it’s below the 7-9% response rate, you may want to try an A/B test and see if these work for you.
Thank you for the launch point. We are a start-up basing our inside sales process on your book and appreciate you sharing success that has been tested already. Having a starting point is helpful so we can tweak from here based on reporting.
Hi, It would be interesting to know how to deal with negative replies. Some replies say they are not interested to the service, so what to do in this situation?