Five simple ways to improve your cold emails

Most people only do a little bit of genuinely cold new business. As a result, they’re sending out email campaigns in such small numbers (and so infrequently) that it’s almost impossible to draw any conclusions as to whether one campaign (and therefore one ‘style’) does any better than the other.

The advantage of being in our position is that ALL WE DO is genuinely cold channel prospecting. As a result we get to test the hell out of any and all variables you might consider in an email outreach campaign. How many paragraphs should it be? Do we say “hello” or “hi”? etc. - you get the point: WE KNOW WHAT WE’RE DOING. So here are five tips to help you do better with your cold emails.

1) Don’t try to tell the recipient EVERYTHING about your company. This email should be the teaser trailer, not the whole movie.

2) Tell them WHY you are getting in touch. Show that you’ve done some research. Don’t just list your services; talk about the things you know will benefit them.

3) Feel free to name-drop relevant current/previous clients. People like to know they’re in good company, so flaunt your connections.

4) Don’t ‘jazz up’ your email. If you were sending a genuine email by your own hand it would be simple text. As soon as someone receives an animating HTML email they know they are being sold to. Be authentic, not flashy.

5) Don’t waste a PS. You’ve sent a nice casual non-HTML email, but a simple “here’s the work we did for…” hyperlink snuck into a PS. is a nice way to give them a little breadcrumb trail to follow.

If you want to know more about doing better new business development, you know how to get in touch with us.

Happy hunting.

Are we prospecting? Always.

During a casual chat with a competitor, I was asked when we like to prospect? I thought he meant specific hours of the day, but actually he meant months of the year. I then realised that we might be the only new business agency that prospects ALL YEAR ROUND!

Yes, August is a weird month, but that’s just a great opportunity to revisit data, stop sending emails (unless you LOVE out-of-office replies) and get everything in order before the rest of the year starts hurtling towards Christmas with the brakes off.

B2B Sales Connections recently ran a “3 Best B2B Sales Prospecting Tips” article, with one of the titular “3” looking at exactly this: “When should you prospect?” One tip I liked was to make sure you understand where every prospect is in their own buying cycle. If they’re one month into a new contract, there’s very little point setting a reminder to talk to them again in one month’s time to “see how they’re getting on”. You’re better off finding out when a review will take place and then popping up down the line as if it’s lucky timing. Such a review might take place at the halfway point or in five years’ time, but if you gather that information while you’re connected, you at least stand a chance of a more meaningful outcome when you next talk (and you’ll look smart for being switched-on enough to ask in the first place).

We challenge our own business development managers to never just accept a “try me again in six months” fob off. We’d rather say “no” as long as we then say something like: “I’d rather call back when we can have a proper conversation that moves things forward; when would that be?” Often this prompts the prospect to reveal “when the contract ends in 24 months” but at least now we know to stop wasting everyone’s time, set a realistic reminder, and to move on to the next target.

We also try to avoid arbitrarily writing off Summer… writing off Christmas… writing off the bit after Christmas… etc. Gather information and react to that rather than what the calendar says. And while you’re at it, why not research when your prospect’s next big anniversary is. Is it coming up to their first anniversary? Their 10th birthday? Their centenary even? They are BOUND to be doing something big around these events, so say hello eight months before that date, make them aware that you’ve done your homework, and ask how you can help make this momentous occasion go off with a bang.

‘Lucky timing’ is way more under your control than you realise.

3 interesting ways to find new business leads.

1)      The competitors of those in the trade press

The news you read about a company wanting to appoint an agency is toxic to your new business endeavours. Firstly, if it’s in the trade press, it’s old. The best case scenario is that every agency on the planet has contacted the prospect. Most commonly though, the lead is now cold. Leave them alone and focus on the competitors of the company in question. If one company in a sector is used to outsourcing, then many of its competitors will be too. They’ll also be aware of the review and might be considering their own marketing support.

 
2)      The brands your team would like to work on

When we conduct our briefing days with new clients, one of the things we do is talk to the team at the agency and talk about dream clients. Once we’ve got Apple, Innocent, Audi and Nike out of the way, some really interesting ideas often emerge. It stands to reason that brands that your team feel enthusiastic about are the ones they could help write an amazing pitch for. And if you win the business, they’ll love working on it. No downside.

 
3)      The Top 10 of everything

Walk around your office and list everything (and I mean everything). For example:

-         Phone
-         Desk
-         Radiator
-         Blinds
-         Light switches
-         Fluorescent tubes
-         Doors
-         Door furniture
-         Squash racquet (hardly used)
-         Carpets
-         Copper pipes
-         Sink
-         Bin

All of these have manufacturers. Most of them are in sectors rarely approached by agencies. Find the top 10 of each (I’m not telling you how – you’re supposed to hire us) and then consider whether they’re marketed effectively. It’s a little trivial, but it’ll get you away from having new business planning sessions where you decide that FMCG, lifestyle and food and drink are the best sectors to target because they're famous.