How to Get 1000 New B2B Customers, Using Nothing But Cold Email

Growth Marketing Conference 2016

Who is Heather R Morgan, and what’s with all the orange goats? • X-economist (still a data nerd) • Writes for Inc Magazine and other channels • I’ve written 10,000+ cold emails in the last 10 years • My email campaigns have gotten 68% response

rates, and start conversations with CEOs of billion dollar companies

• Salesfolk has written email campaigns for 250+ companies in the last 2 years that have beaten the industry standard by 3-10x

• Goats just rock. And so does orange.

So how do you get customers?

Intros? What if you don’t know anyone?

Can’t wait for content marketing?

No one picking up your cold calls?

Or…magic??!

Let’s explore the magic of cold email:

RULE #1. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE:

A CEO, CTO, and VP Sales are not all the same.

“E-stalk” your audience to understand them

You need to KNOW everything about your audience• what keywords will excite them

• what tone they use with their colleagues and peers

• what they’re afraid of and stressed about at work

• what influencers they trust

• what content they like to read and share

How to actually do this:• Stalk your prospects’ profiles on Linkedin, Twitter, etc

• Skim the content they’re sharing and writing

• Look at job postings for their titles to understand their role and KPIs more

• Look at past case studies and talk to customer success to understand why your best customers are so happy

• Talk to your customers

Use your research to appeal to your prospects

RULE #2. BE ENTICING

How to turn flat features into alluring benefits:

• The simplest way to turn features into benefits is to think about how a customer would use your product or a particular feature, and what value they would get from it.

• Feature Example 1: “our cars are fast”

• BENEFIT:—> “you can drive twice as fast in our car”

• Feature Example 2: “we have low prices”

• BENEFIT—> “you’ll save $399 a year on auto-insurance with us”

Turning Salesfolk’s features into benefits:

• Feature Example 1: “we write cold emails”

• BENEFIT:—> “we help you start conversations with your future customers”

• Feature Example 2: “we optimize email campaigns”

• BENEFIT—> “we can get you 3x more responses from qualified leads”

Let your customer’s success brag for you

RULE #3. SHOW, DON’T Tell

Tips for building social proof:• Try to paint a picture or tell a story of your best clients’

success

• Name clients

• Give specific details

• Try to make all examples clear and tangible, especially statistics (say “cut in half” vs “able to reduce to 50%”)

• Make sure your social proof seems credible, or else no one will believe anything you say.

Great examples of social proof:• “We cut [Client x]’s hiring time in half, from an average of 21 days to 9 or less

by allowing them to screen potential hires more conveniently with video interviews.”

• “Before working with us, [Client x] was wasting $690,800 a quarter on unnecessary printing costs. We were able to help them eliminate these costs while also backing up all their [file type] documents in one central location.”

• “[Client x]’s customers were getting annoyed and disappointed because [Client x] kept sending them dynamic creative ads that were featuring products that were actually out of stock. Using our auction software, [Client x]’s dynamic ads now automatically check their inventory in real-time to avoid losing their customers’ trust.”

Focus on one concept per cold email

RULE #4. STAY LASER-FOCUSED

Great example of a laser-focused email:FOCUS / BENEFIT: screen more qualified candidates more quickly through an innovative competitionSUBJECT: online competition for {!Company} job applicants

Hi {!First},

I have an idea for an online competition that can help you quickly attract and spot the most qualified candidates from hundreds of applications.

This same concept helped [Client x] screen more than 290 job candidates and find their hire in only 10 days.

When do you have 10 minutes to hear how this idea could work for {!Company}?

Thanks,[NAME]

Replace boring buzzwords with enticing details

RULE #5. EVOKE EMOTIONS

Tips for creating email copy that seduces readers:

1. Use rich adjectives that tease the senses (smell, taste, sound, touch, etc) like “delicious” vs “tastes good”

2. Try to grab emotions, like fear, anger, joy, or nostalgia by using emotional words, details or phrases

3. Use details and descriptions of things that people can easily picture in their heads, like “in less than 5 minutes” versus “in 300 seconds or less”

4. Create metaphors that people can easily relate to

5. Finally, read your writing out loud and ask yourself, “If I was the reader, would I care? Would this grab my attention, or would I get bored and ignore this email?”

Great examples of emotional and engaging copy:• “Our software provides bank-grade security, so you know your

passwords are always as secure and protected as Fort Knox.”

• “Prevent customers from feeling let down and annoyed by making sure they never get ads that make them feel misled or disappointed ”

• “Our clients are enamored with us because they’re seeing 6x higher engagements from ad campaigns that they otherwise thought were dead.”

• “Instead of having boring and poorly segmented campaigns, create laser-targeted ad campaigns that are unforgettable.”

Let’s tear apart some emails now!

Audience Email Template #1Hey,

I'm reaching out to you because I know you recently hired a Content Marketing Manager and I was wondering if you're seeing the ROI from your content marketing efforts yet?

If you're currently getting a lot of leads from your blog, feel free to disregard the rest of the message. But if you're looking to drive more customers from your blog, I think we can help you out.

