When you are sending cold emails, you always have to keep in mind that you are representing your entire company or organization. Don’t forget that you are also representing yourself. Relationships are not built by companies, they are built by people. Understand that you aren’t the only person reaching out to them. If you want your message to stick out, it never hurts to put a little personality. Using authentic ways to communicate can be a great way to build a dialogue and eventually a relationship. Your recipient wants to know that you took the time to reach out to them. Here are four ways you can add personality to your email and secure a relationship between you and your prospect.
Your full message should mention some of those meaningful moments you’ve shared and prove the recipient isn’t just another sale to you. You’re trying to build a long-term relationship with this person, so reference the little things, follow through on your commitments, and make them feel special. For example, if your target’s company just received a new round in funding, send them congratulations. It shows that you are committed to chatting with them about their successes, even if it doesn’t turn to a business call. In the end, you are building a relationship that can carry on in business to come.
You may be working toward a sale for your company to meet your goals, but you can only do that when you focus your attention on the other person. The first few sentences -- at least -- of every message you send should focus on the person you’re emailing:
“Your company is doing a great job at X. Do you have a plan for incorporating Y in the future?”
Or for warmer inbound leads: “You recently requested a deck to learn more about X “.
On the other end, the recipient will feel as though you are looking to provide valuable information. It shows that you have an understanding of what their pain points are.
While there’s nothing wrong with being professional in emails, humanizing yourself within the email can go a long way. There is another human on the side of your computer. Show some personality! Share some fun-yet-appropriate pieces of information about your life. Here’s an example that shows a little personality and has small pieces of information that give insight into your life:
I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing weekend. I spent mine camping and hiking in Colorado. It was a great time and definitely a test of wits.
For our call Wednesday, please take a look at this draft of the proposal, and let me know if you have any questions or edits. After we’ve walked through this draft, I’ll make sure it’s polished and get it back to you ASAP.
Humanizing yourself in your email will also make the recipient reply with their human side as well. Remember businesses don't form relationships, humans do.
It never hurts to do a little research on your target. You never know what you can find out. Maybe one of your targets writes blogs on the side, you could mention that you read it. There could be a chance you and your target might have similar interests. Doing your homework on a target helps you find ways you can connect with people. You want to demonstrate that you took time to look into your prospect before reaching out, just make sure you don’t overdo it. Too much research can come off as creepy, especially if you're reaching out to a client unsolicited.
In the sales game, you have to get creative. Your targets receive emails every day, so you want to make sure that you are sticking out. Businesses love having partnerships with companies for long periods of time. It all starts with the relationship formed between the two points of contact. If you can use these little details to connect with your point of contact, I think you will start to receive positive responses that can eventually lead to closer relationships and closed deals.
