Nov 09, 2015 | 4 minute read

The Elements of Cold Emails for B2B Sales

Cold emails are essentially the new cold calls and, if done correctly, can have a HUGE impact on your business. Emphasis on done correctly. There are many elements that need to be addressed when composing your cold email – let’s go through them together and see how we can use cold emailing to increase your sales and grow your business.

Let’s Start at the Beginning… Subject Line

The subject line is really going to be the thing that determines whether or not the person on the other end of the email decides to open your email and read it, or to trash it.

• You need to be engaging and specific with your subject.
• Address the recipient by name whenever possible.
• Do you reread it and feel like it might be a bit too stiff – like a marketing email? Delete and start again.
• Make your subject relevant. If you’re reaching out to make a sale or garner interest in your product and you start with a bait and switch subject line – that really diminishes your business in the recipient’s eyes. Honesty really does work.

Examples of good cold email subjects:

• Hi , *Introduction Word(s)*
• A simple, leading question that will be answered in the body of the email
• A “quick request/response” statement
• *Recipient’s company name*
• Product or service statement

You’ve got your subject, now what?

You have found the perfect, engaging subject to start off your cold email, now what do you do? Let’s go over the do’s and don’ts of the cold email body.

• A simple email is the best approach. If you get too in depth, you will lose the interest of the recipient. Get to the point and keep on topic for the best response rates.
• Also, keep the email focused on the recipient. The use of the “I” will not benefit you or your company. You will benefit from their time, but they will benefit from your product. Keep focused on how the product or service that you are emailing about is going to make their day better, their business grow, their sales skyrocket, etc.
• 3 to 4 sentences should cover what you need to say to garner enough interest to have them visiting your site or scheduling that demo.
• Looking to schedule a meeting or a lunch? Set the day and time (make it interesting: 12:05 on Wednesday) and set the duration (a quick 20 minute presentation). Doing this will help you to stand out and set the expectations.
• Don’t ask for a good time to meet – you will miss out on an opportunity because the recipient is too busy to actually come up with a good time to meet (we are all busy, there is no good time to add more work and another thing to do during the day).
• Include your direct contact information with a link back to your company website. I am always shocked at how many emails go out without direct links back to the company website.

And close…

You’ve made your pitch, you’ve outlined how great this product/service is going to be for the recipient, you’ve set a perfect time to meet/talk/email, and you’ve provided direct access to your businesses website so that the recipient can quickly click to view more about you and what you have to offer — now close. A quick “Cheers” and you’re out.

Interested in taking it to the next level…?

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