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The cold emails which got me meetings at Twitter, LinkedIn and GitHub
- swalsh 13y ago" I learned that people you approach through intros will probably meet with you as a favor to someone else but they won’t use a new product unless they have a good reason, time and will." There's a lot of truth to this. We once approached a team in a "big telcom". Another team at the company referred us to them because the product was relatively successful for their purposes. The new team took the time to listen to us, and I think understood our value proposition, but these guys were dinosaurs. The prospect of changing how they do things, and taking a risk buying an expensive product was not interesting to them. They seemed more interested in coasting until their upcoming retirement.
- jeanjq 13y agoThis rule apply pretty much everywhere and especially to VC. If you want to talk to a VC find some one who can introduce you. If you can't do that then work on your network.
- waterside81 13y agoThe advice in this post combined with Dan Shipper's awesome post the other day (http://danshipper.com/nothing-happens-until-the-sale-is-made http://danshipper.com/nothing-happens-until-the-sale-is-made) serves as a great blueprint for how to kickstart your startup's sales. Not sure what it was about Dan's post, but it really resonated with me and motivated me to make 8 sales pitches yesterday. Already got 2 replies, one negative, one positive. Point being, if you don't shoot, you can't score.
- wslh 13y agoI prefer to start sending messages via LinkedIn InMail to pass spam filters. That's their main advantage. Another positive thing about LinkedIn is adding context: the recipient is aware that the distance between him and you is short.
- reidrac 13y agoThat's interesting. To me looks like almost 100% of the time LinkedIn messages are misdirected and too close to be spam that I almost never bother to reply if I'm not genuinely interested. When I get a proper email directly to my inbox, it immediately gets my attention and it's likely to get a reply.
- wslh 13y ago99% of the messages and invitations I receive from e-mail and LinkedIn users are by people who want to connect without studying what I do. They don't follow the basics. BUT, the messages I send try to be laser focused and I have a good success rate of conversions (~20%)
- reidrac 13y agoI guess LinkedIn messages are easier for lazy/busy people that need to contact lots of people. If I get a direct email that is definitely not based on a template means that that person a) found my mail and b) spent some time on the process, so I usually reply as courtesy. I applaud your approach, although I think it's difficult to get noticed in a noisy channel and LinkedIn messages are overused.
- wslh 13y agoStrange downvote....
- orenbarzilai 13y ago99% of the messages I get in linkedin are spam, and their messages interface sucks. linkedin is the lowest thing in my list.
- wslh 13y agoWell, we had critical success with it. For example, in a few days there will be a joint press release between a top virtualization company and my company. This was achieved through LinkedIn InMail.
- alsothings 13y agoI cannot get passed the title. Unless the only cold emails the author sent were the ones that got the meetings, s/which/that. (Actually I did read the article, and in it she says "cold emails produced 7 meetings at Twitter, Klout, LinkedIn", so either she sent 7 cold emails or the title should use 'that' not 'which')
- Udo 13y agoSince we're doing grammar advice: > I cannot get passed the title I think, and please correct me if I'm wrong, this should be "I cannot get past the title". :) A bit of lenience might be in order since the author is from Israel and English may not be her first language (then again, native speakers might not necessarily do better).
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- alsothings 13y agoI thought you were right for a second, but I'm fairly certain that 'passed' is what I meant. It's the past tense of pass, and thus the correct word. see http://www.grammar-monster.com/easily_confused/past_passed.htm http://www.grammar-monster.com/easily_confused/past_passed.h... for a good set of examples. I appreciate that the which/that distinction is tricky, but one is a restrictive clause and the other is not, changing the meaning of the sentence.
- cyxxon 13y agoThe site you linked to explains why "past" is correct IMO: "To pass often means to move past, and this is where confusion can arise. Of note, to pass can also mean to sail past, to fly past, to run past, to hop past, etc. - the method of moving is irrelevant. This is worth bearing in mind, because if you have used a verb indicating motion already, then it will be partnered with past and not passed." The verb here would be "get". See the examples at the bottom for use as a preposition. Or did I now fuck it up again? ;)
- hawkharris 13y agoThe advice in this post is excellent. I would only add that it can be more effective to open by mentioning the other person's work and / or achievements (instead of pitching yourself and your company in the first paragraph). Most people are selfish and they want to know what's in it for them, even if that something is just recognition.
- asdfologist 13y agoMany smart people would see right through it.
- hawkharris 13y agoSee through what? If you're inclined to contact a person or company, you probably do admire that person or organization's work. If you genuinely appreciate it, let them know sooner rather than later. And if you don't, don't contact them.
- waterside81 13y agoI think your point about making your pitch about the other person is bang on, but for different reasons. The whole reason why someone would use your software/product is because it benefits them. So starting off by saying something like "Our product X can help increase your sales by 10%" is just good salesmanship.
- omn1 13y agoThe title is horrible. "Marketing for Developers -- Applying a low touch approach". Hm, that looks like something in my ads/spam folder. The mail starts with some random blurb about the company. Honestly I don't care (yet). All I would think is: Why are you contacting me? How did you find out about me? They say they solve problems. Which problems? How are they related to my field of work? After that I wouldn't even care to read the rest. Sorry, this is bad execution.
- free652 13y agoI'd probably even never open such email on my business email. I get a lot of random emails from a lot of people, I don't think they're the first to figure firstname.lastname@business.com out.
