Converting cold messages to successful meetings
By Eve Kelly, Marketing Executive at Accelera
Every day, salespeople pour countless hours into creating the perfect LinkedIn outreach messages in the hopes of capturing the attention of potential clients. In fact, the average salesperson dedicates a staggering 21% of their workday to sending emails. That’s nearly a quarter of their time spent tapping away with the goal of making a connection or sparking interest.
But what if we could channel some of that effort into a more targeted approach to seal more deals?
Well, while you’ll never find a way to get every prospect to respond, there are a few strategic steps you can take to increase your chances of turning cold LinkedIn messages into warm leads and meaningful sales conversations.
Crafting a compelling introduction
According to a consumer report by Movable Ink, most people determine whether or not a marketing email is worth their attention in less than 3 seconds. That same stat can be applied to cold messaging.
If you can’t write something intriguing enough to make them read on from the first few lines, you may as well have never sent a message at all.
A cold message introduction should be no longer than 2-3 sentences. Rather than introducing yourself right off the bat, refer to the person who’s receiving the message, their achievements, their expertise, and their role in the company. That will capture their attention. Just make sure you’ve done your research ahead of time.
Without overdoing it with flattery, think of your introduction as a way to demonstrate that you’ve specifically and intentionally chosen to contact them.
From there, you can speak about the value you can offer them with your product or service. However, the key is to be subtle. With B2B LinkedIn outreach, the approach shouldn’t be as if you’re trying to close a sale but rather to begin a professional relationship with your prospect at the heart of your pitch.
Figure out what kinds of problems they face and how you can provide relief. It’s this kind of personal approach that helps communicate the benefits without sounding salesy.
Building credibility and trust
One of the core components of successful cold outreach on LinkedIn is credibility. If you don’t have it, why should anyone respond?
Establishing credibility is not an easy task, especially if you only have a few sentences to complete. Before writing anything, make sure your LinkedIn profile is optimised.
Here are a few things to check off your list:
Upload a professional profile photo if you haven’t already.
Use your LinkedIn background photo to showcase your expertise.
Position your headline toward your target audience.
Ensure your skills and endorsements match the needs of your clients.
With your profile optimised and your introduction in place, you can continue with your personalised message by mentioning any mutual connections or highlighting shared interests and goals you might have with your prospect. A personal touch at the right time can go a long way.
One important point is that you shouldn’t name-drop for the sole purpose of establishing a mutual connection if you don’t know that connection very well (especially not well enough to have received an introduction from them to this prospect). Many people have thousands of connections, and you run the risk of mentioning someone they’ve completely forgotten about, which won’t move the needle much.
Keeping messages concise and relevant
LinkedIn has published research that confirms the hypothesis — the shorter, the better.
The shorter your message is, the higher the chance that it’ll be opened. Unfortunately, this is one of the hardest parts of writing a successful outreach message. It’s easy to draft a beautiful, sweeping email with all of the facts, figures, and personal touches when you have a thousand words to work with.
Figuring out how to trim the fat on 70% of your verbiage, however, takes effort. Famous French Philosopher Blaise Pascal once said it best, “I would’ve written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time”.
The good thing is that putting in the additional effort has an added benefit, as it also shows that you respect the recipient’s time. See if you can take a current message you have and accomplish the following in under 150 words:
Tell your prospect why you’re contacting them.
Add a personalised touch.
Establish your credibility.
Let them know how you can solve a specific problem or meet their relevant needs.
Include a call-to-action.
It can often be helpful to write out each of these bullet points separately and join them together once you’re happy with the way they sound. Doing so might require some additional segues and vocabulary changes, but in the end, you’ll be confident you’ve hit each mark.
Using a friendly conversational tone
Your communication style should be friendly yet professional. While you may want to follow a general script for the sake of time management, especially if you’re sending out 50-some-odd emails per day, your messaging should never sound scripted.
Think about your message as if you were two strangers talking in real life. Creating a rapport starts with building meaningful trust, and the spark for continued dialogue begins with an engaging question.
In cold messages, we want those questions to be open-ended. Open-ended questions are those that require more in-depth answers than yes or no. More often than not, they start with “what”, “why”, “how”, etc. These questions differ from close-ended questions, which could potentially lead to single-word, concrete answers. Close-ended questions often start with “is”, “do”, or “which”.
Open-ended questions can help us engage prospects, learn more about their pain points, and build trust, as the questions demonstrate to them that you actually care about their thoughts.
Some examples of good open-ended questions include:
What are the biggest challenges your team is facing in [specific area] right now?
Could you walk me through your current workflow for [task] and tell me where you see room for improvement?
What goals are you looking to achieve this quarter?
Follow-up strategies
Even if you’ve written what you deem the “perfect cold message”, it still may not be enough to get your prospects to engage. They might just simply have missed your email or did not feel interested enough at the time to follow up.
Don’t worry. This is completely normal and why we have follow-ups in our LinkedIn outreach campaigns.
The goal here is not to treat your strategy as a reminder that you want them to respond but rather to show them that you’re persistent in providing them with the value they need. Instead of repeating the same points from your initial email, throw in some added value, such as a link to your upcoming webinar or a relevant case study.
That brings me to my next point…
Providing social proof and case studies
Over 92% of consumers are weary of investing in products or services when there aren’t any reviews. To provide your prospects with social proof and gain their trust, it’s a good idea to include case studies or testimonials from similar companies that demonstrate your track record.
Look for client testimonials or case studies that both align with the pain points of your prospect and emphasise tangible benefits or measurable results, such as an increase in revenue or improved search rankings. Sharing success stories is a great way to showcase how your service has benefitted others and builds credibility with potential buyers.
Clear call to action
You’re nearing the finish line now. The last step is to write a clear call to action that compels your prospect to move forward, from scheduling a call to downloading a resource you’ve provided.
Your CTA should be clear, concise, and direct. Realistically, a good CTA shouldn’t take more than a single sentence to explain.
Make it as easy as possible for them to take the next step by guiding them to it. For example, if you want them to schedule a consultation, provide a direct link to your calendar. A direct and straightforward approach can help you convert potential leads into active opportunities.
Timing and frequency
Finally, we have one of the most important but often overlooked facets of cold messaging, and that is timing.
According to Hubspot, the best time to send an email is any time between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m., especially if your recipient works a standard 9-5 job. Monday around mid-morning or early afternoon is ideal for catching your contacts at the start of the week.
On the other hand, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are considered prime message-sending times, as by this point in the week, most people are caught up on more urgent tasks and have time to explore new opportunities.
The number of cold direct messages you send and the frequency at which you send them will depend on your target audience and industry norms. This is where Accelera’s social automation service can help.
Optimise your LinkedIn outreach campaigns with Accelera
Our team at Accelera offers a premium social automation service, which creates effective messaging and runs LinkedIn outreach campaigns to targeted individuals using an automated tool. Our service is designed to maximise efficiency, allowing your sales team to focus on lead generation and building meaningful professional relationships.
If you’re curious about how our services can help connect you with key decision-makers in your industry and optimise your sales pipeline, we’d be happy to provide more information. Feel free to reach out to us to learn more about what we can offer.