But does cold email make sense?<\/p>\n
There are seeminly endless articles saying yes and no, but history shows that if a certain sales strategy doesn\u2019t work, it stops being used.<\/p>\n
Cold email gets you in front of your ideal target customers.<\/p>\n
The problem is most (like almost everyone) gets one of three things wrong.<\/p>\n
- \n
- There isn\u2019t a narrowed down buyer profile \/ customer profile \/ buyer persona<\/li>\n
- Poor data and bad prospecting<\/a> habits<\/li>\n
- They send a sales letter to a cold contact<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Let\u2019s go deeper into these issues.<\/p>\n
Figuring Out Your Favorite Customers <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Think of your favorite customer for a minute.<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s been paying you month after month without raising one single complaint. Maybe they\u2019ve sent you a couple other buyers just like them.<\/p>\n
- \n
- What industry?<\/li>\n
- What roles?<\/li>\n
- Are they spending money somewhere (e.g. Ads)?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
We all want to replicate those perfect deals, right?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s see how we can find them with LeadFuze<\/a>!<\/p>\n
Who Are You Targeting and What Industries? <\/strong><\/p>\n
Hypothetical: <\/strong>A marketing agency sells a productized-service to increase the number of positive reviews for local businesses.<\/p>\n
In LeadFuze, you\u2019d login, head to the \u201cLeads\u201d screen and begin to look for your target roles and industry.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s use the \u201cRestaurants and Bars\u201d industry as an example throughout to keep us on topic. It\u2019s a great niche due to the fact that reviews make or break small, local eating places.<\/p>\n
For the roles our hypothetical business would use, it\u2019s going to be the owners. But I\u2019m including anyone over marketing and operations. Doing this increases the number of leads and also brings in regional companies with a small executive team.<\/p>\n
The owner will likely be the shot caller, but it\u2019s good to get the emails of influencers too!<\/p>\n
Take a look at the gif below and you\u2019ll see what you just read played out in the app.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/1.-Role_Industry.gif?resize=700%2C508&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nOther Data to Include in the Search for Your Ideal Buyers<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Agencies (and any business for that matter) who have too broad of a focus end up with lackluster messaging.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s niching until it hurts that can really focus your outreach and get responses.<\/p>\n
Here are a few things that could help you narrow down your lead results to the best of the best.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Ad Spend: <\/strong>If a lead is already spending money in similar ways to what you offer \u2014 they\u2019re more likely to listen to someone who can yield better results.<\/li>\n
- Employee Size: <\/strong>Businesses that are too small may not have the budget. Too big and they may have an in-house solution for what you offer.<\/li>\n
- Hiring:<\/strong> A company that is hiring for a role in your industry could be convinced to hire out a service instead.<\/li>\n
- Tech Used: <\/strong>If leads are using marketing software products, they may want help getting better results.<\/li>\n
- News and Updates: <\/strong>Checked announcements, publications and press releases. Anything that can let you know this company is looking for solutions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Here\u2019s the LeadFuze interface going through these same factors.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/2.-Other-Data.gif?resize=700%2C488&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nNote: <\/strong>It\u2019s a good idea to start with a broad search narrowed by only a few of these categories (i.e. industry\/role\/size). The other factors can help you target the low-hanging fruit, but won\u2019t be a large amount of contacts.<\/p>\n
Start the Search<\/strong><\/h2>\n
If you were doing this manually, you\u2019d have to start with a list of leads and begin to enrich that data on your own. Going to social profiles, using several tools and sites to find everything. Luckily, LeadFuze does that for you.<\/p>\n
You input the details and hit search. Then, the app brings up the number of leads who match your search (see below gif).<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/3.-Start-Search.gif?resize=700%2C488&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nNote: <\/strong>You can see that I limited this search to roles, industry and employee size. This particular search yielded 3,417 results. These are owners or operations\/marketing execs at restaurants and bars with up to 10 employees.<\/p>\n
If you like this search, you can actually save it and come back again and again as you utilize the contacts.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/4.-Save-Search.gif?resize=700%2C364&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nAccount Based Marketing Search<\/strong><\/h2>\n
I\u2019m a big fan of coming up with a dream 100 list. Essentially, it\u2019s the 100 different accounts you dream about landing for your business. So, these are bigger companies that could dramatically improve your revenue and profit.<\/p>\n
This is just one use of account based marketing (ABM).<\/p>\n
You\u2019re targeting specific brands; trying to build out the profiles of potential decision makers and all who could eventually influence him\/her.<\/p>\n
ABM searching is also great for outreach (aside from sales). We\u2019ve used to to find the right person for content partnerships and syndication channels.<\/p>\n
The steps are simple:<\/p>\n
- \n
- List out the companies and names of individuals you\u2019d like to find.<\/li>\n
- Input what you know into LeadFuze (gif below).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/5.-Account-Based.gif?resize=700%2C403&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nCreating the Right Offer<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Knowing the email addresses of a couple thousand contacts that fit your buyer profile is awesome. But they won\u2019t do you any good if you can\u2019t get them to respond to you.<\/p>\n
Getting them to talk to you takes an offer.<\/p>\n
By offer, we don\u2019t mean what you\u2019re selling. It can at times, but 90% of sales emails<\/a> are vehemently self-promotional. Every hour, thousands of businesses send copy\/paste sales pitches in their emails.<\/p>\n
You Have to Deliver Value<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Initial outreach is about starting a dialogue. Getting them to talk to you is easier than keeping a conversation going. For that, you have to prove that you have something worth talking about.<\/p>\n
We suggest having or creating something that is worth a look (to your prospects) \u2014 then give it away for free.<\/p>\n
Here are a few ideas of what could be your offer:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Consult: <\/strong>Service businesses could offer a free consult or audit to show a business how they can benefit from what you do.<\/li>\n
- Content Exchange: <\/strong>We\u2019ve done many-a-guest post from reaching out to people we want to use LeadFuze.<\/li>\n
- Resource: <\/strong>Quality ranging from a blog post to a custom tool (e.g. things like NerdWallet creates).<\/li>\n
- Invite:<\/strong> Live events or webinars make great icebreakers for leads. Those who show up are giving you a clear sign they want to talk.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Don\u2019t Forget the Follow-Up!<\/strong><\/h2>\n
MailShake can do all of the emailing and follow-ups within the app. Meaning, there\u2019s no reason your leads should only get a single email.<\/p>\n
Follow-up emails are a great way to expand on your value proposition. Our restaurant review example could be something like some facts about how bad reviews hurt revenue of local businesses.<\/p>\n
Btw, MailShake has an incredible follow-up resource<\/a>. LeadFuze\u2019s own Damian Thompson is featured in it too!<\/p>\n
Key Tips:<\/strong><\/p>\n
- Content Exchange: <\/strong>We\u2019ve done many-a-guest post from reaching out to people we want to use LeadFuze.<\/li>\n
- Consult: <\/strong>Service businesses could offer a free consult or audit to show a business how they can benefit from what you do.<\/li>\n
- Employee Size: <\/strong>Businesses that are too small may not have the budget. Too big and they may have an in-house solution for what you offer.<\/li>\n
- Ad Spend: <\/strong>If a lead is already spending money in similar ways to what you offer \u2014 they\u2019re more likely to listen to someone who can yield better results.<\/li>\n
- They send a sales letter to a cold contact<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n