Having a head of growth give cold email templates

Oh boy, this should be good. I know how much we all love marketing so I can't wait to see how dealing with a 'head of growth' will go down.

So here's the deal folks.

I've joined a small company recently that, up until I joined, did no outbound cold email outreach and thus, had literally no success. All their business was done via referrals from our partnership with Twitter. I joined with the remit of launch our UK office and to generate cold business. I wrote a few templates for specific industries and relevant titles for said templates, ran a couple sequences and have had reasonable success. I am the first and only person based in the UK and so this is a new market where we have no presence and lots of competition.

As a result, the Head of Growth has provided feedback on the copy of these sequences (I'm reporting to the CEO). 2 sequences have finished and the 3rd is only 1 email in. I'm having a tough time trying to come around to respecting her position as she is a) not a sales person and b) not had any modicum of success doing cold outreach at said company. Now, being new myself I'm wanting to keep an open mind and to not rock the boat so suggested she provide edits to some of my sequences and we'll try these out with some other titles in those particular industries.

Having reviewed her suggestions, I do not feel comfortable sending these out under my name as I think they're absolutely appalling and 3 of 4 sentences all start with "I was" or "I want" or any variation of "I". How I've always been told to do my cold email outreach is to focus on the prospect and not "I".

Am I just being a complete dick and should I suck it up and send these shitty emails or is it reasonable to not want to put your name to work you're not proud of?

What would you do?

🔎 Prospecting

💌 Cold Emailing

☁️ Software Tech

14

26 comments

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hh456

Celebrated Contributor

5

sales

Cold emails are pings on a radar screen. You’re using them wrong if you expect them to get a response. I have a new lead rate of 5% for every cold email I send. I have to send 400 cold emails to get 20 SQL’s and that will create a minimum of 1 contract per month. When you just do the minimum, it’s hard to hit goal. So I’m more around the 1,200 emails per month to make sure I’m way over goal (at least in terms of effort) so I hit it each time. That’s 60 new leads per month. Maybe 40 are actual meetings and 3 may turn into deals. I said all that to say this, get a software that shows you who is engaging with your emails. That is all that matters. Then call them. I rarely have a deal go through with straight emails but my emails are just spies infiltrating their network. If I see Jim opened my email once and that’s it, he’s probably at the end of my call list. But if I see Tim opened it 6-7 times in an hour, he’s probably passing it around and considering it. I make the call (plenty of resources out there to find their direct number) and I leave them a ringless voicemail on their cell. Sounds like you’re dealing with some office politics but if you focus on utilizing the emails correctly, as signal corps, then you will be extremely successful. I love you. Have a good day.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

2

Rolling 20's all day

This is a great recommendation @GrizzleMcThornBody. I'm curious, what tech stack or tool are you generally using for your outreach?
All I have currently is Zoho, and our entire team is capped at 1000 emails per day aggregate. So personally I'm not put in a position to maximize cold outreach because its the wild west of "whoever sends or schedules their emails first" which is ridiculous.

hh456

Celebrated Contributor

2

sales

I use RocketReach to find info and DropCowboy for RVM's. I use gMass (with a SendGrip API) to get around Google's sending limit while maintaining the mask of their pristine reputation. My deliverability rate has to be near 100%. It's like shooting fish in a barrel when the gun is already in their mouth.

barney2021

Tycoon

4

Account Executive

When my company gives me crappy emails I just don’t use them and continue the ones I have made and tailored over the years. I would AB test your emails and their emails 50-50 and let the results speak for themselves. Good analytics can be used via a software called Mixmax if you have no software at the moment. Hopefully this is an option you can take

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

1

Rolling 20's all day

Let the data slap them in the face! Nothing is sweeter than letting someone prove themselves wrong.

goose

Politicker

2

Sales Executive

While better than nothing, I think cold emails are a poor way to prospect. That said, it sounds like you know what to do and you are seeking affirmation of your choice. I say do what you want.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

2

🦊

Do what you know to do. Maybe send her emails to a few "less than" prospects to say you did.

InQ5WeTrust

Arsonist

2

No marketing, mayo isn't an MQL

Similar happened to me at my last company Head of Comms joined, they had never done outbound or sales, just newsletters.

Wrote absolute 🐕 💩 emails and I was forced to use them.

Company wouldn't give me control over my own messaging.

Part of the reason I quit.

Sheriff

Politicker

1

Sales Trainer

If there's anything usable take it, from the Head of Growth (HOG) emails and say "gosh I appreciate your suggestions, I've made these new emails based on your feedback but edited to align with best practices for outbounding". If they're complete garbage tell HOG that they don't align with industry best practices and you'd be happy to sync with them at a future time to discuss how the HOG can be of help.

RedLightning

Politicker

1

Mid-Market AE

They hired you to outbound, so anything outbound related like changing I's to you's in prospecting emails should be 100% your call.

You should try approaching this in a way that won't burn bridges. Puff the growth person up a bit by taking their content into mind, but add your "tactics" AKA make them not bad marketing emails.

LordBusiness

Politicker

1

Chief Revenue Officer

I would send candid feedback that the emails provided, while may work for marketing messaging will not perform in todays modern selling environment, and while you appreciate the feedback you are going to continue to execute on the emails as originally written. If the CEO drops the hammer and forces it on you, then 1) execute on the delivery, if anything just to prove yourself right 2) start looking for a new gig, cause this is only the start of the 'too many cooks in the kitchen" problem :) ( im kidding, or am I? )

Blackwargreymon

Politicker

1

MDR

Cold emails are pings on a radar screen. You’re using them wrong if you expect them to get a response. I have a new lead rate of 5% for every cold email I send. I have to send 400 cold emails to get 20 SQL’s and that will create a minimum of 1 contract per month. When you just do the minimum, it’s hard to hit goal.

SammySandbags

Politicker

0

Account Executive

I embrace any email template given to me with open arms

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