There are different schools of thought with cold outreach for B2B ranging from:
0 - NEVER do any cold outreach at all to
10 - Cold pitch and spam everyone you can get your hands on.
Somewhere between these extremes lies the science and art of outreaching cold to key decision-makers on LinkedIn and email and booking regular conversations.
After all, everyone in your network EVER was a cold contact at some point.
You GOT TO KNOW them - that is how they became a warm lead, a client, and then an advocate of your work.
Filling up your pipeline with cold leads is the best way to keep the business generation engine going in your business.
Here is an outline of lessons I have learned over the past few years building my network on LinkedIn and securing 10 calls a week with regularity.
Know your audience:
Target with precision. The more specific you are with your outreach the better your message will resonate and land.
The more senior your target, the more people around them you will have to engage. For this reason, know the top 3 or top 5 decision-makers in any given department or company. In larger firms, you will have to engage middle leadership and have them internally refer you up the ladder to the right person. Be ready to work slowly on multiple leads and conversations. The more senior you are targeting the more personalized your outreach must be.
The more independent, agile, and autonomous a decision-maker the more direct you can be. Don’t beat around the bush, offer them something of high value within the first messages and allow them to say ‘no thanks and have a good day.’ You do not need to nurture all leads for weeks and months before you make offers.
Offer Value:
Speak about their pain and their challenges, their goals, and desires. Establish relevance. People are trading their time for information so offer them value to win their attention and time. Only after you have established value can you position yourself for a sale.
In the same vein, do not lead with anything about yourself, your work, or your bespoke methods unless you’re doing so to establish the results you create for people like them. Certainly do NOT offer a paid service or pitch for a sale on the outreach message. Move offline to in-person conversations where you can understand more about your target and position your offer as a logical solution to what they’re struggling with. Even if you’re a not-for-profit that is seeking funding partners, you must lead with the value you create for them rather than your own story and purpose.
Be conversational, show you’re a human and give them an out. Acknowledge they might be doing super well in business/ life and could teach you something. Connect with their humanity while not skimping on an offer.
Be Regular
Make it a habit to add and message a certain number of new connections each day, each week, each month, and each year. The regularity of this rhythm will relieve you of any attachment to an outcome of any one conversation. Keep the leads flowing and if someone is not interested, move on.
Follow up old leads who expressed interest but didn’t book a call, or didn’t buy when you made them an offer. Keep the relationship going with updated offers of value. A good CRM or tracking tool will help you keep on top of conversations and leads.
Systemise this process by delegating to a virtual assistant who can follow a set process for list building, client research, outreach messaging, response handling, appointment setting, and relevant follow-up and lead scoring. No automation tool can compensate for a human being handling all of these steps and a virtual assistant can complete these tasks at a fraction of the cost of your time, releasing you be the CEO of your company, handle clients and team and work on the strategy of growth.
If you’re interested in creating a cold outreach process to engage B2B decision-makers on LinkedIn and email and book 5-10 calls per week with precision, then my 3-month boot camp might be the right fit for you.
We get hyper-specific about your target, your offer of value, and your systematic processes to bring in regularly $10k - $100k clients onto your calendar.
Message me for more information.
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