- alxndr 13y agoWhen I get recruiter spam to my work email, I always ask how the writer came across my address. Usually I don't get a response, but sometimes I've had them come clean about either using a service, or guessing.
- jhspaybar 13y agoI spent 8 years as a car salesman, and I almost had to laugh at the things in here. I did mostly email and telephone based sales and this single blog post seems to sum up the years of training I had at various dealerships. In retrospect, much of it is obvious, but it's really awkward to say things like "I'll be in town the week of X and would like to set up time either Tuesday morning or Wednesday afternoon, which works for you?". There's a ton more in there that is really great advice, but as someone who was a relatively successful salesman, if you're not a salesman and you're criticizing this or think this is cheesy, please understand this is how you "sell". When this is being done to you, most people don't realize it, and even like the presentation. Even as someone trained in many of these techniques, you know they're being used, but if done properly it just makes for a pleasant experience and you don't even care.
- erikb 13y agoA lot of them don't apply just to selling stuff, e.g., being specific alone is always a very valuable skill.
- marban 13y agoThe only that's missing are a couple of quotes from Glengarry Glen Ross
- mindcrime 13y agoWe've added a little something to this month's sales contest. As you know, first prize is a Cadillac El Dorado. Know what second prize is? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is, you're fired.
- mn321x 13y agoI wonder much success an overweight, typically bearded engineer would have with the same cold emails? Surely the appeal of meeting an attractive brunette must have helped? Yes I'm cynical, but good looks have been found to have a significant influence on success at interviews.
- rrhyne 13y agoThe email doesn't contain the headshot. I'm betting most people don't research me, but they do research the link in my emails. However, if thats the only type of person your clientele will talk to, theN hire a smart, driven brunette, or blonde or a guy who walks some other part that fits the role.
- sssparkkk 13y agoShe has a Google+ page with a headshot that will be shown next to her email when using gmail.
- erikb 13y agoIt is like the introduction. It increases the number first approaches but not necessarily the number of closes.
- yogo 13y agoPresentation matters, whether it is the way you look (naturally), the way you dress, or the way you designed the documents you hand out.
- notacoward 13y agoThat would certainly make an interesting A/B test. "Attractive brunette" might be such a radioactive phrase that I shouldn't even be commenting, but I'm sure there are differences between picture vs. no picture, young vs. old, light skin vs. dark, and so on. The only question is how large or consistent those differences are, and the only way to get an answer is to measure.
- jsonne 13y agoAs someone who lost ~60 lbs. in the last year it's quite shocking how much of a difference it makes. Not closing deals mind you, but getting your foot in the door. (which is 50% of the battle anyways)
- alecsmart1 13y agoA little unrelated, but for cold emailing, should I be using my Google business email or another generic email? I do not want to get banned if someone reports it as spam. Would you recommend any webhost which I can use for this safely?
- belorn 13y agoSending unsolicited marketing to people is always hazardously. Not only do you have to worry about your email account and domain name reputation, but there are also national and local laws to consider.
- Spiritus 13y agoWhat's a cold email? I don't get it.
- martinshen 13y agoJust a quick heads up: you spelt Takipi as Tapiki in the first sentence.
- GruppeC956 13y agoGreat post! Have already forwarded it to one of our sales guys. One thing I would like to add from personal experience: It's really easy these days to connect to a lot of people on LinkedIn that you have never met or even heard of before. I am tempted to say the acceptance quote of a "cold connection" is about 50%. Once your network has a decent size, you can connect to almost anyone from your industry (in our case gaming and mobile) even if you only have a free LinkedIn account (like I do) because you have a least a couple of people from their company already within your 2nd/3rd degree connections, and then you can literally add the entire board. Believe me, more C-level guys than you might think will accept you if your profile looks like you are a decent person. The reason I writing all this is that I have been much more successful getting meetings through LinkedIn than through cold email. I feel that if I send a LinkedIn message to somebody I am connected to (but that I do not know whatsoever), that person is much more likely to a) open the message in the first place because the sender is not anonymous but rather has a name, face, and a job, and therefore b) also much more likely to read/digest what I am actually writing. And from here it is only really about what you have to say and sell anyways.... The bottom line is that while LinkedIn is a tool intended for connecting people that know each other, it actually works best for connecting (and selling something) to people you do not know at all. Give it a shot!
- wslh 13y agoBeyond what I said below about the effectivity of LinkedIn InMail, I don't like cold connections because I think it give less value and strength to the network. If the graph is complete (fully connected) what is the value behind the edges?
- late2part 13y agoI'd like to see a comparative study of how this works for a slender attractive female such as the author v. a fat older man.
- orenbarzilai 13y agoYes she is attractive. But people open her emails and respond because of the content, it's not like they see the subject and skips the content directly to her Thailand facebook album.
- gugol 13y agoI wonder which the results would be if she was a man or had a different (unattractive) profile picture...
- dror 13y agoThe line between "cold emails" and spam is quite thin. If you don't want me to mark your email as spam: * Do your research about me and my company and what we need. If we're a scala shop, yeah, I'd be interested, but if we're a python shop, you're likely to annoy me with your pitch for a scala product. * The fact that you're the co-founder certainly helps. * Use your company's email. Using a random gmail account makes me think that you're using it as a throwaway account. Don't even think of using hotmail, yahoo, etc. * Don't spray. If I find out that you've sent emails to 5 of my co-workers at the same time, you're much more likely to go to spam. I've been on the other side, and these are all rules that I've used when I tried to get people interested in my products.