5 common cold outreach pitfalls & how to increase your positive reply rates

I get a lot of emails that have these common pitfalls. Here are some things you can do to improve your positive reply rates.

Pitfall 1: Introduce yourself and talk about yourself

Don't introduce yourself. A prospect doesn't care about you or who you are. They care about the pain you can solve for them. You can also use this first sentence to reference a reason for outreach. Keep in mind that using a buzzword like "innovative" is not a reason for outreach. Instead of saying innovative, is there something cool they are doing to be innovative that can tie into a pain you solve?

??"My name is Kayla and I work with Canny. I came across company X while I was searching for innovative and upscaling companies."

??"Ryan - noticed you're hiring 5 sales reps this year and I've been talking to other sales leaders..." or "Ryan - noticed you just launched X product and I've been talking to other product leaders who..."

Pitfall 2: Talking about your product and/or features

Again, a prospect cares about their pain and how you can solve this. Highlight the pain that you've helped solve for other companies. If you are very feature focused, something that can be especially helpful is to create a Persona > Pain > Feature Matrix. By having this matrix you can understand how features tie into pain and better understand how you can help prospects. I didn't make up this matrix concept, so if you want to learn more get yourself a copy of the Sales Enablement Playbook by Cory Bray and Hilmon Sorey.

??"We guarantee that you can get a lot of feedback."

??"Been talking to other product leaders who are struggling with Y and frustrated that X"

Pitfall 3: Talking in generics

Using generic phrases doesn't build trust with your prospect. Use names of actual customers who are seeing results with your product. This can be challenging if you are a very early stage company or do not have any customers you can reference. Even in this case you can still use buckets that a company falls under ie; other insurance companies.

??"We've helped many businesses in different industries."

??"Companies like X and Y have..."

Pitfall 4: Telling, not showing

This is very similar to pitfall #3. Are you actually showing through results and examples? Understand your persona, what they care about, and factors for success/what their future state can be when you solve their pain.

??"We've provided our customers with successful results at affordable prices."

??"Companies like X and Y have increased customer retention by 40%"

Pitfall 5: Sharing pricing plans

While pricing can be important, this shouldn't be something mentioned in your first email. Instead use a soft CTA.

??"If you would be interested in knowing more, please let me know or you can check our various plans from here."

??"Worth a quick convo?"

What are some common pitfalls you see with cold outreach?