Entrepreneur

So before the comment section gets filled with "I NEVER open cold emails" "STRAIGHT to jail with that spam" and "I just send 100 highly researched, manually written emails and it works much better"

I hear you!

My inbox gets flooded with 50 quick questions every day, all with cookie cutter "15 meetings or you don't pay" script. It used to work a year ago, but now everyone and their dog is watching a 15 minute youtube video about cold email and setting up their campaigns the next day.

They send out their first campaigns with the same cookie cutter template and proclaim that cold email doesn't work.

Well, yes, it doesn't if you're doing exactly what 1000s of others are doing.

In this post I'll go over the framework that I use to generate meetings that lead to closed B2B contracts.

A lot has changed since I last wrote about cold email. Google and Outlook are cracking down on mass senders (spammers) to keep their reputation safe and this has stopped a lot of lead geners in their tracks.

Not us though, and that's because we're adopting quickly to the changes that everyone saw a mile away. There's 3 main areas that you need to think about when it comes to generating meetings.

1. Actually delivering emails on a massive scale - having an appropriate email sending "architecture"
2. Having a good response rate - personalized copy and an interesting offer or lead magnet.
3. Having good reply to call booked ratio - Knowing how to set meetings.

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Let's tart with the email sending architecture. I have a whole post about it on my subreddit here

But a tl:dr version of it is that you'll need to purchase bunch of inboxes on Gsuite, Outlook and a third party sender of your choice. There are many popping up as the demand for inboxes increase.

Ideally, you want to have a mix of three - 33% Gsuite, 33% Outlook and 33% 3rd party.

Bare minimum, you should have 10 inboxes on each, 30 total.

With 30 inboxes, assuming that you want to stay safe and send 30 emails per day each, you'll be able to send 900 emails per day.

Now to not burn your inboxes too quickly, you'll have to use spintax. It changes each email you send out to use different wording while retaining the original message.

Why is that important? Because if you send the same email from 30 inboxes, you make it too easy for google to understand you're a spammer.

But if all of those 900 messages are unique, you're much more safe.

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When you have your sending infrastructure built, it's time to refine your offer.

In more sophisticated markets like when you're targeting ecommerce brands, use a super valuable lead magnet that you use in your CTA instead of directly asking for a call. Then, when they express an interest in your lead magnet, send it over along with an invitation to a call. Have a calendar link in your lead magnet so they can book once they read or watch through.

But if you have a great offer and great case studies, you can be much more direct.

Here's a structure you can use:

"Hey Janice, loved that case study about how you did X for Y

We helped {competitor} generate {ideal outcome} in 45 days without {major pain}

Would similar outcome be valuable to your company?

Best,

Robert

Founder of SharkTank"

Now you might be thinking - how do I generate that first line about case study? ChatGPT for sheets.

It's a free addon that lets you use GPT in sheets. All you need to do is scrape website URL and ABOUT sections for all your leads, write a prompt and let chatGPT write your first lines.

Now like with anything, there's a lot of testing involved. I run tests in 500 lead increments. Meaning that I'd have a subject line + copy test for first 500 leads, then another subject line + copy for the next 500 and so on until I find a copy that prints meetings.

You can't just write 1 copy and expect to be booking meetings every day, but if you test, you will stumble upon a copy that does just that.

Having good reply to call booked ratio - Knowing how to set meetings.

My number 1 hack that I use to book meetings is after they express interest, I try to share an obvious suggestion that might improve their business from looking at their LP or asking directly what they struggle with the most.

Then, after they answer, I pitch the "Are you open to discussing this further on a call? How's tomorrow at 15:00PM PST looking?"

Never send a calendar link, it's killing your campaigns. Just ask if a specific time works and manually book using google calendar.

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KPI's to look for

I don't track open rates - it's a vanity metric and reduces your own inbox rate. In fact, I send all of my emails in plain HTML - no tracking whatsoever.

So the only KPI's I track across my own and client campaigns are Reply rates, booked call ratio and booked call - closed deal ratio.

Reply rates:

• Below 2% - Bad,
• 3% - 5% - Average,
• 5% - 8% - Good,
• Above 8% - Very good

Why we track this - This is a clear indicator of weather your copy is resonating with your target market. If reply rate is low, we change the angle and copy.

Booked call ratio:

• Below 0.1% - Bad
• 0.2% - 0.3% - Average
• 0.3% - 0.6% - Good
• Above 0.6% Very good

Why we track this - Low booked call ratio means that the offer is not enticing, the lead magnet is not converting or inbox manager is too slow at replying.

Booked call - closed deal ratio

• Below 1% - 5% close rate - Bad
• 5% - 10% close rate - Average
• 10% - 20% close rate - Good
• 20% close rate - Very good

Why we track this - Low close rate can indicate inexperienced closer, bad lead list / targeting or bad back-end offer.

As with anything marketing related, it comes down to following a set process and a system like a robot. If you let your emotions go wild, you won't be able to make it work.