Your cold emails are s***

You’ve probably sent cold emails.

How often do you hear back? Ever?

This experience creates confirmation bias for most people. “Well, I tried cold reach outs before, and they don’t work. I just need a warm intro, that’s all.”

I often will speak with entrepreneurs in the outdoor industry who ask me for introductions to companies or people, and when I inquire about how much effort they’ve put into the cold outreach, it’s usually something like “yeah I haven’t tried that yet. We’re new so I think I need a good ‘in.’ ”

It’s wrong.

It’s just wrong.

Today I’m sharing a few tactics I use to get my emails opened—and read. If you aren’t better at cold emailing in the next 5 minutes, I promise to refund 100% of your money.

I am not a sales pro but this is the process I’ve used to pitch multi-billion dollar companies—and win.

The billion dollar backstory

In February of 2018, I quit my full-time job to start GoWild. I still wasn’t “all-in” yet, though. I left the ad agency and started a new part-time gig as an interim marketing director for an insurance tech company. This gave me some financial security while keeping my salary off GoWild for as long as possible. The difference in going from full-time to 20 hours a week really meant I had full-time hours for GoWild, though. I could finally focus on building my startup.

We were so easily distracted back in those days. One month into my newfound freedom, my cofounder, Chris, and I were brainstorming about all of the things our little company might be. This part of it all gets romanticized plenty in the books, podcasts and TV shows, but most of those depictions are fairly accurate. Just to add to the cliché stage setting here—we were even in a basement with beers. One of us tossed out an idea: It would be really cool to integrate activity tracking into the platform with a great map feature.*

One problem—we didn't know anything about maps.

Naturally, one of us pondered aloud, "Who does maps really well?"

"I used to have a Garmin and liked it. How about them?" - the other one of us.

Immediately, I texted a friend who I knew had a contact there. He quickly gave me an email and I fired off an ice cold 253 word email that I never expected to be answered. 

What happened next was crazy:

• 2 days later I got a reply

• 3 days later we had our first call Garmin

• 4 months later we signed an exclusive partnership agreement

• 9 months later Chris and I unveil our new smartwatch product at Garmin HQ to rave reviews

• 10 months later we unveil this product at the world’s largest archery trade show

• 13 months later Chris is a keynote speaker at Garmin’s annual conference

All of this happened because I sent a very bold and cold email.

Garmin has an $18B market cap. My company’s valuation was $3 million, which was probably overpriced at the time. I didn’t have an office, and was the only full-time employee. In a single email, we began a relationship that led to a meaningful partnership that still exists to this day. Chris and Donovan (another cofounder) built a product that was considered to be one of the best integrations ever built for the Garmin platform.

If this is not total validation for shooting your shot, I don’t know what is.

(OK, if you’re thinking, “Well, Brad, this could also be confirmation bias”, you’re right. But would you rather have confirmation bias towards a positive outcome or a negative one? Yeah.)

Our partnership with Garmin evolved over the years. We next became an affiliate partner, and today, we're a retailer. They are a great brand for us, and I want to share some love. Garmin was the first company to say yes to working with us on our new commerce approach after the pivot. That takes a leap of faith, but they believed in us and I’ll never forget that.

So that’s the backstory. It may seem like a one-off, but after this success, I’ve done this time and time again with notable companies (multiple $B caps and small ones we admire alike). While these various companies all operate very differently, it’s critical to realize that, at least for a few more years until artificial intelligence completely takes over, every company still has humans reading emails.

It’s up to you to stop writing like a robot and to start writing like—and for—humans.

Be more human

Most people’s cold emails are going to look exactly like what’s in your spam. In fact, it’s probably where your emails are landing because they sound so familiar to the recipient’s spam box.

I pulled this one directly from my spam folder:

[SUBJECT]

​​Scheduling a meeting - Got my email?

[BODY]

“Hi Brad -

Tried reaching you but was unable to get connected with you.

I am following up to fix a call with you to showcase our capabilities. Would it be possible to have a quick call for about 10 mins next week?”

This is among the worst cold emails you can send:

• I know you tried, and I know we didn’t connect—why would I not know that? Don’t tell me things I know.

• I know you’re following up—it’s a reply to your first 13 attempts.

• “Showcase our capabilities” — this is the worst. It provides literally zero benefits of working with you for me. In fact, it did show me that you’re interested in closing a deal not fixing my problems.

• The ask here is the 15 minute call. I disagree with this approach, personally. This person thinks they’ve shown they can waste at most 15 minutes of my time, but they really made me quantify the meeting since they gave me no information to qualify it.

What’s nuts is that all of this is familiar. I bet you have 35 of these in your spam box right now—I know I have hundreds. I found this on page one of spam and it was one of many. So if you’re using language like “I am following up” or “showcase our capabilities” you absolutely have to finish reading this if you ever want to escape from the fifth circle of hell.

All of the above is robotic garbage. Most humans will drop off some self-centered turd like this when pressured to come in cold. You know why? Humans are self-centered turds. However, when you learn to stop making your copy about you, and even better, when you learn to stop talking about products but to start talking about benefits, you will feel a seismic shift in the power of your language.

More simply put? Stop talking about the pill or treatment, and start talking about the outcome.

Show value

Most bad asks via email have one thing in common—they’re all saving the meat and potatoes for the call. The salesperson thinks they’ll have a better close rate if they can just use their mad skills to present this product. The truth is, you’re usually pitching someone in a position of power, and people in positions of power don’t waste time on meetings when they don’t understand the possible value add for them.

