When the gatekeeper asks for a cold email to forward, do you send it?

When you've tried multiple times to get a decision maker and the receptionist starts to remember you by name and they've been asking you to send a cold email to them for weeks, do you send it? Why or why not?

Do you send cold emails to gatekeepers? (please leave reasoning below)

Attached poll
*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.
๐Ÿ’Œ Cold Emailing
๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚ Poll
5
Selichimorpha
Celebrated Contributor
4
Growth Executive
If you need their email format use Hunter.io, Lusha, or zoominfo.
never send a gate keeper an email, you risk getting blocked.ย 
Rissole
Fire Starter
0
BDR
In those odd cases where the director's email is a completely different format and you can't get their deets from those extensions, what would you do?
Selichimorpha
Celebrated Contributor
3
Growth Executive
Email-checker.netย 

you can guess different variations and it will tell you which one is correct
Rissole
Fire Starter
1
BDR
Ahh awesome I've been looking for an alternative to mailtester.com since they shut it down
Lysistrata
Good Citizen
1
CEO
Call outside of normal business hours when the gatekeeper isn't working. I landed one of my biggest accounts ages ago by doing that.
SaaSsy
Politicker
2
AE
Call early or after hours to get to that sweet CXO you need - also cellys on ZoomInfo
SalesSpectre
Opinionated
2
AE
of course I send it. why wouldn't I? What do I gain by not sending it? Am I trying to keep the reason im reaching out a secret?ย 

Pro-tip to try: in that email link to a document and gate that document so you can see if the decision-maker you are trying to reach gets it and reads it.
Rissole
Fire Starter
1
BDR
Great idea bout the gating! I do this currently and I find it is remarkably successful, apart from our CRM's limited tracking capabilitiesย 
SalesSpectre
Opinionated
1
AE
From our other thread..in this case a use a similar "Back channel" strategy. Instead of going "straight" to a Decision maker and running into a gatekeeper...go "around the back".

Go to linkedIN and find their peers. If your trying to get to the CTO then email a short note to the COO and CFO. "Hey I think Frank is likely in charge of this but wanted to check...who is responsible for the Cybersecurity strategy for employees working remote...we helped Adobe reduce xyz threats by 42% last year and wanted to share some similar ideas with him, thanks"

You might not get a direct response from them but they might send a slack to Frank and get your email shared around.ย 
softwarebro
Politicker
2
Sales Director
Sometimes that's their process. Best to follow instructions first. You can always burn it down later.
Sales4what
Opinionated
1
Co-Founder & VP Sales @ PLURiTy
I will send it regardless. Here is why, once you have the gate keepers email address you can actually debunk what the decisions maker email is, use that format and send it to him/her.ย 
Rissole
Fire Starter
1
BDR
I agree, I tend to do this however with some larger companies I deal with the format changes for the executives, what would you do in that instance?
Sales4what
Opinionated
2
Co-Founder & VP Sales @ PLURiTy
Most emails will follow a standard format regardlessย 

first.last
f.last
lastF
Flast
last.first
last.f
last

the most commonly used formats, but when Iโ€™m really stumped, I reference thisย 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K2wPgU5TSrwRoXBgrLfGf6oX2TM-3UVHopxrDJZBDVM/edit#gid=0

Came across this in @GeneralCorpโ€™s slack and itโ€™s done wonders for me. Rocket Reach is also pretty goodย 
Rissole
Fire Starter
0
BDR
Ahh epic this is awesome thank you!
Sales4what
Opinionated
1
Co-Founder & VP Sales @ PLURiTy
Any time!ย 
SADNESScounselor
Good Citizen
0
VP National Accounts
Hunter.io is free and finds email addresses most of the time. Otherwise, ZoomInfo is ideal since it has email and cell phone info. ย If theyโ€™re too hard to find, I chalk it up to not wanting to be contacted by email and move on to the next prospect instead of wasting precious time.
zaps
1
Business Developer
It depends on the gatekeeper. If he or she has a general understanding of what the company's requirements are and it sounds like they might have some influence/work closely with the decision maker then I'll send it through. Otherwise I probably won't
Rissole
Fire Starter
0
BDR
Interesting view, how do you normally determine if they do or not without pitching the gatekeeper?
zaps
1
Business Developer
Often they'll want to know what it's about so once the conversation starts you can generally figure out if they at least have some idea.ย 
GetAHobby
Arsonist
1
RVP Sales
Always feel the amount of time spent crafting the email could have been spent finding a worthy person to talk to.ย 
All_Out_Of_Gum
1
CRO
Depends, of course. But in many cases the gatekeeper can be a champion and with a bit of discovery camouflaged as friendly small talk you can get some good pieces of information out of them that can push your email past the rest.
Rissole
Fire Starter
0
BDR
Great point!
Shortay0909
Opinionated
1
Senior Sales
Its a tough one, you try all the other tricks in the book to get either the DM email or phone. If I were to send one I would attempt to frame it in a way that may make them feel important & that you would appreciate any effort put in on their side.
Rissole
Fire Starter
0
BDR
Nice point @Shortay0909ย what sort of things would you normally put in to make them feel important?
CTXC
Opinionated
1
Strategic Account Executive
In this situation, I would absolutely send the gatekeeper a cold email. If they know you by name and have asked repeatedly for more information from you - what do you have to lose?
Chep
WR Officer
1
Bitcoin Adoption Specialist
He11 no
Rissole
Fire Starter
0
BDR
Why not?
Salespreuner
Big Shot
0
Regional Sales Director
May be, blocking is possible too, especially if competition is the vendor they're operating๐Ÿค”
8

Referral to DM after Intro Meeting - wait for intro or cold outreach?

Question
14
20
Members only

Sending a poem as a cold email!?

Question
31
24
Members only

Do you Follow up Cold Calls with an email?

Question
17
Do you follow up Cold Calls with an email?
92% Yes
8% No
215 people voted