How to Write A Cold E-mail


First came cold calls, second came cold e-mails. Cold e-mailing is the most effective and untapped form of networking, not to mention the cheapest one (no networking events or country club fees).

1. Make A Contact List

Make a list of people in the desired profession that you respect and admire. If you could get 15 minutes of anyone’s time, who would it be? Now write them down.

2. Find Their E-mail   

Depending on who is on the list, this may be easier said than done. If you can’t find their email address, start looking up people who work for them.

3. Send The Perfect Message  

The biggest mistake people make when they cold e-mail is writing out their entire life story. Not only should you not spend time sending long e-mails to your desired contacts, they don’t have time to read them.
Besides the impracticality of sending everyone the same, long, sad e-mail, it needs to be about the other person. 
Here's the break down:
·         First  sentence: Your name, where you’re from, what you do/aspiring to do.
·         Second sentence: Discuss how you’ve followed the contact’s career, how much you admire and respect them, and you’d love to hear about their "journey."
·         Third sentence: Ask to meet with them, and make sure you ask questions that ask them to talk about themselves and their career, and not the other way around. 
·          Fourth sentence: Give them a time frame to meet, a week or two weeks, and ask if you can buy them a cup of coffee or a meal. Then, sign off.

4. Follow-up

It’s been a week and they haven’t responded- don't fuss, follow-up! Follow-up, follow-up. It’s a commandment of cold e-mailing. It's almost always not personal. 

Mark Zuckerberg likely gets hundreds, if not thousands of e-mails a day, so you're likely to get buried into the abyss of their inbox. E-mail them once a week, and always wait a week before following up. 


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