We launched a new hire training program for content marketers so they can get up to speed and start producing quality leads quickly.

We teach a quantitative approach to content marketing and we've worked with venture backed companies like TechValidate by SurveyMonkey, Layer (Homebrew, AME Cloud Ventures), and Upstart (Firstround, Khosla Ventures).

Is this something you might be interested in for your new hire?

Audience Email Template #1: FeedbackHey,

I'm reaching out to you because I know you recently hired a Content Marketing Manager and I was wondering if you're seeing the ROI from your content marketing efforts yet?

If you're currently getting a lot of leads from your blog, feel free to disregard the rest of the message. But if you're looking to drive more customers from your blog, I think we can help you out.

We launched a new hire training program for content marketers so they can get up to speed and start producing quality leads quickly.

We teach a quantitative approach to content marketing and we've worked with venture backed companies like TechValidate by SurveyMonkey, Layer (Homebrew, AME Cloud Ventures), and Upstart (Firstround, Khosla Ventures).

Is this something you might be interested in for your new hire?

#1. intro okay, but could be much more compelling

#2. Could be a bit more specific with details, but de-qual strategy is interesting

#3. Would be great to have a little more detail on the benefit/results

#4. CTA could be more compelling

Audience Email Template #2Subject: <<first name>>, Missed Package Slip

Hi <<first name>>

When a customer buys denim from Diesel.com, what is the standard protocol for the delivery? Are customers able to select exactly when they want to receive the items they purchased, or, are they at the mercy of whenever it's convenient for the deliverers?

Doorman is a solution that eliminates lost, stolen, and undeliverable orders, and those costly customer service tickets that typically come along with. Purchasers are able to select a one hour time frame from 6pm to midnight, 7 days a week. Returns are also welcomed.

No more annoying missed package slips, no more guessing games, no more waiting around to sign for UPS. And with our easy API integration, there is no need to add/remove/alter your current shipping carrier(s).

Might you be available to invest 15 minutes of your time into a call on Tuesday morning?

Audience Email Template #2: FeedbackSubject: <<first name>>, Missed Package Slip

Hi <<first name>>

When a customer buys denim from Diesel.com, what is the standard protocol for the delivery? Are customers able to select exactly when they want to receive the items they purchased, or, are they at the mercy of whenever it's convenient for the deliverers?

Doorman is a solution that eliminates lost, stolen, and undeliverable orders, and those costly customer service tickets that typically come along with. Purchasers are able to select a one hour time frame from 6pm to midnight, 7 days a week. Returns are also welcomed.

No more annoying missed package slips, no more guessing games, no more waiting around to sign for UPS. And with our easy API integration, there is no need to add/remove/alter your current shipping carrier(s).

Might you be available to invest 15 minutes of your time into a call on Tuesday morning?

#1. intriguing subject line, but don’t capitalize every word (looks like mass marketing)

#2. Great intro; very personal and thoughtful/visual

#3. Email might feel more personal w/ 1st person (I/we)

#5. CTA could be more compelling, but okay

#4. Social proof would be great; work that into the business description to strengthen

Audience Email Template #3Hi <First name>,

Thank you for thinking of PocketList for your home search! You mentioned you are not working with an agent yet but are also not ready for an introduction. Right now, you have access to the public MLS listings. We - with the help of our partner agents - have curated hundreds of private listings that will add great value to your home search.

When you are ready to view the private listings, we would love to connect you with our partner agents. Our partners are ranked in the top 10% among their peers, are full-time agents and hyper local.

Let me know if you have any questions or when you are ready for an introduction!

Thanks,

Audience Email Template #3: FeedbackHi <First name>,

Thank you for thinking of PocketList for your home search! You mentioned you are not working with an agent yet but are also not ready for an introduction. Right now, you have access to the public MLS listings. We - with the help of our partner agents - have curated hundreds of private listings that will add great value to your home search.

When you are ready to view the private listings, we would love to connect you with our partner agents. Our partners are ranked in the top 10% among their peers, are full-time agents and hyper local.

Let me know if you have any questions or when you are ready for an introduction!

Thanks,

#1. Is this inbound??

#2. “MLS listings” kind of jargony

#3. Email kind of vague and not very persuasive/enticing

#4. CTA weak

Audience Email Template #4Hi <<First Name>>,

A few of our mutual connections on Linkedin [link] are going to be at the Growth Marketing Conference [link] this year.

If dates work for you (Dec 7-8, San Jose), just email me back and I can provide a special discount (20% off) for you and your team members.

Have a great week,

Audience Email Template #4: FeedbackHi <<First Name>>,

A few of our mutual connections on Linkedin [link] are going to be at the Growth Marketing Conference [link] this year.

If dates work for you (Dec 7-8, San Jose), just email me back and I can provide a special discount (20% off) for you and your team members.

Have a great week,

#1. intro okay, but could be more interesting

#2. Not enough compelling info on what this conference is/why to attend, beyond the social proof

#3. Email feels too short/not enough details

For more tips on cold email, check out:Salesfolk’s Cold Email Course: salesfolk.com/emailmastery

Other Resources and Guides: bit.ly/coldemail16