Ahh, March – a tricky time of year. Warmer weather is on the horizon and winter is practically in the rearview mirror. It’s quite literally (and metaphorically) a period of rebirth, rejuvenation, and renewal – a great time to rediscover a passion for prospecting and – dare I say – COLD CALLS. However, a sudden series of cold snaps can make those notorious cold calls a little bit colder, so allow us to offer some advice on warming up your cold call process.
Here at P1 Learning our cold “call” process starts with an email… actually two emails and then a phone call. We’ll call it a three-step process, because realistically it’ll take at least two if not all three of these steps to setup an initial appointment.
Oh, and a quick word of caution. Emails can be a guessing game and unfortunately there’s not one almighty email template. However, we’ve crafted the following email samples from ones that have worked well for our team and will hopefully help yours.
The first email that we send out rarely gets a response (like almost never). However, this first email is important because it’s the perfect setup for the follow-up email which is designed to be personalized and grab their attention. Go ahead, give it a read…
Email #1:
NAME,
I wanted to quickly introduce myself as our media company, YOUR COMPANY NAME, provides radio, television, and digital advertising to Company A, Company B, Company C and others.
As your schedule allows, I’d love to learn about PROSPECTIVE COMPANY’S NAME AND THE THING YOU WANT (ex. ABC Company’s initiatives to drive in new business). Are you around the week of March 15th for a quick discussion by phone?
(Include your standard footer)
I know what you’re thinking… nothing revolutionary here, right? Again, it’s all about the setup, so don’t overcomplicate the first email. It’s fairly direct and provides company credibility through your existing clients. So let’s move to the second email, which is typically sent out one week later after the first email didn’t get a response. However, if you did receive a response from this first email, setup the appointment and go buy a lottery ticket, because things are just working for you my friend!
Email #2:
Hi again, NAME –
I know your inbox is probably a busy place, so I just wanted to send a quick follow-up email. I’d love to chat with PROSPECTIVE COMPANY’S NAME AND THE THING YOU WANT (ex. ABC Company’s initiatives to drive in customers through marketing). My original email is copied below for quick reference.
Look forward to connecting,
John (place your name above your standard footer, it’s more personalized)
(Include your standard footer)
This time we’re specifically calling out the fact that they more than likely missed our first email. However, the difference within this second follow up is that you come across as a human (it doesn’t read automated) it reads sincere and shows that you can properly follow up.
Once again, this isn’t a magical email template, it’ll take some tweaking to make it sound like you. Our bet is that you’ll get more responses and if you do, great! Follow up and set the appointment. And if you don’t… it’s time to proceed to step three, the actual cold call. When you pick up the phone and call this individual go ahead and mention the previously sent emails. More often than not they will say A) “I didn’t receive it” or B) won’t admit to you that they received it and deleted it. But at least it shows that you can be persistent and helpful without being too much of a pest.
Keep in mind that people are flooded with calls and emails every day, so give these samples your own voice to make it applicable to your audience and have fun with the process. Best of luck and let us know how it goes! In fact, if you’re looking for additional training content, checkout our video course titled, “How To Leave Sales Voicemails” along with “Cold Calling”.
Looking for specific content? Let us know! We’re happy to make course recommendations based on your needs. Otherwise, here’s to warmer cold calls this spring!