Cold Email Primer | Dominating SaaS Sales #3

Cold Outreach part 2/4

Jun 10, 2021

Welcome back!

This week the post is slightly delayed, but there is a good reason for it. I have been working on a special project for the BTD substack that will be released later this week. That being said, let's get back into our cold outreach mini series with cold emails / prospecting emails!

I will say that there is a lot of research done on prospecting emails. A few sources that I like in particular and I have found success following have put out articles on most of the sections I will be going through. For that reason in this post I am going to go through the concepts behind why things are being suggested and what to think about when crafting your emails. Think of it as a compilation of the ideas from all different sources. For templates and examples I am going to be linking a few different resources containing good options.

In this post:

What is a prospecting email
Why use a prospecting email
When to use a prospecting email
Structure
Subject Lines
Salutations
Opening lines/Intros
Body
Call-to-action
Sign off
Signature

What is a Prospecting Email?

As mentioned in previous issues of BTD there are 3 main approaches for prospecting/cold outreach; Calling, Emailing, Social (LinkedIn). Cold emailing is simply another way to put your product offering in front of a prospect in an attempt to gain enough interest to further your conversation. Emails can be a very powerful tool and should be part of every sales org's strategy.

Why Use Prospecting Emails

With all types of cold outreach there are pros and cons. For emailing the cons are short - You cannot pivot to keep someone engaged - once you've sent the email there is no changing, You can't ask follow up questions easily, there is no way to match their tone, it is very structured in all the ways a cold call isn't, spam filters, and the main issue is emails are very easy to ignore, easier than calls. All of that being said, emails are important and offer a lot of upsides.

They provide direct way to communicate with your prospect even if you can't find a phone number or the gatekeeper doesn't let you through.

Sales is a numbers game, you can send a lot of emails faster than you can call prospects.

Emails are easier to track and AB test, you can see exact metrics.

There is a chance of getting an Out Of Office reply with a direct phone number.

Emails can be scheduled to go out at any time whether you are available at that time or not.

Emails help build your name, if someone sees one then gets a call, they now know a bit about you before you talk, giving you a little bit more of a warm intro.

Emails can also hit different buying personas to cold calls - If someone is irritated by a call and will not talk, there is a chance they would sit and read an email in their own time instead, using both calls and emails casts a wider net.

Email Signatures help build your brand reputation / build trust, especially if you're not a major name in your market like SalesForce or Oracle - Seeing the logo, putting branding in front of the prospect, it makes everything more real.

Emails can be read at any time, not just when you are calling.

When To Use a Prospecting Email

The question of sales cadences has come up in the comments of a previous issue (Thank you BowTiedSalamander). A sales cadence is a structured or semi-structured sequence of cold outreach (As a simplistic example: Email -> Call -> Wait 2 days -> Add on LinkedIn -> Call). This allows for better consistency with results, easier A/B testing, and reduces the risk that an opportunity is going to fall through the cracks. I will dedicate a full post on structuring sales cadences, but here is a very quick rundown on how and when I would use an email.

Firstly it is important to mention I would use a cadence up until the point I have successfully made contact with the person I want to talk to, whether its through an email reply, connected call, or LinkedIn reply. From that point everything through be a completely custom, case-by-case basis. You can use general rules of thumb and best practices from that point, but not a robotic cadence.

Usually as Salamander mentioned that he does, I would recommend starting off with an email. Just a simple, customised, short intro to you and your product, why you are reaching out, and a call to action. This give you a bit of space in the prospects memory to warm them up for further contact, and it gives the small possibility of getting a warm lead - They want to talk to you and will actively work to make that happen. I would follow that up with a call either the same day or a day later.

From there a healthy mix of calls, emails, and LinkedIn interaction can be used. Usually I would recommend at least 3 email steps in the cadence spread across 2+ weeks. Email rate getting less dense as time goes on (i.e. Maybe 2 emails in the first week - An intro email and a follow up then one email per week after - a second follow up and a breakup/end email). This is tough to give a rule for because every industry is different. I've emailed someone every week for 6 months before they agreed to do a demo, and I have emailed someone twice in six months and had them complain to my company about harassment. Just do whatever is working - track your emails, open rates, reply rates, bookings from emails etc. (We will go into tracking in this post) and you will start to optimise for what your industry needs.

Structure of a Prospecting Email

Subject Line
Salutation
Opening Line
Body
Call-To-Action
Sign off
Signature

Breakdown

Subject Line

Subject lines are extremely important, they are the main thing between a prospect opening an email or completely ignoring you.

A good subject line is what will get you an open rate, it doesn't matter if the contents of your email is the best sales email ever written if nobody reads it. The entire purpose of each section of an email leading up to the call-to-action is to catch your prospect's attention and keep them reading.

