Let’s be honest. Most cold outreach sucks. It’s painfully clear and obvious when you are the recipient of a generic, automated, wide net email blast.
DELETE.
So if you are going to invest time and resources in prospecting (which you should)…let’s establish some baseline rules
- You are going to be highly targeted.
- You are going to be custom.
- You are going to be consistent.
- You are going to add value.
Highly targeted
- Using your “Blue Chip” profile, narrow the list of prospects to those who align with your key characteristics (demographics, psychographics, trigger events). The smaller the list the better.
- Research that list of prospects to ensure they are worthy of your focused time and energy.
- Establish a Top 10 “Blue Chip” list of prospects.
- Identify the key stakeholders within each prospects to initiate your outreach.
Custom
- Make them feel like they are one of a very small number of prospects you are pursuing (because they are).
- Tailor your outreach messaging for each prospect (stakeholder, industry, etc.).
- Create and share content that is timely and relevant to your stakeholder / prospect (their wants / needs, pains & desired gains).
Consistent
- Establish a specific outreach sequence that is “just right” (not a one-and-done).
- Utilize a 3-pronged approach using LinkedIn (to be seen), email (to articulate your value messaging) and voicemail (to show you genuine interest in connecting).
Add Value
- Most importantly, focus on adding value at each and every step.
- Create and procure resources that help them better understand the problems they are trying to solve.
- Create and procure resources that inform, educate and teach, so they are better equipped to solve those problems.
The Bottom Line: Cold outreach can be an incredibly valuable business development strategy IF you do it right.
Be human, be honest, be straightforward and most importantly…add value.