How to Get 1000 New B2B Customers,
Using Nothing But Cold Email
Growth Marketing Conference 2016

Who is Heather R Morgan,
and what’s with all the orange goats?
• X-economist (still a data nerd)
• Writes for Inc Magazine and other channels
• I’ve written 10,000+ cold emails in the last 10 years
• My email campaigns have gotten 68% response
rates, and start conversations with CEOs of billion
dollar companies
• Salesfolk has written email campaigns for 250+
companies in the last 2 years that have beaten the
industry standard by 3-10x
• Goats just rock. And so does orange.

So how do you get customers?

Intros? What if you don’t know anyone?

Can’t wait for content marketing?

No one picking up your cold calls?

Or…magic??!

Let’s explore the magic of cold email:

RULE #1. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE:
A CEO, CTO, and VP Sales are not all the same.

“E-stalk” your audience to understand them

You need to KNOW everything about your audience
• what keywords will excite them
• what tone they use with their colleagues and peers
• what they’re afraid of and stressed about at work
• what influencers they trust
• what content they like to read and share

How to actually do this:
• Stalk your prospects’ profiles on Linkedin, Twitter, etc
• Skim the content they’re sharing and writing
• Look at job postings for their titles to understand their role and
KPIs more
• Look at past case studies and talk to customer success to
understand why your best customers are so happy
• Talk to your customers

Use your research to appeal to your prospects
RULE #2. BE ENTICING

How to turn flat features into alluring benefits:
• The simplest way to turn features into benefits is to think about
how a customer would use your product or a particular feature,
and what value they would get from it.
• Feature Example 1: “our cars are fast”
• BENEFIT:—> “you can drive twice as fast in our car”
• Feature Example 2: “we have low prices”
• BENEFIT—> “you’ll save $399 a year on auto-insurance with us”

Turning Salesfolk’s features into benefits:
• Feature Example 1: “we write cold emails”
• BENEFIT:—> “we help you start conversations with your
future customers”
• Feature Example 2: “we optimize email campaigns”
• BENEFIT—> “we can get you 3x more responses from
qualified leads”

Let your customer’s success brag for you
RULE #3. SHOW, DON’T Tell

Tips for building social proof:
• Try to paint a picture or tell a story of your best clients’
success
• Name clients
• Give specific details
• Try to make all examples clear and tangible, especially
statistics (say “cut in half” vs “able to reduce to 50%”)
• Make sure your social proof seems credible, or else no one
will believe anything you say.

Great examples of social proof:
• “We cut [Client x]’s hiring time in half, from an average of 21 days to 9 or less
by allowing them to screen potential hires more conveniently with video
interviews.”
• “Before working with us, [Client x] was wasting $690,800 a quarter on
unnecessary printing costs. We were able to help them eliminate these costs
while also backing up all their [file type] documents in one central location.”
• “[Client x]’s customers were getting annoyed and disappointed because
[Client x] kept sending them dynamic creative ads that were featuring
products that were actually out of stock. Using our auction software, [Client
x]’s dynamic ads now automatically check their inventory in real-time to
avoid losing their customers’ trust.”

Focus on one concept per cold email
RULE #4. STAY LASER-FOCUSED

Great example of a laser-focused email:
FOCUS / BENEFIT: screen more qualified candidates more quickly through
an innovative competition
SUBJECT: online competition for {!Company} job applicants
Hi {!First},
I have an idea for an online competition that can help you quickly attract and
spot the most qualified candidates from hundreds of applications.
This same concept helped [Client x] screen more than 290 job candidates and
find their hire in only 10 days.
When do you have 10 minutes to hear how this idea could work for {!Company}?
Thanks,
[NAME]

Replace boring buzzwords with enticing details
RULE #5. EVOKE EMOTIONS

Tips for creating email copy that seduces readers:
1. Use rich adjectives that tease the senses (smell, taste, sound, touch,
etc) like “delicious” vs “tastes good”
2. Try to grab emotions, like fear, anger, joy, or nostalgia by using emotional
words, details or phrases
3. Use details and descriptions of things that people can easily picture in
their heads, like “in less than 5 minutes” versus “in 300 seconds or less”
4. Create metaphors that people can easily relate to
5. Finally, read your writing out loud and ask yourself, “If I was the reader,
would I care? Would this grab my attention, or would I get bored and
ignore this email?”

Great examples of emotional and engaging copy:
• “Our software provides bank-grade security, so you know your
passwords are always as secure and protected as Fort Knox.”
• “Prevent customers from feeling let down and annoyed by
making sure they never get ads that make them feel misled or
disappointed ”
• “Our clients are enamored with us because they’re seeing 6x
higher engagements from ad campaigns that they otherwise
thought were dead.”
• “Instead of having boring and poorly segmented campaigns,
create laser-targeted ad campaigns that are unforgettable.”

Let’s tear apart some emails now!

Audience Email Template #1
Hey,
I'm reaching out to you because I know you recently hired a Content Marketing Manager
and I was wondering if you're seeing the ROI from your content marketing efforts yet?
If you're currently getting a lot of leads from your blog, feel free to disregard the rest of the
message. But if you're looking to drive more customers from your blog, I think we can help
you out.
We launched a new hire training program for content marketers so they can get up to speed
and start producing quality leads quickly.
We teach a quantitative approach to content marketing and we've worked with venture
backed companies like TechValidate by SurveyMonkey, Layer (Homebrew, AME Cloud
Ventures), and Upstart (Firstround, Khosla Ventures).
Is this something you might be interested in for your new hire?

