A cold outreach strategy that works • Hacker News Board

Re: A cold outreach strategy that works

#91

Post by goatherders » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 8:28 PM UTC

meowface wrote: post #86

goatherders wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recognize we start from different places on this, but unrequested email does not necessarily equal SPAM. We had a guy a few months ago who threatened all kinds of litigation and reporting etc. when we reached out cold. At the same time, one of his colleagues responded with interest and just before Christmas their company signed a 5-figure annual deal with our client to provide an endpoint security solution they nee…

It's spam. Using templates to automate mass sending of cold (read: unsolicited) emails is the definition of spam. Not all unsolicited emails are spam, like in the original article, but the article in that comment is demonstrating how to blast spam. I've previously been in the position of having to review all spam (and other unwanted or suspicious emails) reported by employees at a large company. Every day. I've seen…

What if every email is sent by hand and carefully crafted? What if there is no automation? Does that remove it as SPAM in your designation?

Re: A cold outreach strategy that works

#92

Post by goatherders » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 8:30 PM UTC

wpietri wrote: post #80

goatherders wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recognize we start from different places on this, but unrequested email does not necessarily equal SPAM. We had a guy a few months ago who threatened all kinds of litigation and reporting etc. when we reached out cold. At the same time, one of his colleagues responded with interest and just before Christmas their company signed a 5-figure annual deal with our client to provide an endpoint security solution they nee…

They are not the same, but if they're sent in bulk, they are both spam. The essence of spam is using automation to use the same amount of your time to waste more of other people's time. Door-to-door sales is awful, but at the very least the waste of time is symmetrical. Computers, though, let spammers waste ever more of their targets' time on their quest to get rich. Having talked to many spammers on the phone back i…

I would never ever in a million years trust that people with a need would seek me out. Most people are lazy and they don't pay my bills.

Not sure I agree/understand the idea that cold outreach is manipulation.

Re: A cold outreach strategy that works

#93

Post by golemiprague » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 8:32 PM UTC

IMTDb wrote: post #82

> In dating, "no" always means "no". But in sales and recruiting, “no” doesn’t always mean “no”. What does say "no" in sales and recruiting ?

No certainly doesn't mean no in dating, I am not sure why this guy is saying it, maybe lack of experience.

Re: A cold outreach strategy that works

#94

Post by goatherders » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 8:36 PM UTC

georgespencer wrote: post #89

goatherders wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your %'s are off by a startling amount.

I assume you think the utility derived from cold outreach spam is even LOWER than I ballparked? :)

To the contrary, proper cold outreach can result in qualified opportunities for 2-10% of prospects contacted.

Re: A cold outreach strategy that works

#95

Post by hellofunk » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 8:44 PM UTC

If I told you I had an outreach strategy with a perfect record that could be made available to you, is that something you might be interested in?

Re: A cold outreach strategy that works

#96

Post by meowface » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 8:47 PM UTC

goatherders wrote: post #91

meowface wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's spam. Using templates to automate mass sending of cold (read: unsolicited) emails is the definition of spam. Not all unsolicited emails are spam, like in the original article, but the article in that comment is demonstrating how to blast spam. I've previously been in the position of having to review all spam (and other unwanted or suspicious emails) reported by employees at a large company. Every day. I've seen…

What if every email is sent by hand and carefully crafted? What if there is no automation? Does that remove it as SPAM in your designation?

Totally depends. A particularly industrious person could essentially be a human spam bot / template permuter.

It's too open to say definitively. How many people are contacted, how were they identified, how much unique effort went into each email, what is the actual content of the email, what are your intentions, what is your offering, what do you say you want from them, what do you actually want from them, etc.

If it's sent to 1 person, like in this article, it might be completely fine. But in general, I don't think there's any way to answer that without thoroughly looking at each case.

Re: A cold outreach strategy that works

#97

Post by downerending » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 8:52 PM UTC

plastodon1 wrote: post #84

IMTDb wrote: post #82

> In dating, "no" always means "no". But in sales and recruiting, “no” doesn’t always mean “no”. What does say "no" in sales and recruiting ?

> The price of the car is $2000, are you interested? > No > The price of the car is $500, are you interested now? > Yes

> I make $50K per year, are you interested in going out?

> No

> New job. Now I make $5M per year, are you interested now?

> Yes

:-)

Re: A cold outreach strategy that works

#98

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 8:54 PM UTC

patrickrivera wrote: post #60

PedroCandeias wrote: post #56

I'm seeing some negative comments that focus on the article specifics. So I thought I'd say well done Patrick for reaching your goal using creativity and the right kind of persistence. Thank you for showing the actual steps you took and sharing your thought process. I've been in software almost 20 years and due to some incredibly poor timing am in need of finding my own door of opportunity, so I found your post inspi…

thanks, Pedro! yep. you can adapt the idea of research, add value, and handle objections into whatever permutation works best for your situation. that's the strategy part. best of luck, you can do it :)

[deleted]

Re: A cold outreach strategy that works

#99

Post by goatherders » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 9:02 PM UTC

meowface wrote: post #96

goatherders wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if every email is sent by hand and carefully crafted? What if there is no automation? Does that remove it as SPAM in your designation?

Totally depends. A particularly industrious person could essentially be a human spam bot / template permuter. It's too open to say definitively. How many people are contacted, how were they identified, how much unique effort went into each email, what is the actual content of the email, what are your intentions, what is your offering, what do you say you want from them, what do you actually want from them, etc. If it…

I agree. Early on we had clients who said "we have a list of 1,000 prospects we want to reach out to. How quickly can that be done?" My answer was usually "about a month, maybe longer." We like to research the prospect and their company, find a reason the offering might actually be useful, craft a message connecting those dots, then send an email or two and add in some phone calls.

We lost business that way, "Just send the template I give you..." THat's not a business I'm going to be in.

But I continue to disagree with the notion that cold outreach is SPAM, I'm amused that someone would tell me to do something else with my life, and I'm surprised that so many people are close-minded to how powerful and effective email-first cold outreach can be. We help businesses grow. We help our clients deliver value and service to other people, which in turn helps those other people's businesses grow. I'm sorry if any message I ever write ends up in your inbox and you think it's SPAM. But I assure you that a lot of thought was put into why you were contacted and the words chosen to try to get your attention.

Re: A cold outreach strategy that works

#100

Post by OJFord » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 9:29 PM UTC

dannyw wrote: post #23

BlackCherry wrote: post #17

This blog post over complicates and mythologizes an extremely simple process. That is to not be embarrassed or ashamed to ask people you want something from what you can do to get it. Additionally, this is survivorship bias. His emails sounded very professionally immature and while this companies leadership may have found it endearing, I could easily see other groups of people finding it off putting. What this guys e…

I didn't find his email professionally immature. I think it's an overstatement to somehow infer that these emails signal a lackey.

> somehow infer that these emails signal a lackey.

"Does the team need an office manager, receptionist, coffee runner, etc.?"