Why Prospects Ignore Low Energy Emails

"Stop sending follow-up emails" That's what I told a struggling VP of Sales last month His team was sending 8,000+ emails weekly Converting almost none of them He thought I was insane Until we implemented a "no follow-up" policy and their pipeline exploded → Here's what most sales leaders miss: Your prospects aren't ignoring you because you haven't followed up enough They're ignoring you because you haven't said anything worth responding to After auditing 50+ B2B sales processes, I've found the same pattern: - 8+ follow-up emails to the same prospect - Each one more desperate than the last - Generic templates with fake personalization - Zero actual value added All while sales managers chant "persistence pays off!" The brutal truth? It doesn't One client was sending 14-touch sequences to every lead Their final response rate? A pathetic 0.7% We completely redesigned their approach: - Cut all automated follow-ups - Created industry-specific research for each target account - Developed 3 unique insights for every prospect - Built a "no pitch" first conversation model The results : - Response rate jumped to 20% - Meetings-to-opportunity conversion: Up 200% - Sales cycle: Reduced from 107 days to 70 - Team morale: Transformed overnight The most expensive myth in modern sales is that quantity of touches matters more than quality of insight Your prospects don't need another "just checking in" email They need someone who fundamentally understands their business challenges What if you deleted all your follow-up templates today and replaced them with actual business insights? That's not just a sales strategy That's a competitive advantage P.S. If you need help with your sales, send me a message

Why I Ignore Most Cold Messages (And Why Your Prospects Probably Do Too) I get a steady stream of cold messages every week—mostly from sales reps trying to get my attention. And I ignore 99.9% of them. Not because I’m too busy. Not because I hate being sold to. Not even because the timing is bad. I ignore them because the first message failed to do its job. It didn’t pique my interest. It didn’t hit a nerve. It didn’t make me curious, concerned, or intrigued enough to respond. And once that happens, the follow-ups— “Just checking in…” “Hey Michael, circling back…” “Did you get a chance to look at my last message?” —are just noise. By that point, the message thread is already dead. Because if your first touch doesn’t start a fire, there’s nothing to follow up on. Cold outreach only works when the first message does one thing: It makes the prospect feel something. Something like: “Wait… that’s actually a problem I’m dealing with.” “I haven’t thought about it like that before.” “That’s too accurate to ignore.” That’s what a great cold call or message does. It doesn’t sell the solution. It sells the problem—by creating it and lighting it on fire. Most reps are still pitching features, benefits, or worse—generic “value props” that sound like they were written by committee. But if you want responses, here’s the truth: No one is waiting for your follow-up. They're waiting to feel something real. If your outreach isn't sparking that, it’s not a timing issue. It’s a relevance issue. And relevance is your responsibility.

"Let me know if you have any questions." "Happy to discuss further." "Looking forward to your thoughts." Every time you end a follow-up with these wimpy closes, you're asking busy executives to do work they won't do. They're not going to think of questions. They're not going to schedule a follow-up call. They're not going to send you their thoughts. They're going to delete your email and move on with their actual job. The fix is making the next step so easy that a drunk executive could do it. Instead of "let me know if you have questions," embed your calendar link directly in the email. One click to book time. Instead of "happy to discuss further," Create a simple yes/no decision box: "Ready to see the ROI calculation? Yes | No" Instead of hoping they'll respond with their availability, give them three specific time slots to choose from. The most powerful follow-up technique? Use their exact words from your call. When Jessica said she's "bleeding money on software licenses," don't paraphrase it. Quote it exactly. Reference her Thursday board meeting. Add one insight she didn't know. There's nothing more impossible to ignore than hearing your own words reflected back with new value attached. Your generic templates sound like every other vendor they're ghosting. But your personalized follow-ups that reference specific moments from your conversation get responses. Stop making prospects do the work of figuring out next steps. Start making it obvious how they move forward. Every follow-up is life or death for your deal. Most AEs are committing suicide with their own emails. Don’t be like most AEs.

Booked meetings don’t mean closed deals. This is the #1 mistake that kills conversions. We recently conducted a client pipeline review, and what we found was shocking. They had leads. They had over 40 meetings booked. But zero clients. The problem wasn’t complex; it was shockingly simple. They were failing at follow-ups.   Not that they were irrelevant. They were just generic. ❌Routine check-ins.   ❌Generic “hope you’re doing well” emails. Your prospects don’t need another email to ignore. They need a reason to listen. We’re all competing for the same thing - time and attention.  Sending rote follow-ups doesn’t just get ignored; it loses you the deal. Here’s what we suggested: ✅ Send curated content that’s relevant to their challenges. Don’t just ask for another meeting. Highlight the urgency and subtly remind them of their pain points. "Hi [Name], I just recorded this quick video to explain how our AI tool has already helped businesses like yours optimize their websites. Thought I'd share how we can approach [client-specific issue]. Check it out!" ✅ Every touchpoint should offer something useful—a solution, a new perspective, an insight they didn’t expect. "I came across this report on optimizing website performance for companies in [client’s industry], and I thought it might be useful for you, considering our last discussion. Let me know if it resonates." ✅ Use the insights from your discovery calls. Double down on what resonated with them the most, and use that to drive urgency. "I ran some quick numbers for your site using our AI tool, and it flagged [specific issue] as a potential area for improvement. Here's a snapshot of what our tool can find in just minutes." ✅ Present data-driven insights relevant to their goals. This would help them take stock of the situation and speed up the decision making process. "We’ve found that even a 1-second delay in website load time can lead to a 7% reduction in conversions. Based on our analysis of your site, our AI identified ways to speed things up by at least 1.5 seconds." With proper follow-ups, they’re now seeing better results. Follow-ups should not be procedural. To win your prospects’ time, attention, and trust, you need to make every interaction count. Offer value to receive value. #B2BSales #salestips #followups #pipelinegrowth 

