I learned to write amazing, personalized cold emails in under 3 minutes... (and I made it into a fun game that anyone can play)
Use this technique to personalize cold emails to appear knowledgeable, and confident in any situation (Templates Included)
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Most people agree that personalized cold emails are effective.
But - most people have no idea what they should personalize in the email - so that the person receiving the cold email is delighted.
When I'm writing a cold email, I check the person's profile for 5 coins before sending them a message. I look for these "coins," or bits of information that help me decide what type of information to include from my research in the email.
The Ritz Carlton Coin 🪙 🪙 🪙 🪙 🪙
The Four Seasons Coin 🪙 🪙 🪙 🪙
The Hilton Coin 🪙 🪙 🪙
The Econo Lodge Coin 🪙 🪙
The Motel 6 Coin 🪙
I’ve used this structure to write cold emails to land a job, talk to NFL Superbowl winners, land book deals, and oh…. get clients to respond to my emails as a CSM.
Sahil does a great job of summarizing the most important parts of a good cold email, but I'm going to take it a step further and show you the specific pieces of information I look for first.
Ready to go treasure hunting?
Here's how I figure out what I should personalize in a cold email:
When I want to send a cold email to someone, I will Google them and find their social media profiles.
I only use LinkedIn and Twitter. I'll look for specific examples to use in my cold email. The type of example, which I refer to as "coins," has a different value depending on the type of example I find.
Quarters and nickels are both coins, but their values differ.
So does the value of the information I discover through my research. Knowing my contact I want to email attended a particular college does not have the same value as reading an article they wrote about a topic of interest to them.
The Ritz Carlton Coin 🪙 🪙 🪙 🪙 🪙
First, I look for podcasts or blogs that they have been on or written first simply by Googling my contact’s name, and/or looking them up on YouTube
When I use this example in my cold email, I've found that it makes the other person feel really, really good. So its the highest coin.
The Four Seasons Coin 🪙 🪙 🪙 🪙
If I can’t find any information that would fit the Ritz Carlton coin, I then look for attributes they used in their profile to describe themselves, the work they do, or their company (Think: LinkedIn Headline, Summary, or Company Description. It’s good, but it’s not the Ritz Carlton)
The Hilton Coin 🪙 🪙 🪙
If the attributes are hard to find and don’t fit the Four Season coin, I then look for content on LinkedIn and Twitter that they have liked, commented on, or shared (In order to add relevance to my message, I try to find a way to tie it back to my purpose in reaching out to them. (It’s solid, but we could better)
The Econo Lodge Coin 🪙 🪙
If that doesn’t work, I’ll look for personal things they have in common, like the college they went to or hobbies they've written about. (Most people think this is the Ritz Carlton Coin, but they're not the only ones who went to Virginia Tech or any other college... I don't think it's unique enough)
The Motel 6 Coin 🪙
And if all else fails, I’ll look in the "About Us" section or blogs about their industry for information about the company (I think this is the least effective because they could hate their jobs, or consider the message impersonal)
Example 1:
Here’s why this cold email works:
Short Subject Line: “Hiring Plan” ✅
Short read: This email can be read on a phone. ✅
Personalized: "Noticed you're a fan of..." Johnny (the AE) discovered the Hilton Coin for this prospect, but by incorporating relevancy, his email created positive urgency when he wrote this line. ✅
Social Proof: "You know firsthand how difficult it is......" That line demonstrates Johnny's understanding of his buyers and the person he's contacting. ✅
Create Value: Johnny created value by saying, "I'm reaching out because I noticed..." AND "talk about how to solve this?" Johnny noticed a company trigger, discussed the issues that people face when attempting to solve it, and asked if they should talk about it. ✅
Clear CTA: “Curious if you’re up for a chat about solving this?” Open-ended CTA always performs better than “Do you have 30 minutes?” It’s smooth, casual, and feels non-pushy ✅
Aaron, the person Johnny emailed, posted on LinkedIn about how great Johnny's email was.
Example 2:
Here’s why this cold email works if you’re a CSM trying to sell the same solution to different department:
Short Subject Line: “Quick Question” ✅
Short read: This email can be read on a phone. ✅
Personalized: "Noticed you're a fan of..." I (the CSM) discovered the Ritz Carlton coin for this prospect, and by incorporating relevancy, my email creates a positive urgency when I wrote this line. ✅
Social Proof: "You know firsthand how difficult it is......" That line demonstrates my understanding of my buyers and the person I’m contacting. ✅
Create Value: I created value by saying, "I'm reaching out because I noticed..." AND "talk about how to solve this?" I noticed a company trigger, discussed the issues that people face when attempting to solve it, and asked if they should talk about it. ✅
Clear CTA: “Curious if you’re up for a chat about solving this?” Open-ended CTA always performs better than “Do you have 30 minutes?” It’s smooth, casual, and feels non-pushy ✅
That’s it for this week :)
Every week, I dedicate over 80 hours to learning or practicing effective communication techniques so that I can distill it all into a <5-minute read for you.
I spend a lot of time making sure I write something that brings value to you.
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