Cold outreach can be difficult for even the most seasoned sales professional. Reaching out to complete strangers can be a daunting process. Luckily, there’s a wealth of tools that, when used strategically, can benefit business developers, entrepreneurs, and job seekers alike. By utilizing the following tools and strategies, you too can use cold outreach to gain the attention of dream employers, attract interest for your service and add important people to your network.
Step 1: Identify the right person
Let’s say you’re an entrepreneur targeting a premier investor for your startup. You could also be a job seeker, disenfranchised by applying to the same anonymous career sites with little to no response. The bottom line; you need to talk to a real person and you don’t have time to wait in the limbo of cyberspace.
There are several tools available that will allow you to identify the right decision maker at any organization. Sometimes a simple Google search will do the trick. However, it is often difficult to navigate corporate hierarchy, and many individuals are right to protect their titles and contact information.
A LinkedIn Premium account can often do the trick. LinkedIn offers paid services for recruiters, job seekers and salespeople which provide a much deeper breadth of search tools to find the right person at any organization. Using a Premium account, you can search through companies by job function, experience level, and even industry groups that your target may be member of.
Data.com, a paid Salesforce.com service, provides a phonebook-like database of company information. You can find contact information and organizational hierarchies for most of the world’s largest companies on this platform.
Using these tools, anyone can easily identify the VC they seek as an advisor, the marketing manager they hope to sell to, or even the Director of HR who they want to attract. Once you have identified the right person, the next step is to discover their contact information.
Step 2: Figure out their contact information
E-mail addresses aren’t public, right? Actually, they are in a way. Using additional tools and a little common sense, anyone can figure out the contact information of their desired target. Often times, company email addresses are easy to discover. Rob Ousbey of Distilled.net has created a nifty tool for testing the addresses of any company e-mail system. By plugging in the name and domain of the company at which your target works, Rob’s tool outputs several dozen iterations of potential e-mail addresses that can be tested in email verification tools such as the Free E-Mail Verifier and VerifyEmailAddress.org.
Additionally, you can download Rapportive, a free Gmail extension that helps verify your target’s contact information and identifies any social media accounts and jobs that are linked to their e-mail address. Once you find their correct contact information, you may see links through Rapportive of your target’s social feed and LinkedIn profile, which can provide additional nuggets of information upon to help you start a conversation.
The next step is when you put on your sales hat.
Step 3: Forge a meaningful connection
Okay – you’ve identified the key stakeholder and have successfully found out their contact information. This is when a little finesse goes a long way.
Remember, people are very busy and e-mail spam is at an all-time high. It’s important to be brief, personable, and show your target why you aren’t wasting their time.
In the example of the job seeker, tell your target why you want to work at their company. Reference something their company has recently done -maybe describe how you would enhance or build upon this action. Quantify your candidacy, offer an opportunity to discuss more in-person and reaffirm why you think you’d be a great fit.
Other extensions such as Yesware will allow you to track e-mail openings and continuously optimize the subject lines and content of your reach-out. This tool also provides the peace-of-mind that you’ll never have to wonder if your messages have been read.
Direct connection with strangers can backfire if you are too aggressive or prying. Luckily, you too can easily emulate the successes of millions of entrepreneurs, salespeople, and networkers who have benefitted immensely from the aforementioned tools and strategies for conducting cold outreach. Happy hunting!