Your prospects don’t need another “Hope you’re doing well” in their inbox. And they definitely don’t need another “Just following up…” If your outreach sounds like everyone else’s, it gets ignored. Every salesperson is saying the same thing. Every inbox is flooded with weak, low-effort messages. If you want a response, you need to stand out. Here’s what you should STOP saying: "I’d love to connect!" → No one connects for the sake of connecting. "Are you the right person for this?" → Lazy research kills deals. "Let me know if you’re interested." → Your job is to create interest, not wait for it. Instead, say something worth replying to. Open with relevance: “I saw your post on [topic], and…” Make it about them: “Curious—how are you handling [pain point]?” Challenge their thinking: “Why are you doing [X] this way, when you could do [Y] instead?” Provide value upfront: “We found [insight] works best for [pain point]. Thought you’d find it useful.” The best messages feel natural. They read like something you’d send to a colleague. No fluff.  No filler.  No corporate nonsense. Fix your outreach, and you’ll fix your response rates. Share this with your team if they’re still sending bad messages.

No replies? You're probably solving the wrong problem Prospects don't care about your solution Let me explain: Most cold emails jump straight to the offer. But your prospect isn’t thinking about your offer. They’re thinking about their pain points They’re wondering if you can actually solve something that's hurting their business Here’s how you can do it properly: - Start with the pain point Forget your offer for a second. Focus 100% on what your prospect is struggling with today. Example: “You're spending hours daily chasing leads — but still not getting meetings.” - Describe the pain point vividly Make them feel it. Be specific, not vague. Example: “Your sales team is losing deals because your emails get buried in busy inboxes.” - Only then, offer relief Your solution should feel like oxygen to someone gasping for air. Example: “We build you a cold email engine that books meetings predictably, so you spend less time chasing and more time closing.” - Test different pain points Most businesses stop at one pain point. Test 3-5 angles per ICP to find the strongest one. Example: “No meetings from outbound” “Inconsistent pipeline” “High client churn” “Low lead-to-close rate” Bottom line: Pain comes first. Solution comes second. Make them feel their own pain points. Then show them the way out. P.S. What’s the biggest pain point your ICP faces right now?

Main reason why your cold e-mails getting ignored → they look exactly like cold emails. People do not care about another e-mail starting with: “Hope you are doing well” "Hi {Name}, My name is ..." "I've been following your company for a while" They care when you show them you actually know their business. What triggers their mental SPAM filter: Basic personalization Asking for a call too soon Too many links or attachments Lack of social proof or credibility Pitch that could apply to anyone Overly formal or robotic language Long paragraphs with no clear structure No clear value or relevance to the recipient Low effort = no results Instead: 1. Show you've done your homework: Mention your observation - something specific about their business. 2. Get straight to the point: Cut the fluff. Make it clear why you're reaching out and how it benefits them. 3. Sound like a human (because you are): Write like you would in a real conversation. 4. Give before you ask: Offer a lead magnet, a quick win, or something valuable before pushing for a meeting. 5. Make it easy to say yes     Instead of "let's hop on a call," try a softer CTA like "Would this be relevant for you?" P.S. What would you add?

A few months ago, I spent hours crafting what I thought was the perfect cold email campaign. Clean copy. Concise subject lines. A/B tested CTAs. And then… silence. Barely any replies. I went back to the drawing board and asked myself: "If I were on the receiving end of this, would I care?" Turns out, I had made the classic mistake. The emails didn’t really address a problem my audience was facing. They were technically sound, but not relevant. After analyzing over 11 million emails, the conclusion is clear (read the report below): 71% of people ignore cold emails because they don’t address a relevant problem. That stat hit home. Now, every campaign I write starts with a single question: "What specific problem am I solving for this person?" And it’s made all the difference. If your emails are being ignored, don’t start by tweaking your subject lines or switching tools. Start with relevance. #coldemail

My talk bombed. Storytime. I gave the same prospecting talk twice at a sales kickoff. Same stories. Same slides. Same jokes. Same delivery. The first talk? Nailed it. The room was alive. AEs and SDRs were nodding, laughing, asking questions, taking notes. The second talk? Total flop. Blank stares. No engagement. I might as well have been reading IKEA instructions out loud. What changed? The audience. The first group was responsible for generating new business through outbound. The second group? Account managers focused on growing existing accounts. They don’t cold call. They don’t send cold emails. So nothing I said landed. Cold calls and cold emails fail for the same reason. You might have a great message. You might deliver it perfectly. But if it’s not relevant to the person on the other end? It bombs. You’re not being ignored because your email isn’t clever enough. You’re being ignored because your message doesn’t matter to them. That’s the part you can control. Your ability to make it matter. And that starts before you ever write a word. Slow down. Make sure you’re building a list of the right people. Because sending the same message to everyone at a company? That’s bananas. Different people care about different things. So build different lists for different messages. Because otherwise, you’re not speaking with people, You’re just speaking at them.