Creating Need with Cold Emails

There was a formula I used to create need with cold emails


Create need = spark interest in a prospect who was otherwise uninterested in your solution.


  • Take a common problem, but offer a unique insight that reshapes the way the prospect thinks about it
  • Explain how your solution exploits that insight, which in turn solves the common problem in a unique way.


Here's a real example from Glassdoor and how I sold to the VP HR at AMD, who had been rejecting a meeting with another rep for over a year, until I finally got through with my first attempt:


I knew AMD was focused on hiring software engineers (a cursory glance at their careers for showed the vast majority of open roles = SEs) and that those are notoriously hard to find. I was sure they had tried many different approaches... so I had to reframe the problem:


"Hi John,


Glassdoor helps non-Google / Facebook / Apple / Microsoft tech companies recruit software engineers in a unique way. When SEs come onto Glassdoor and search for salary information, we know they are in-market for a job. You can serve up targeted job ads that direct back to why AMD is building cutting edge technology (far more interesting than what they would be working on at a BigTechCo, and I say that as a huge gaming nerd!) Interested in learning how NVIDIA is currently using our solution to run a similar process?"


There were 4 things I did differently than the previous rep:


  1. Specifically calling out non-FAANG (this term didn't exist in 2012!) because I knew he'd be losing top talent to those firms. Saying we are helping non-FAANG created relatability.
  2. Simply explained how he would be getting highly targeted SEs in market, which made the solution approachable.
  3. Picked a core value prop I saw on their website (how cool their tech is) and called it out, while also building a personal connection that I used their chips to game.
  4. Dropped the NVIDIA reference to make sure he knew that their biggest competitor was already using this. So at the very least, he HAD to see what they were doing.


i got a reply within 45 mins, an in-person mtg in Austin 1 week later, closed multiple deals with them. John then went to Akamai, where I again sold to him 2 more times.


overall, this email generated 5 contracts worth ~$250,000 (quarterly quota was $60K)

๐Ÿ’Œ Cold Emailing
41
salesnerd
WR Officer
6
Head of Growth
This is great insight @sahilย 

I think one thing you did that you didn't even call out is that you were able to put yourself in their shoes and provide a solution you'd love to see. So many people do the bullshit "what keeps you up at night?" question. Here you assumed what kept them up at night AND solved it for them.ย All within a cold email.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
0
๐ŸฆŠ
A great idea. I'll try it out.
curiouspuppy
5
BDR
Love this, thanks for sharing!ย 

Curious how much time you spent from researching to writing this email - and how many emails do you think a rep can send in a day with this level of personalization/quality
PeterSwan
Opinionated
1
Sales Specialist
I'm also interested to hear more about it @sahilย 
tnx
avatarsarehardtothinkof
Contributor
0
Enterprise Account Executive
Following
LordTyrion
Good Citizen
3
VP of Sales / Co-Founder
For scale:ย 

Categorise your clients and use the same common problem and solution for each one. RPA marketer = Net New Contacts easy / Challenge = Finding the buyer - Company A = IT, B = Finance, C = transformation. Hit every RPA marketer with the same problem/solution.ย 

Not as effective as Sahil's above but you can hit 20 accounts with the same email and still stand out.
sellout
Good Citizen
1
Hybrid Account Executive
This is huge. Leaving out so many bad cold email trends which is nice to see.ย 
salesrant
Member
0
Enterprise AE
I love this approach and think this is the right way to cold outreach.ย 

That said, I'm curious as to how well you think this would work without all 4 points? For example, does this land as well with the prospect without the NVIDIA reference (most of the time their primary competitor isn't using the service I'm selling) or without your knowing the type of roles they were hiring for?ย 
SPT
Valued Contributor
0
Director, Channel Sales & Partner Alliances
@sahilย You are The Sensei! Thank you!ย 
SPT
Valued Contributor
0
Director, Channel Sales & Partner Alliances
@sahilย What is "non-FAANG" ;-) ?
sahil
Notable Contributor
0
Deepak Chopra of Sales
FAANG = Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google. Which should really be FAAMG and include Microsoft, but w/e.ย 
FintechSteve
Good Citizen
0
Director, Business Development
Great approach!ย 
krnshrm
Big Shot
0
Managing Director
Excellent advice @sahil
vaibhav
0
VP Sales @KreativBricks
This was gold, thanks Sahil bhai
6

Cold Emails

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Do you Follow up Cold Calls with an email?

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Do you follow up Cold Calls with an email?
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