When writing a subject line you need to keep in mind a few different things:

Keep it short - A long subject line is not going to be read. You don't have this person's interest yet so at best you are going to get a glance as they scroll through their inbox. Your subject needs to be short enough to digest in a fraction of a second.

Keep it simple - For the same reason as above don't have anything complex in the subject line.

Needs to be attention catching - This is your one chance, you want to give them a reason to open your email. Maybe use their name - something like "Dingo, quick question"

Resources with example subject lines:

https://blog.close.com/subject-lines/

https://salesloft.com/resources/blog/10-subject-line-tips-increase-open-rates/

https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/sales-email-subject-lines-that-get-prospects-to-open-read-and-respond

Salutation

This is the first thing you write in your email. It is important, but I don't want to spend a lot of time on it. I would say keep it reasonably informal, don't use things like "Greetings, Dingo.", This isn't a pen and paper letter. Hi, Hello, Hey are all valid.

I personally use what salesloft recommends from their own data collection (https://salesloft.com/resources/blog/sales-email-best-practices/) and use Hey followed by their name. Then either a comma or an exclamation mark depending on the industry and contact.

"Hey Dingo!"

"Hey Dingo,"

Worst case if you don't know someone's name, use "Hey there."

Intro

This is your chance to introduce yourself and why you are reaching out. Again keep in mind, the purpose of every section leading up to your CTA is to keep the prospect reading and engaged. So keep this short and interesting.

Say that you just read an article they wrote, or saw something on their LinkedIn profile that you were interested in. I usually introduce myself in this section as well.

"This is Dingo from BTD. I noticed you recently followed BowTiedBull on Twitter and have been engaging with the Jungle's sales content."

Examples can be found in the full email template resources I have linked in the next section.

Body

This section gives you your chance to pitch why the person should get on a call with you, or book a demo, or download your resource. It is a sales pitch on why they should follow the CTA that will follow directly after. You need to build value, build interest, tell them why it is in their best interest to follow your CTA, all while keeping it short and personalised. This is a tough job, but not impossible.

When you start a sales job you should think about concise pitches on exactly what your product/service does and how it can help people. Something very short that people who have no time to chat can hear/read in a few seconds and understand.

"BTD is a substack and community that helps Jungle Animals start and progress their sales careers while improving their sales skill allowing you to increase your earnings and hit target. BTD has had 100% success helping people who want to break into SaaS sales land a job, having managed to help 2 Animals break into SaaS sales over the past month, and are working with multiple others to do the same." - This is a reasonable example, but can be criticised easily as well, there is no personalisation, it is a bit too wordy.

A few things to point out here, I like to use numbers and percentages. They are easier to understand and can paint a colourful image with very few characters.

You want to keep it short and clear why someone would take your call to action - we have 100% success rate and can help you get a job and improve your sales skills.

Examples:

https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/sales-email-templates-from-hubspot-reps

https://mailshake.com/blog/cold-email-templates/

https://salesloft.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/EmailTemplates.pdf

Call To Action

Now that you have introduced yourself an built a little bit of value/gotten the prospect interested, you want to ask for something back.

This is a direct request for your desired outcome.

You want to take what you've written about how you help other businesses and ask them to put aside some time for you to help them essentially. Again this could be a phone call, a meeting in the calendars, them to attend a webinar, or subscribe to a substack.

"Do you have some time tomorrow afternoon for a 10 minute call? We can discuss Jungle sales content and what BTD can help with."

"Let's jump on a 10 minute call to discuss the Jungle and SaaS sales. Do you have some time tomorrow at 2pm?"

Examples here:

https://www.saleshacker.com/email-call-to-action-examples-sales/

Sign Off

Again here I am not going to spend a lot of time. Salesloft's data suggests that Best, is the best sign off and it is what I primarily use.

"Best,
Dingo"

There are exceptions. If there is a reason to be formal I will change it up, or if someone is being particularly icy and needs more respect (what type of persona is this person) I might change it up to Best regards.

Signature

The signature is also an important part of emailing. If you don't have one, or it looks unprofessional, you may lose the prospect even if everything else was done right. Signatures indicate that you are working with a real company, give info about yourself, and put the prospect subconsciously at ease because you look more legitimate.

I would usually structure my signature like this:

Name (Bold)
Position Title
+(Phone) Number
Logo (Linked to company website)

Outro

Hopefully this gives enough of an intro to cold emails to get started and a few extra resources.

Be on the lookout for the special project post dropping over the weekend.

Best,
@BowTiedDingo

P.S. Reach out to me on twitter or at dingo@degenisland.asia for any questions, or comment on the substack so that everyone can benefit.

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