As a Virtual Assistant, it is sometimes necessary to write cold emails in order to drum up new leads. Now hang with me, because I promise my method for “cold” emails isn’t going to make you break out in a cold sweat.
The secret to making your cold email feel non-spammy is to customize and connect.
First, you have to do a little research. If you don’t have a target market then I want you to spend some time identifying your ideal client and then researching prospects that fit. Look for connection points wherever you can. This is as easy as looking for areas in their business or life that you can relate to.
For example: Your target market is Graphic Designers and during your search, you find a perfect match. The next step would be to spend some time checking out all of their social media accounts, and looking for anything you have in common. A few things to look for: Do you live near each other geographically? Do you both have children? Is their style similar to yours? Is their mission statement something that resonates with you? Do you have the same social media friends, etc. These are all connection points that can help your cold email feel personal and not sound like a copy/paste robot.
Secondly, during your research, you need to be looking for the holes in their business that you can fill! This is the secret weapon that will make your cold email hit the mark. Depending on what you are offering as a service, pay close attention to what could be improved.
For example: Let’s say that you offer email marketing and social media management. During your research, you need to look to see if they are active on social media, if are they consistent with their content, if they use high-quality graphics, and if they utilize hashtags. For email marketing, check to see if they have an email sign up on their website or if they offer a freebie/opt-in. If there are any areas that you see that could use improvement, you can then craft an email that addresses those needs and highlights how you can meet them.
Finally, after you have gathered all the information it’s time to put the puzzle pieces together into a short email.
Be sure to include:
Your name
What you offer
Where you found them
One connection point
One area that you can help them with
Call to action
A warm closing sentiment
Now I’ll tie it all together with an email example:
Hi Ashley,
My name is Peggy James. I came across your Instagram account a few days ago and was instantly drawn in by your brand colors and layout! I have such love for natural earth tones and a clean aesthetic.
Ultimately, I decided to reach out because when I was clicking through your website and social channels, I noticed that you don’t have a place on your website that visitors can subscribe to your email list. This stood out to me because I specialize in email marketing and I know how much an email list could benefit your business.
You are killing it on Instagram, but since that darn algorithm only shows your social media content to about 6-10% of your audience, you could be missing out on reaching more people.
I help entrepreneurs, such as yourself, set up an email marketing account, create welcome sequences, craft weekly or monthly newsletters, and even set up freebies/opt-ins that will grow your email list with ideal clients quickly!
If this is something you are interested in learning more about, I’d love to connect with you and learn more about how I can support you and your business.
If you’d like to learn more about me and take a look at all the services I offer, you can visit my website https://www.peggyrejames.com, and you can also find me on Instagram and Facebook.
Can’t wait to get to know you!
All the best,
Peggy
Once you complete your email, I recommend having a friend or mentor take a second look to be sure your email is not only free of spelling and grammatical errors but that it also clearly communicates how you can help them. Then, don’t overthink it – go ahead and send it off!
I also recommend creating a spreadsheet and logging all the contact information for each prospect so you can track the progress of your lead. Following up is a critically important part of this strategy, so don’t be scared to reach out again after a few weeks.
If you wait to start cold email outreach until you need work, you’ll have gaps in your income – the time to start prospecting for clients is before you need them. If you don’t have any clients, make this your full-time job. You may send dozens of emails with no response, and that’s totally normal. This strategy works best when implemented in volume. Don’t sit around twiddling your thumbs waiting for a response – continue prospecting and sending emails as part of your monthly marketing strategy. You should always have emails out in circulation. The best case scenario would be that you get too many responses and too much work, so don’t be scared to always have feelers out there.
I love to hear from my readers, so please let me know if you are going to try this strategy!
If you need additional support please visit my FREE community for Virtual Assistants or contact me!