Audience Email Template #1: Feedback
Hey,
I'm reaching out to you because I know you recently hired a Content Marketing Manager
and I was wondering if you're seeing the ROI from your content marketing efforts yet?
If you're currently getting a lot of leads from your blog, feel free to disregard the rest of the
message. But if you're looking to drive more customers from your blog, I think we can help
you out.
We launched a new hire training program for content marketers so they can get up to speed
and start producing quality leads quickly.
We teach a quantitative approach to content marketing and we've worked with venture
backed companies like TechValidate by SurveyMonkey, Layer (Homebrew, AME Cloud
Ventures), and Upstart (Firstround, Khosla Ventures).
Is this something you might be interested in for your new hire?
#1. intro okay, but
could be much more
compelling
#2. Could be a bit
more specific with
details, but de-qual
strategy is interesting
#3. Would be great
to have a little more
detail on the benefit/
results
#4. CTA could be
more compelling

Audience Email Template #2
Subject: <<first name>>, Missed Package Slip
Hi <<first name>>
When a customer buys denim from Diesel.com, what is the standard protocol for the delivery? Are
customers able to select exactly when they want to receive the items they purchased, or, are they at
the mercy of whenever it's convenient for the deliverers?
Doorman is a solution that eliminates lost, stolen, and undeliverable orders, and those costly
customer service tickets that typically come along with. Purchasers are able to select a one hour
time frame from 6pm to midnight, 7 days a week. Returns are also welcomed.
No more annoying missed package slips, no more guessing games, no more waiting around to sign
for UPS. And with our easy API integration, there is no need to add/remove/alter your current
shipping carrier(s).
Might you be available to invest 15 minutes of your time into a call on Tuesday morning?

Audience Email Template #2: Feedback
Subject: <<first name>>, Missed Package Slip
Hi <<first name>>
When a customer buys denim from Diesel.com, what is the standard protocol for the
delivery? Are customers able to select exactly when they want to receive the items they
purchased, or, are they at the mercy of whenever it's convenient for the deliverers?
Doorman is a solution that eliminates lost, stolen, and undeliverable orders, and those
costly customer service tickets that typically come along with. Purchasers are able to
select a one hour time frame from 6pm to midnight, 7 days a week. Returns are also
welcomed.
No more annoying missed package slips, no more guessing games, no more waiting
around to sign for UPS. And with our easy API integration, there is no need to add/
remove/alter your current shipping carrier(s).
Might you be available to invest 15 minutes of your time into a call on Tuesday morning?
#1. intriguing subject
line, but don’t capitalize
every word (looks like
mass marketing)
#2. Great intro; very
personal and thoughtful/
visual
#3. Email might feel
more personal w/ 1st
person (I/we)
#5. CTA could be more
compelling, but okay
#4. Social proof would
be great; work that into
the business description
to strengthen

Audience Email Template #3
Hi <First name>,
Thank you for thinking of PocketList for your home search! You mentioned you are
not working with an agent yet but are also not ready for an introduction. Right now,
you have access to the public MLS listings. We - with the help of our partner agents
- have curated hundreds of private listings that will add great value to your home
search.
When you are ready to view the private listings, we would love to connect you with
our partner agents. Our partners are ranked in the top 10% among their peers, are
full-time agents and hyper local.
Let me know if you have any questions or when you are ready for an introduction!
Thanks,

Audience Email Template #3: Feedback
Hi <First name>,
Thank you for thinking of PocketList for your home search! You mentioned you are
not working with an agent yet but are also not ready for an introduction. Right now,
you have access to the public MLS listings. We - with the help of our partner agents
- have curated hundreds of private listings that will add great value to your home
search.
When you are ready to view the private listings, we would love to connect you with
our partner agents. Our partners are ranked in the top 10% among their peers, are
full-time agents and hyper local.
Let me know if you have any questions or when you are ready for an introduction!
Thanks,
#1. Is this inbound??
#2. “MLS listings”
kind of jargony
#3. Email kind of
vague and not very
persuasive/enticing
#4. CTA weak

Audience Email Template #4
Hi <<First Name>>,
A few of our mutual connections on Linkedin [link] are going to be at the Growth
Marketing Conference [link] this year.
If dates work for you (Dec 7-8, San Jose), just email me back and I can provide a
special discount (20% off) for you and your team members.
Have a great week,

Audience Email Template #4: Feedback
Hi <<First Name>>,
A few of our mutual connections on Linkedin [link] are going to be at the Growth
Marketing Conference [link] this year.
If dates work for you (Dec 7-8, San Jose), just email me back and I can provide a
special discount (20% off) for you and your team members.
Have a great week,
#1. intro okay, but
could be more
interesting
#2. Not enough
compelling info on
what this conference
is/why to attend,
beyond the social
proof
#3. Email feels too
short/not enough
details

For more tips on cold email, check out:
Salesfolk’s Cold Email Course: salesfolk.com/emailmastery
Other Resources and Guides: bit.ly/coldemail16