Power Sales Writing, Revised and Expanded Edition: Using Communication to Turn Prospects into Clients, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 9WRITE “COLD E-MAIL” MESSAGES THAT GET RESULTS

The first step is the hardest: you need to care enough about the outcome that you’re willing to call out the resistance, to stand up and shout it down.

—SETH GODIN

Writing a “cold” e-mail can be as awkward as making a cold telephone call or stopping in at a prospect’s office without an appointment. An overly dramatic e-mail subject line, for instance, can arouse as much suspicion as a telemarketer who gets on the phone, botches the pronunciation of your name, and then asks, “How are you today?”

The key to successful cold e-mailing is authenticity. Just as a cold caller will have a better chance of engaging you if she can authentically bond with you, a cold e-mail will be more likely to ...