How To Turn Cold Emails into Hot Leads: My Masterclass Takeaways

Photo by Ben Kolde on Unsplash

As a freelancer, I often need to find new clients. I was invited to a free class by a platform named Apollo that I use a lot to find client emails. I gave it a try. And it was worth it, since I learned a few basic and helpful principles:

1. Use the “Show me you know me” concept (invented by Samantha McKenna). For instance, in the subject of your email, you write directly “From a friend of Mr. X”. I also noticed that I got a good reply rate when I was making surveys for well-known labs, whereas it was much more challenging for small startups… So a well-known name always helps.
2. Go directly to the highest level. Not only 1 or 2 levels above you. You can go directly to the “scariest” persons, e.g. CEO or VPs, and use usual ways like LinkedIn or Apollo to identify these contacts. Keep it simple…
3. Spend at least 30 minutes to write your first email — quality is key, and then make sure that you personalize it for every target client, by looking at their profile and website to understand what their professional and also personal priorities and values are.
4. Focus on the subject line, which is the most important part of the email, and make sure that it’s personalized enough to mean something for the target person but not for everybody. However, don’t be awkward by showing…