There are no dearth of IT companies in India. I sure many pop up on a daily basis. And, they all want business. So, they hire a few people under the title of Business Developers to start cold emailing or cold calling prospects. Over the last few years, I have provided some tips to such companies. But, in this post, I want to share an actual example of a really, really bad cold email I recieved, and my response to them.
In fact, this is not the first time I have responded to these cold emails with tips to improve. Typically, I never get a response. But, hopefully they may take these tips to improve their business development skills.
The email (name and email ID changed to protect identity):
Matt Smith <online.mail345y@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Could we discuss?
Hi ,
Here’s my response:
To answer your email, Matt,
I did not address any grammatical mistakes. I was concerned with addressing the other glaring mistakes here. The subject line is probably ok. Though, admittedly, this email was in my spam box. I should have mentioned that in my response. I am sure most of their messages are going to spam boxes, so their response rate is very low or non existent.
Check out a case study of an effective cold email at minute marker 39 in this video from ValueSelling.
I am not a sales expert. I am a cultural expert and business coach (see my bio and some of the over 50 companies I have worked with). I understand some of the concepts of sales, as I have to do this for my own business. But, as far as aiding teams like yours, we do pull apart messages like this to see where improvements need to be made. We also look at some cultural expectations that Americans have, so if you are marketing to US Americans, some of the terminology or approaches used can aid in improving those return rates. Recently, I have gotten some good feedback that coaching I did with a few companies has improved cold calling (Getting through the gatekeepers – before the training 1 or 2 calls passed the gatekeepers. Now, 9 or 10 calls pass through the gatekeepers.) and cold emailing (Previously 1 or 2 emails answered out of 10, now 3 or 4 emails answered out of 10.)
If you’d like to know more about how we can help you, get in touch with us. Also, check out our E-mail and Business Writing Program.
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