The following is a transcription from Episode 13 of HireKeep’s YouTube series #PaulTalk. In this series HireKeep’s founder and CEO, Paul Murskov, answers questions about sales, entrepreneurship, and the current state of the recruiting industry. Today’s topic: The Best Practices for Email Cadence.
What the full video here: https://youtu.be/mOWIz9ATICI
In today’s world of selling, email cadence is one of the main outreach methods. I can’t wait till this method evolves into something further, but right now it’s kind of what we have.
When you’re dealing with mid-market enterprise level prospects, getting to the right person is extremely difficult. The two biggest avenues that you have right now are LinkedIn (because you can send direct messages) and your own email.
Step 1: The Subject Line
The subject lines that I have been seeing are less than thrilling. I find that very few subject lines entice me. Most are so bland and generic that after I click on the email, I archive it and never think about it again. After a few weeks, I get a bump and it says,“Hey Paul, I’m sure you haven’t seen this email” or “I’m sure you haven’t read this email.” Well no shit I haven’t read the email, it sucked. So now you’re bumping the same shitty email that I didn’t read in the first place? Then, believe it or not, I get a third bump that does that whole thing where they say, “Hey Paul, I know one of three reasons why I think you’re either not interested…” This third email happens all too often and it isn’t even playful or funny, it’s annoying. So many people are using these types of tactics and I think we need to evolve as salespeople because we are better than this.
What are the emails do I read? I read emails that have words like fundraising in them because that’s what my company is currently doing. I open emails that say “congrats on the ____” because I like to be congratulated. I also read emails that say “noticed you in ____” because I like to see who is talking about my business.
My main point is, the subject line needs to have some actual meat. Do your research on the prospect, nobody wants the same shit over and over again. Nobody wants that generic ass email that you send to everybody else.
It’s gotten to the point where other recruiters are emailing me along with every other person at my company. This is another huge no-no. Hit up one person that you know is the right contact for what you’re selling. I can’t stand sales cadence or email cadence that has emails to every single member of the team like clockwork and they’re all the same. That puts you on the “do not work with ever” list so quick.
It’s simple: do your research, find the right person to talk to, email that one person (maybe two at most). If you blast all this stuff out to every team member, you blast away all your chances of getting a response because, if that one email doesn’t work then you have no other opportunity with the rest.
Step 2: The Body
The body of the email has to be short. My team pitches our business in a maximum of three lines.
There’s not that much you have to say. Your company can be described in one freaking sentence. If you don’t know it, figure it out. Write out that one-liner, “my company is ___.” Remember, the person receiving your email doesn’t care about your company. They want to know that you have figured out a way to poke at a problem they’re facing.
The main goal of email cadence is to prove that you are the best option to solve the problem the person receiving your email is facing. That’s the point of a cold outreach, state some form of “hey, ___ congratulations on ___ I saw you were doing ____ and ipso fact-o now I know that you may be experiencing ____.” Your email cadence needs to be a conversation starter, not an appointment setter.
This will accelerate the number of conversations being had at any given time through email and will ultimately lead to more appointments set period. When you go immediately for the appointment set, your conversion rates will be one or two percent.
In the body of the email, you need to make sure that you address what’s in the subject line. This will solidify that you’ve done your research, the deeper the better, people really appreciate that. Regardless of if they’re interested or not, I can’t tell you how many times people will respond something along the lines of, “I so much appreciate the non-generic shitty outreach we’re not working with X right now but I promise I’ll keep you in mind for the future.”
A business’ lifespan is a long time and if we’re in this for the long haul we can’t be hooked on the quick fix. We need to understand that during this process, we’re building on every block and so if somebody says “This is great but not the best time, keep in touch,” we should respond “no problem I’ll follow up in 30 days” and now it’s on you to do that.
If I can follow up in 30 days with 30 people, that’s 30 prospects in 30 days that I already have in my pipeline. You can’t think short-term, thinking 12 months or more in the future is how you build a true pipe and how you accelerate it.
It all starts with this email cadence and the body of this email to hook them enough where they know you care and then you bump that chain constantly month-over-month. At HireKeep, I’ve gotten at least three clients this way that signed after the fifth month of my friendly reach out because they remembered who I was and knew that I kept my promise to follow up with them.
Step 3: The Signature
This is the place where you can add any additional information or resources without being too pushy. Obviously also include your phone number and anything interesting that you have like video content, ebooks, your photo, and a link to your LinkedIn (feel free to connect with Paul on LinkedIn by the way).
If you want to hear more of Paul’s ideas on entrepreneurship, sales advice, and leadership check out HireKeep’s YouTube series #PaulTalk. If you have any topics or questions for Paul to answer shoot him a message on Linkedin with the subject “#PaulTalk” or tweet @hirekeep using #PaulTalk.