Your cold outreach sequences are pissing people off
If you operate pragmatically—considering human behavior and the fact that a real person is on the other end—this resonates. If you operate in the world of software-to-human interactions, sequences will continue to dictate how you approach outbound.
1-minute read
Don’t be this person.
This guy has sent me 6 messages. I’ve told him “No thanks” 3 separate times. Yet, his dumb automated sequences driven by software keep going—plowing through my inbox with zero regard for my lack of interest as the real human who’s on the receiving end of those blasts.
FTR, my stance on cold outreach has completely changed. I’m a fan. It works. Count me one of the converts.
That said, there’s nuance to cold outreach. At least I have an opinion.
Here it is:
Send one email (or DM or InMail). Just one. Not a string of follow-ups.
Make your copy thoughtful, relevant, and business-personal. No BS personal-personal crap. Nobody wants that. This is about someone’s work. Keep it that way.
Let it go after that. Just leave friendly: “Anyway, no need to respond if not interesting.”
People see it. They’ll read it if they want to. No need to harass their inbox with your stupid follow-ups. (Don’t believe me? You see all the messages that reach your inboxes. You’re not a use case of one. That is the rule.)
This single-message approach flies in the face of all advice out there on cold outreach. Virtually every sales leader, sales consultant, and SDR pro will disagree with me on this.
I don’t care. I just approach this how I want to be treated as a prospect.
If you do a good job on Message 1—and if what you're positioning is targeted and relevant—people will read it. This is why lists and ICPs mean everything.
And if you leave people in a human and friendly way, they will reply if/when your thing enters their radar of need. Either way, they will develop a good taste for your company.
One message is a brand builder. Hitting people 3-5 times when they don't reply is just delete, delete, delete, GFY, block territory.
If you operate pragmatically—considering human behavior and the fact that a real person is on the other end—this resonates.
If you operate in the world of software-to-human interactions, sequences will continue to dictate how you approach outbound.
Think about it.
— Nate
Early findings: As of this post, we're getting ~16% schedule rate off highly targeted, highly relevant, single-email cold outreach.
Note: Volume is still low overall. But it’s high enough to legitimize the signal enough for us to at least pay attention to it.