I recently got a cold email from someone wanting to sell me their service.
This person was all about themselves. It started with their pronouns, what they had for breakfast and how they’d just love to get on a “quick call” to tell me about their service.
In this transaction, I pay with my time — and if they successfully sell to me, with my actual money.
They pay nothing. Does that seem fair?
If I’m going to be rinsed, I at least want it to be executed correctly. So I thought I’d tell people how.
Construct your cold emails with this formula…
Show actual interest in them or their brand. Remember to be ‘interested’ more than you are ‘interesting’.
Flattery. What are they doing well?
Credibility. Who are you? What achievements can you tell me about that would make them trust you? Results. Case studies. Who else is a client?
Don’t ask for anything. Make the offer. Put in a price. Even if it’s “Plans start from just $99/month”. Even if you can’t put a price, show them how you do calculate prices. e.g. “We charge $1 per unique customer/view”.
Thank them for their time and never expect a response. They owe you nothing.
Example Cold Email
Hey Geraint,
Absolutely love your brand 1-minute Wonders on substack. I recently found it via a tweet you wrote. My favourite piece is the one about subscriptions being dead. You literally wrote that 10 days before Netflix’s stock crashed 60%.
How did you know? Maybe I should be asking you for this week’s lottery numbers. haha
Anyway, I’m Ron from the Channel 4 News Team, we have 3million daily viewers who tune in from all across San Diego & beyond—and our trusted viewership has increased every single year for the last 5 years.
I’d love to run a feature on your substack. I think people would really respond to the value you’re giving and you’d reach millions of engaged households.
For a service this powerful and direct, we do charge a small publishing fee of $499 for each feature, but as I’ve come to you, I’d be willing to strike that down to $299. I’m confident that you can’t find that much reach for that little money anywhere online.
If it’s not for you, no problemo. Thank you for taking the time to read this anyway—but if it is, just shoot me an email back to say “i’m interested” and we can talk through the next steps.
- I’m Ron Burgandy?!