Let’s be honest. Most cold outreach sucks. It’s painfully clear and obvious when you are the recipient of a generic, automated, wide net email blast.

DELETE.

So if you are going to invest time and resources in prospecting (which you should)…let’s establish some baseline rules

1. You are going to be highly targeted.
2. You are going to be custom.
3. You are going to be consistent.
4. You are going to add value.

Highly targeted

• Using your “Blue Chip” profile, narrow the list of prospects to those who align with your key characteristics (demographics, psychographics, trigger events). The smaller the list the better.
• Research that list of prospects to ensure they are worthy of your focused time and energy.
• Establish a Top 10 “Blue Chip” list of prospects.
• Identify the key stakeholders within each prospects to initiate your outreach.

Custom

• Make them feel like they are one of a very small number of prospects you are pursuing (because they are).
• Tailor your outreach messaging for each prospect (stakeholder, industry, etc.).
• Create and share content that is timely and relevant to your stakeholder / prospect (their wants / needs, pains & desired gains).

Consistent

• Establish a specific outreach sequence that is “just right” (not a one-and-done).
• Utilize a 3-pronged approach using LinkedIn (to be seen), email (to articulate your value messaging) and voicemail (to show you genuine interest in connecting).

Add Value

• Most importantly, focus on adding value at each and every step.
• Create and procure resources that help them better understand the problems they are trying to solve.
• Create and procure resources that inform, educate and teach, so they are better equipped to solve those problems.

The Bottom Line: Cold outreach can be an incredibly valuable business development strategy IF you do it right.

Be human, be honest, be straightforward and most importantly…add value.