Your client wants to open up new relationships with new clients. You’re showing assertiveness, and you volunteer to take on the challenge. However, this is one task that can be quite cumbersome.
The assignment feels similar to meeting a person for the first time – it’s like a first job interview, in many respects. You’re hoping your appearance is the sharpest that it has ever been. Also, you want the answers you practice to be relevant, concise, and engaging. This initial meeting has to create enough interest so that you land that job or relationship.
Introducing clients by email has all of these characteristics. For an introduction email, you want to get past having the recipient look at the subject line and bits of the content and then tapping the delete or junk button.
With this short synopsis on writing introduction emails to clients, you will gain a few crucial skills to bypass any fears and get your potential clients talking. These kinds of emails are called cold emails.
What to Know about Email Introductions
First, we have to consider some of the science that goes into how people receive emails. You’re already familiar with these approaches because you probably do this already with the email you receive. Yes, you know how easy it is to tap that new email into the junk or spam category.
Well, other people have the same power. Around 20% of emails marked as marketing material find their way to inboxes. Of the billions of emails sent over the globe worldwide, the vast majority are considered spam.
With the rise in use of mobile devices, about half of mobile device users delete emails that do not display well on their devices. More than half of the planet’s email users say they never read emails that are not common to their inbox.
This is vital information to know as you move forward with a cold email campaign. Further, even if that new contact opened the email, some won’t scroll at all. Others read about half, and there’s a select group of outliers who gravitate toward the visual content.
Writing the Email
Your first job is to capture those new eyes with exciting text. Some great text you can put into the subject line of a cold email are phrases like: I have a quick question, Quick Question. A subject line with, “Hi, from (your name)” works well, too.
You can use “Question about (company name)” as a great introduction, as well. These are great generic lines and will be considered neutral by people who see your email address for the first time. Putting your product or service in the subject line might alienate the recipient, leaving your email unopened.
The recipient will be able to see a portion of the first line of the email. You want to put the text that will be specific to that recipient’s business or interests. They will see a portion of that first line on their interface. So, you’ll not want to place horticulture products in the email of a tire distributor.
Make Connections
A good tip is to mention that you visited their website, or you want to compliment them on a milestone. You may want to say a word about how you’ve tried their product and are writing a favorable review. These strategies will go a long way toward getting the recipient to open the new email. In this way, you’ve just gotten ahead of many other cold emails.
Add Value
As leverage, try sharing some industry-specific information that can add value. Present the topic as a solution to a problem common they might face. If the company was in the horticulture industry, maintaining nutrient levels in potting soil could be an issue, you could entice them with a solution to this problem.
You may be reaching out to different contacts in the company. Feel free to use the same method with the CEO and the CMO. So you could explain the differences between using chemicals versus manures and natural compounds to enhance the soils. Prepare some statistics and test-case material to solidify your presentation as an authority on the topic.
Call to Action
Finally, don’t forget to move the recipient to act on your idea, product, or service. See if they will agree to a phone call or some other way to interact.
You noticed that you already participate with cold emails that take you to a website that asks you for your email. When you cooperate in this way, you’re already being conditioned to go a little further than you initially intended with that company.
If there are no links to redirect your prospect to your website or other offers, place a direct question right in the email.
Finding Your Market Contact
A great way to make that initial contact is by thinking about the decision-making tree in a company. Think about how decisions are made from the top down. Some senior associates make a decision then delegate the responsibility to their team, and so on. There are lists of people in key positions in many companies online.
When it comes to magazines, this list is called the masthead. LinkedIn is another excellent place to find those people who would make those critical decisions to utilize your product or service. Make sure you reach out to the proper office.
You would talk to the person in charge of inventory if you were marketing a product to the horticulture company; however, you would speak to the person in charge of keeping the utilities paid if you were selling electric generators or solar power to the same company.
Start at the Top
If you don’t have a specific recipient, a general rule is to start with the CEO of the firm and work your way down the list of hierarchy on two-week intervals. However, definitely avoid sending the same letter to multiple people in the company at the same time.
Imagine that you are diagnosing a disease and presenting the cure. Include a quick pitch/description of what you’re offering and then launch into a query about if the prospect has any of these solutions in place.
Ask them if they have done anything to put them in a position to solve their problem or improve their situation. This will get them talking about what they may need. Listen to the prospect and consider case studies that might agree with the topic. With that information in mind, you are in a position to use your experience to present yourself as the solution to the problem.
This is a useful process you can use to convince people that they may need to delegate their responsibilities to get business to flow through the company more effectively. You can present yourself as someone who can provide that solution.
Introducing clients by email doesn’t have to be a challenging ordeal. These simple tips can help take away a lot of the mystery associated with cold emails.
