Cold emails work, especially if they’re not cold.
I got hit up by a start-up founder with a cold email in response to a post I placed on @IndieHackers. It’s worth sharing as it’s a great example of how to start a sales conversation.
"Hi Brendan, I found your answers on Indiehackers quite interesting and since you're an expert in sales thought I'd take a chance & reach out!"
Off to a good start. 1) Personal. 2) Explained how he found me. 3) Deft compliment w/o being smarmy. (An “expert” in sales… of course!)
"I'm trying to make tracking the information on when the prospect is most likely to buy less of a pain for B2B salespeople through a curated database."
Also good. 1) Specific description of the problem/solution. 2) ‘B2B’ and ‘salespeople’ so again applicable to me.
Two sentences in and I’m intrigued.
"I have a few early customers but need feedback from experts in the B2B space to understand who (and how) will benefit from it the most. You've been successful at it for a while, would you have time to check this out?"
There’s the ‘ask.’
This founder is still in customer development and product definition mode, so a request for feedback from an ‘expert’ (me…I feel warm all over now) is all he wants. Not selling, but looking for comments. And “would you have time” is a nice touch.
Then, two links to review.
Four sentences, but tailored. And by starting with how he knows me, we share a community. And then we share interests (B2B, sales, start-ups.)
So I responded. Checked out his new product. Gave it some thought and sent him a Loom video.
Here’s the kicker…After checking out my comments, he tweeted a shout out thank you and retweeted one of my posts. Win/win. And unexpected.
And I’ll probably end up buying his product. Well done, @akhilpedia!