In Part 1 of our Cold Series, we talked about the power of building persona lists for cold emailing and showed you how to gather all the right information to ensure your cold emails pack a punch.

In Part 2, we're going to break down the importance of self-awareness and how to sell yourself in the most concise and powerful way possible.

Know The Competition

So by now you've done your research and developed your buyer personas - At this point you're thinking that you're more than ready to dive into crafting the perfect cold email to your prospects.

Not quite yet.

You need to know who you're up against so you know how to stand out from your peers. Take some time to scour competitor websites; What do they emphasize in their messaging? What are their key selling points? What are the primary services and experiences being offered to potential clients? Do as much reconnaissance work as you can, and take the information you gather from these sites to start to figure out what makes your company different. Why are you clearly the better choice? You need to determine what makes you a better pick for your prospect. Start to put together a clear and concise list of your superior selling points so you can effectively differentiate your offering from that of other companies you compete with in the marketplace.

Know The Benefits Of Your Product Or Service

Once you know what makes you unique, you next must identify all of the benefits of your product or service. Remember; nobody buys features, they buy benefits and solutions to their problems. What pain points and problems can you solve for the prospects from your buyer personas? What are the benefits of hiring your organization? As Socrates once stated so simply, "Know thyself." If you can't easily list, expand on, and sell the benefits and unique aspects of your business, you're not ready to start making cold email contact.

Rules Of Engagement

You've done the homework, you're self-aware and self-assured in what you can offer - It's time to start building the framework of your B2B cold emails. Below are some rules that we at SalesHive strongly recommend you keep in mind when starting to craft your copy:

Keep your email short and to the point

No more than 4-5 sentences and they should be evenly spaced, otherwise you risk losing people. Why? Because too much text and too much space gives the immediate impression that your email is just going to take too long to read. And no one hangs around to read novel-length emails.

Make it personal

The more personal your email, the better. That being said, when sending higher volumes this becomes more difficult, and if you're sending out dozens upon dozens of emails each day, it's going to be next to impossible to customize and personalize each and every one. So here's a tip; Try to at least personalize the recipient’s name and, if appropriate, their company name. Any additional personalization that you can spare the time to add in will only help increase read and response rates.

Focus on the benefits

Like we mentioned earlier, people don’t buy features, they buy benefits. Tell your prospects what’s in it for them. What results or outcomes will they receive if they use your product or service? That’s what they care about. You know what makes your business unique and what your top-selling points are, so lean on them. Put the focus on why you are a superior choice, how you can solve their issues and pain points, and what sets you apart from the competition. And do it concisely and quickly.

Don’t overwhelm them

One topic per email, please. Hone in on a specific focus and stick with it. This helps to avoid confusing or losing the reader.

Talk about them…not you

You're amazing; we know that, and you know that, but they don't care about that quite yet. Your prospects don’t want to read about you, they want to know what you can do for them. So don’t kick things off by talking about who you are. Instead, start by discussing something you have in common or a problem they have that you can solve.

Be conversational

Don't try to showcase your awesome vocabulary, and don't be verbose. The more you throw in fancy words or corporate-speak, the colder your cold email gets. Write the way you speak. It’s easier for your recipients to read and they are more likely to feel a connection with you as a result.

Make it easy for them to respond

Your prospects are busy so you want to make it easy for them to respond. To do this simply ask a targeted question that has a one-word or very short answer; yes or no, always or never, I would or I wouldn't. Don't make them have to pore over your email to formulate an answer, make it something they can answer immediately. An added tip is to include a link they can click at the bottom of the email to your website or a specific page (maybe one of your services pages) that will act as a follow-up and lead them to respond.

Tune in next week for Part 3 of our Cold Series where we will be discussing how to actually dive in and begin to craft the perfect tone, feel, and components for a killer cold email!