The “Cold Call” Email – An Introduction
Mar 5th, 2010 | By Karl Rohde | Category: Article, Marketing“Who’s this then? I don’t recognize that name. Subject looks relevant, and the first sentence looks interesting. Click.”
That’s the response you want from every email, but in particular if you are trying to use email to turn a prospect into a lead. The challenges facing the modern business at getting in contact with decision makers far exceed old school sales challenges of twenty years ago. People are insular; they have their voice mail, and spam filters and assistants filtering all but the most important calls.
Cold calling, still a necessity of the sales process has a close cousin that is often overlooked. The “Cold Call” email. It has its own challenges.
Unsolicited email is illegal in many countries. Is a “Cold Call” email in this category, or is it something else?
The general consensus is that if you are in Business to Business sales, that you have researched your prospects, and that your offer is relevant to their business, then no, it is not “Spam”. It is no different than calling them, sending a Direct Marketing piece, or even turning up at their office.
There is one caveat, if they ask you not to email them again; the professional thing is to do is do as they wish. However, you now have several opportunities for further contact.
Those contacts are:
- Confirmation that they have asked to be removed.
- Confirmation that they have been removed.
- A follow up call to say you have personally ensured they have been removed from the database you use.
- A direct mail confirming they have been removed, but inviting them to sign up for a special report via the web.
- A follow up to see if they have received the direct mail, and finding out if they have any questions.
After (5) you have now got them into your normal sales pipeline, and although you can’t email, you can use all other forms of contact. And eventually they will ask you to email something through, which gives you permission to email them again.
“Cold Call” emailing is not Spam, as long as it is well targeted.
Use it, test the waters, and remember the five further opportunities to contact your prospects, even if they asked to be removed from your email list.
