How to Write Sales Emails That Get Noticed

Your prospect has 147 unread emails. Yours just got added to the pile. What makes them open YOURS instead of the other 146? After sending thousands of cold emails and generating over $700M in sales throughout my career, I've identified the #1 mistake destroying most cold outreach: ZERO RIGHT PERSONALIZATION. Most reps "spray and pray". Sending the same generic template to 1,000 prospects hoping something sticks. Then they wonder why their response rate is 0.5%. Here's the cold email framework that consistently gets 20%+ response rates:  → Make your subject line about THEM, not you. Use recent news, achievements, or common pain points to spark curiosity. Example: "Your Inc 5000 ranking" or "Austin expansion" 1. Keep your email so simple it doesn't require scrolling. It MUST be mobile friendly, as 68% of executives check email primarily on their phones. 2. Use this 3 part structure:  → Personal opener: "Hey [Name], [specific personalization about them]"  → Show understanding: "In chatting with other [title] in [industry], they're typically running into [pain point]"  → Soft CTA: "Got a few ideas that might help. Open to chat?" 3. Research these personalization sources: • Company website (values, mission page) • Press releases • LinkedIn activity • Earnings transcripts (for public companies) • Review sites The hardest territory to manage isn't your CRM. It's the six inches between your prospect's ears. They don't care about your product. They care about THEMSELVES. Recently, one of my clients was struggling with a 1.2% response rate on cold emails. We implemented this framework, and within 2 weeks they hit 17.4% - with prospects actually THANKING them for the personalized outreach. Find your sweet spot on the personalization spectrum. You can't do hyper personalized video for everyone, but you can't blast the same generic template either. — Hey reps… want another cold email strategy? Go here: https://lnkd.in/gKSzmCda

Last quarter I received a perfect cold email. It followed the same simple prospecting framework I teach. Here's a line-by-line breakdown of why it works so well: SUBJECT LINE: Make it all about them and reference your research Why it works: Shows that it's not spam or automated, and creates curiosity to open the e-mail and here what they have to say PARAGRAPH #1: Warm, personal, with a sincere compliment Why it works: Shows the prospect you took the time to learn about them, and humanizes you. PARAGRAPH #2: Share relevant observations based on research and a potential problem which their research uncovered Why it works: Shows that you are reaching out to identify a potential way to help them which they may not be thinking about PARAGRAPH #3: Shares specific, clear value proposition which includes the problem you solve and the outcomes you deliver Why it works: people need to clearly understand what you do so they can decide for themselves if it makes sense to meet with you. Sharing generic outcomes without being direct or specific confuses and annoys prospects because they still don't know what you do after reading the e-mail. PARAGRAPH #4: Soft Call to Interest (CTI): Ask if they have ever given thought to what you wrote, and if they're open to discussing further. Why it works: Never assume that a prospect needs what you are selling. Instead, confirm whether they've thought about the problem you solve and are open to discussing further. A call to interest (CTI) is much softer than a call to action (CTA), such as asking them to meet before you've confirmed they even have a need or interest. Don't assume anything, just ask and validate first. Kudos to the seller for sending a well-written, thoughtful e-mail.

I used to send >250 custom outbound emails every week. Yesterday, I was introduced to someone who remembered one of those emails from literally 10 years ago. Here's my outbound strategy for anyone that wants to master cold outreach: 1️⃣ do not sell yourself at the open >> seriously, stop talking about yourself. no one cares about you << Instead: just say who you are, and move on to talk about them. 2️⃣ tell people why they are great - I liked to make a list of at least 5 points - I would write custom points for each recipient - I wrote simply and directly - Inspired by Dale Carnegie - people like to be liked 3️⃣ sell the CONVERSATION, not the opportunity - I never pushed people into existential consideration - I only asked them for 15 minutes, they could spare it - I NEVER sold the role or company, I'd only give them 1 sentence about it 4️⃣ be very direct - I always told people "I think you could be a fit for a job here" - But... I never said the specific job, or qualified it further - People need to know what you want, but they don't need all the details 5️⃣ use humor - I've meme'd since the dawn of my professional time - It seemed to work, lots of people just wanted to respond - Them responding = opening to get them on a call 6️⃣ be fast + use tools - you need to move fast to get 50 good messages out per day - I used a template to populate my open + add bullet points (but not content) - I used TextExpander to insert saved "custom" points. If I'd already written to a musician and explained why I thought their background in music made them an interesting prospect for an engineering role, I'd save that exact verbiage and re-insert it with TextExpander in future messages. - I use all the gmail hotkeys, it helps give you little bits of advantage on a process you will repeat tens or hundreds of thousands of times - it's worth getting gud -------------------------------------- That's it. Remember that people like being liked. Remember that no one cares about you. Remember not to force people to think too far ahead. Oh... and remember that 90% of the time, it won't be the right time, and that's just the process of finding the 10% who are ready to talk.