Again, I am not at all saying I’m an expert sales person, but I do know how to increase my odds of landing the meeting.

Tease. The. Value. Add.

That’s it. Stop hiding the value you bring. You’re doing what journalists call “burying the lead.”

To give you a real example, I’m sharing the Garmin email that led to a great partnership. I’ve never shared this email before, although I have spoken about it in several public settings. This is the email that got my contact’s attention. Names have been changed to avoid anyone flooding my contacts for help.

~~~

[SUBJECT]

Hey John, I Have What OnX Doesn't.

[BODY]

Hey John,

Toby Smith passed your contact info along. I'd like to talk to someone at Garmin who is in charge of product development.

Here's why:

I'm the Co-Founder of GoWild. We're a rapidly growing social media platform for hunters, anglers and outdoorsmen. In only 6 months and on one platform, we added 16K users. Our Android is launching within the next week, and from there, between our marketing budget and the open platform, we think it will be game on.

This is very much on the down low, so I appreciate your discretion, but we're starting to develop a maps system for GoWild. At first this will essentially show posts and their relative location. I haven't decided for sure, but we may open this up to a mapping system that can scout, track hunts, hikes and even running.

Why I'm emailing you:

OnX has one of the most popular apps in the outdoors right now, but we have one of the most active. OnX's tool is a utility—you use it only when you need it. Our social media platform has members coming back every day to log hunts, hikes, runs, workouts, fishing trips and more. So I could keep your brand top of mind throughout the year.

I would love to discuss building my platform in partnership with Garmin. We're moving on this development even as I type this, so if you think Garmin would have any interest, lets' chat soon.

Brad LuttrellCo-Founder, CEOtimetogowild.com

~~~

I am sure professional sales people could improve this email, but I’ve cranked out similar emails to get to several more billion dollar companies in the last six months. While it can always be better, the fact is, this email format worked and continues to work.

Here is why:

Bold subject line

You may not know, but OnX is a phenomenal mapping app for your smartphone, and the company started with data syncs for Garmin devices. While Garmin is multiples upon multiples bigger than OnX, I knew bringing that competitive conflict into the subject line would create an email that is hard not to open. Back in July I won another meeting with a multi-billion dollar company with a subject line that said, “You bring the [product category]. I’ll bring the bourbon.” It was opened within hours. Important people get thousands of emails a week. You have a slim chance of standing out—don’t play it safe. Safe fails in cold emails. Write subject lines people can’t not open, even if it errs on the side of weird. Weird can be interesting.

Name drop the connection

If ever I can build a bond quickly, I do. I knew fake-name John had recently spoken with fake-name Toby. I leaned on that bond to help build a relationship (well, if Toby knows Brad, he might be OK). If you ever have a shot of a warm intro, push for that. If not, call out the connection yourself. Make it good though. It’s not enough to say “Hey I saw you went to the University of Kentucky.” That is what AI driven sales emails are doing and it’s also robotic garbage.

Qualify

I qualified who I was looking for, which perfectly overlapped with John’s role. I already knew the answer to that question.

Give context

You’ll notice I don’t hide what I’m doing, our traction, or really much of anything. Again, what is the point of hiding my traction if I’m worried he might think it’s too small? If he thinks 16K people isn’t impressive, it’s not going to change on the phone. I hit him with the facts and what I’m working on for clarity’s sake. This also just builds trust—I am showing I have nothing to hide. Brevity can often win, but if you go too brief, you’ll lack context.

Go for the slam dunk

After all of this context, I wrap up with the benefit. Always, always, always share the benefit. Again, no one cares what the medicine is called—they just want to feel better. Show the recipient how you’re going to help!

Add a dash of FOMO

This email utilizes one of the most powerful tactics I use for anything—FOMO. Always keep momentum in your negotiations. When you have it on your side, it will generally keep going in your favor. I wanted to make it known we were moving on this product already (which we were—we just needed help with maps). Don’t lie, but don’t hide your intentions and progress.

That’s it. I hope this example helps you email better in 2023. I will eventually do a newsletter on my process for follow ups, which is where many meetings are won. In short, always save a little bit of info for the follows to avoid “just following up.” Bring something new, each time.

And for Pete's sake, stop relying on AI emails to build relationships for you. That’s not how it’s done.

It’s done one relationship at a time.

3 tips to write better cold emails:

1) Make your email impossible to not open with bold subject lines

You have a slim chance of standing out if you play it safe. The higher level the person, the more volume you’re competing with in their inbox. Safe language fails in cold emails every time. Write subject lines people can’t not open. Get a little weird.

2) Share the context quickly

Remember, if you hide the context of why you’re reaching out, you will not get the meeting. No decision maker takes a meeting to “see how company X can help you.” That’s too vague. Be brief, but hit the meat and potatoes of what you’re thinking for a partnership/relationship.

3) Talk about the outcome not the pill

No one cares about how much tech you’ve packed into the pill, they just want to know if it treats their pain. Focus on the outcome and benefit, not the treatment itself.

Who I’m listening to: Justin Wells

What I’m reading: “How to fail at everything and still win big” by Scott Adams

Follow me for mid-week updates:

LinkedIn | TikTok | GoWild | Twitter

* I’ve long maintained that Utility Maps were a horrible path for GoWild. We are not going to even try and compete with all of the brilliant products that are out there. Many folks do maps well. We will not be one of them. This map was for our activity tracking product, which even today, four years later, is still one of the most amazing things I’ve seen from a GPS watch.