Communication is key when is comes to selling, on boarding, retaining and running a successful business.

But, how do you get someone to listen to what you have to say when their email inbox is overflowing, they have a long to do list and know you are going to ask them for something.

We teamed up with our friends over at Find That Email to bring you 5 extremely affective hacks that will help you engage with cold leads or warm up a cold email list!

Here is a hypothetical scenario. Say, you’ve lost your wallet and you need money to get a bus ticket. Which technique do you think will work better with strangers?

Scenario 1

You walk up to a stranger

And say “Hey, I need money for the bus”.

Scenario 2

You walk up to a stranger

And say “Hey, how’s it going? Sorry to bother you, I’m in a bit of a pickle and you seem like a genuinely decent person and that is why I’m asking you. So this is the situation… ”

Which attempt do you think will work out better?

It’s definitely the latter.

Staying Cold

A lot of email marketers have in fact chosen the first route.

They don’t put their heart into it, they don’t do their homework and they want quick results. A lot of outreach folk also do not segment their audience or truly understand their audience’s pain.

This is why cold email outreach has got a reputation of being a difficult channel to get business from.

Without the initial hard work, the people you reach out to will remain cold.

When they don’t get the results, they start complaining and they spell doom for the entire Industry. They usually write a post about how Email Marketing is dead because it didn’t work for them.

Warming things up

And over the years, in an attempt to be professional, a lot of cold emailers have stuck to a script and have completely avoided any informal talk. You should know how important informal talk is. One of the reasons languages were developed was because of people’s need to gossip.

If you stick to your robotic script, it’s going to go nowhere. Here is an example of a chat conversation with a potential customer. We got talking about cities and the world and after a long conversation, a rapport was built.

I’m not saying, fake the rapport. Be genuine. And don’t be a robot. You don’t have to become Facebook buddies with every customer. But it helps to form a bond.

So at Find That Email, we use a few techniques for warming up a lead during outreach. Here are some ideas that you could use.

5 Ways to Go From Cold to HOT!

Idea #1 : You are part of our same Facebook group.

Have you ever been in a situation, where you were interacting with a stranger and they happen to mention that they are from the same city as yours and your interest in them piqued?

There’s something about being from the same tribe or group that warms people up immediately.

It’s the same thing with marketing, when you mention that you are from a particular Linkedin or Facebook group that they are part of and that is why you are reaching out to them, It immediately makes them at ease.

Here is a sample idea.

Hey Joe,

I’m John Doe from Sweet Candy Tech. I see you are part of the SAAS Hacks group. It’s a great group isn’t it? Considering both of us are in the same group, I’ve made a tiny assumption that we we might be interested in the same things…

This is something we have constantly used at Find That Email with a good amount of success.

Idea #2 : Common Friends with the Rock.

This actually requires a common friend.It’s pretty easy to make common friends. A few people on Linkedin do accept requests from strangers that they’ve interacted with a total of zero times. This is not a good common friend.

Here are a few techniques to make good common friends.

• Ask your existing friends to introduce you to people you want to know
• Meet, interact, exchange ideas with people in events and meetups. Keep in touch with them on Social Media. They become your connections.
• There are a few high quality facebook groups which put out posts like “Introduce yourself and share your Linkedin and connect with other people on the group”. Take advantage of this and reach out to people you would like in your network. That’s another way of adding more contacts.

So when you make connections with 10 people and they have an average of 450 people in their contacts. That’s 4500 people you could possibly reach and use the common connection card.

So now if you have a common friend, ask them to introduce you. Simple. Getting introductions is the best way to do partnerships and will probably the best way for a very long time.

Idea #3 : The Event Card

This is a situational based warming up technique, but it works nevertheless.

Say you are attending an event and you are aware of your prospect attending the event as well. You can set-up a meeting at the booth, by mailing them before the event.

Hey <Name of the person>,

I’m Joe from Supertronics. I see you’re going to be attending the SaasX event this August. I have a few interesting ideas to share with you about <topic>. Would you be interested in a chat?

The other is, mailing them after an event is over and when you did not meet them.

Hey <Name of the person>,

I’m Joe from Supertronics. I know you had attended the SaasX even this August and I wanted to come to your booth to say hi and discuss a few ideas, but I missed you by a whisker because I had an emergency. Would you be willing to chat?

Idea #4 : Doing Research and Getting Feedback

A smart technique that you could use to warm up your potential lead is to ask for feedback for your research.

An example would be :

Find That Email is an email finding tool and say we decide to write an article about how lead generation companies can get better at getting the accurate emails and the issues companies have with lead generation companies.

You can ask a potential lead their opinion on lead generation companies and how these companies can improve their service.

A lot of folk will have opinions, especially if they are the right target audience and they will give you advice and tips. This is your in and you can start a conversation around the tools they use and so on.

Hey Tim,

This is Jody from Forest Fire Inc. You seem to be an accomplished sales representative based on your profile and I reached out to you for advice. I’m writing an article on <topic>, can I have your opinion and and suggestions to improve <topic>.

Idea #5 : I’m a Fan

In many cases, the people you are reaching out to have written content and are maybe influencers.

One of the ways you can warm them up is by telling them that you’ve read their content and have already shared it on your social media and to your followers.

Considering you’ve already done something for them, many people will treat your cold email with a bit more of warmth.

I loved your article so much, I’ve already shared it to my followers on Social Media and to people on my mailing list. It was AMAZING.

Another way to warm up the lead is to find the Influencer that they really like. Look at their twitter, social media and find the person that they are big fans of and share a similar interest as well.

Finding common ground with people is the fastest way to get people to like you.

Finally I’ve found a fan of <Influencer Name>, who is a bigger fan than me. I love his ideas. Which strategy that <Influencer> suggested was your favorite?

Just to make things clear. These ideas aren’t the only things that should be in the Email. Your email should encompass

• a solid introduction
• a reason for reaching out
• a strong value proposition
• a call to action
• and your warming message

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Wrapping it up!

You need to turn on your charm when it comes to cold emails.

If you put your thinking cap on, you can come up with various ways to warm up your prospects in a cold email.

Get on your experiment mode and find your technique.

Also, one technique isn’t guaranteed to work with everybody. You should know your audience and use the right strategy. What are some techniques that you’ve used to warm a prospect?

Also, don’t forget to send follow up emails. Keep working your list of prospects and sooner or later, someone will respond.

Let us know in the comments and we’ll add it to the article, if it’s interesting!