I had a question a while back about emailing clients. He asked about mailing a client. Then he returned, “Yeah but if you didn’t know this or have that, then the cold email wouldn’t work.”
(I’m paraphrasing the above – it was all a little longer in the tooth than that.)
It goes without saying that a cold email and a warm email are very different things. When people email about stuff on this blog, for instance, they already know who I am and what I’m about. In return, I assume they’ve read at least some of my stuff and thus know where I’m generally coming from.
If someone messages me on Twitter, I have a different set of assumptions. If they ask me out of the blue while I’m walking around outside somewhere, then there are a different set of assumptions.
So here are a set of assumptions about asking about your work and how you’d go about talking to people about what you do, what you offer and why.
Cold Email Assumptions
At the very least, you’ll have these assumptions if you’re cold emailing out of the blue without any connection whatsoever:
- The person doesn’t know you.
- You need to convince them to check out your [landing page or hook]
- You can’t assume familiarity (This is something that gurus teach but never works)
- It’s best to be pretty strict on the email itself, then salesy once they’ve clicked
- You only have a 1% chance of it working realistically
- Interesting a person is a case of initially hooking them and then promising value realistically
- Time is not on your side. Be economical with the words you use
Those assumptions will help you on a pure-cold email. You’ll notice a ton of people making these mistakes if they approach you.
Here’s what I do when I cold email:
“Hi. I saw you were having X issue and figured I could offer you some help. Here’s a quick fix.
If you need more help, let me know.
Jamie”
Something like that will convert into a reply a lot more than whatever dumb thing you get spammed with a million times.
You can make this more complicated by sending someone to a help page or other specifically customised page.
I suggest you write each message individually. It’s very hard to write an email for thousands of people that reads like it’s for an individual. That’s why people pay copywriters.
Retargeting Viewers
Let’s talk about retargeting. It’s a big business, and it should be bigger.
Retargeting is where you see an ad and then the company follows up on that first ad. You’ll most commonly find it when you’ve been browsing a store online, then you click off and check your Facebook. You’ll find that the store seems to “follow you around” with ads. This can also take the form of emails if you browse Amazon or other social media channels.
A lot of people don’t understand direct marketing, so they believe in one or two things:
- Once you can retarget someone you’ve practically made the sale
- People need X amount of exposures before they’re ready to buy
If you believe either of those things… you’re wrong. Sorry.
The latter is a case of big marketing companies trying to justify the fact they can’t guarantee sales. “Yeah, well, nobody bought anything after you gave us $50k for a TV spot… but think of the exposure! If you continue to buy more advertising, eventually they’ll pay!”
Stupid.
I’ve bought stuff on impulse having never seen it before. I’ve also seen a thousand Mercedes TV ads and never bought a Mercedes.
Here’s the deal with both points: Someone has seen you. They are aware of your product. That’s the foot in the door.
You still have to make them walk through it. The assumption with retargeting is that they are aware and you have to build their desire. So do that.
Warm Emails
Let’s say someone comes to you. They want your service or are seeking your advice. Maybe they are a previous client looking to upgrade or buy something else.
What do you do?
You assume that they’re interested in you and are seeking the solutions you provide. If someone emails you and says, “Hey, I’m really interested in your product but I wonder how long it takes to ship?” you have a single job.
Don’t Mess Up.
Let me repeat; your single job is this:
Don’t Mess Up.
When you have a warm lead, they are interested and knowledgeable about your brand, product or service. They want to buy. A lot of them will be asking specific questions that show that the decision to buy is already made.
The worst thing you can do is not give them a chance to buy.
The second worst thing you can do is mess up by overselling them.
Think about when you go into a computer store. I only go into a computer store when I’m checking out new computers because I want to buy one.
Most of them lose the sale because they won’t just let me look at a new computer.
Stop swarming me. Stop saying, “Hey… have you considered the Nimbus 3000 super-duper upgrade?” or “Maybe you should switch to a Mac if you use your computer for actual work!”
If you have a warm lead, act like a normal human being and give the person the information they need. Then soft sell.
You assume that they’re going to buy, and you’re just getting the technical details in order.
Final Thoughts
So there you have it: A set of assumptions to use when you’re planning different aspects of your outreach to clients.
Most people go wrong when they don’t understand where their customers are in terms of the decision to purchase. If you hit a person too early with sales talk, they’ll think you’re a slick, silver-tongued salesman. If you oversell someone who already wants to buy, then again, they’ll think you’re a slick snake oil salesman.
As always, your customer goes from unaware/uninterested to aware/interested and your job is to determine where they are on their journey.