5 Proven Outreach Templates to Grow Your Business With A Small List

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After a year filled with a pandemic and laden with stories of corporate and political mistrust, the last thing that customers want is an overly salesy pitch from your business. And, they don’t want to be bombarded with impersonal, standardized email templates that overpromise and under-deliver. 

Doing things the way we always have doesn’t necessarily work anymore.

Today’s customers are looking for messaging and email outreach that speaks directly to them. They want and need a personal connection that they can trust. Customers want to be heard and want you to provide a solution. The key is to start the dialogue and ensure that you not only make a lasting, first impression, but that you continue the conversation. 

Personal messaging through email is the perfect tool and why it’s a core piece in the Connect 365 Trust Equation Framework. 

Email continues to deliver a strong return on investment, but your email strategy has to be good. There is a lot of noise out there and the competition is hitting your prospective customers at every angle with social media campaigns, LinkedIn messaging and email outreach of their own. And, it can get tricky.

Many of the social media giants like LinkedIn prohibit automated messaging and many accounts are getting shut down for using bots in their email outreach strategy. 

Connect 365 actually sat down with Google and Microsoft to develop a personal messaging platform that works inside your personal email account – all with 100% compliance with Microsoft outlook and Gmail’s terms of service.

Email outreach is evolving, and we have to adapt. 

That is why the Connect 365 team has created 5 proven email outreach templates to help you warm up prospects, develop relationships and create genuine sales leads that turn into valued clients and customers. 

Each template can be customized based on prospect type and individual business goals to fit your needs. Establishing and connecting takes time and effort, and that is why we are here to help!

Success With Email Outreach Relies On Three Core Elements

Targeted Prospecting

This may sound obvious but nothing you say or do matters if your prospect list is not a good fit for your product or service. Take the time to find the RIGHT prospects. Those who truly need and want what you offer. Keep reading for 3 ways to do this.

Social Authority

Your prospects need to know that you know what you are doing before they can trust that you can help them. In every interaction be sure to show value. Whether that is through direct messaging or consistent social posts to stay top of mind and show them that you are the authority in the space.

Personal Messaging

Outreach and follow-up through Personal email can 2x-3x your engagement, open, and response rate compared to traditional email marketing. You'll also stand out in a sea of marketing newsletters like the one putting in the personal touch.

For the personal messaging part, it’s all about using the right framework. Let’s look at some templates.

Outreach Template #1: Re-Engagement Campaign 

Sometimes the answer is right in front of us, and we don’t have to expend extra effort finding brand new prospects. Outreach template #1 re-engages existing contacts and rekindles past relationships to generate new business opportunities. 

These could be contacts you’ve gathered from a variety of sources over the years. They are already familiar with you so you’re more likely to get a result like a set appointment or meeting. The goal is to offer something new and different that they haven’t seen previously. Provide coaching or advice and don’t hard sell right from the start. 

This is your chance to re-establish your connection and your authority. Here’s an example for you to try. Remember, the beauty of these email outreach templates is that they can be customized to fit your business needs:  

Subject Line: Here’s Something New We’re Trying, (Josh)

Hey (Josh), 

It’s been a while since we crossed paths. But your name came across my feed the other day, and I thought it was worth reaching out about something new we’re doing as a test. 

Are you still interested in [TOPIC YOU HELP WITH]?

If so, you can just reply with a ‘Yes’ or a ‘Hell Yes’ if that’s more your style and I’ll send over some more details.

YOUR NAME

Outreach Template #2: The Social Media Boomerang 

This social media outreach template is perfect for businesses who have new contacts from LinkedIn and allows you to turn these connections into leads and referral partners. 

The social media boomerang sets the stage for relationship building and is the first step in creating a personal messaging campaign which can lead to bookings, meetings and helps link your contacts to other opportunities.  

Sites like LinkedIn are great and make it totally acceptable to connect with people you haven’t talked to in 20 years as well as complete strangers to help you grow your prospect base quickly.

Tread slowly with this approach and don’t come off too strong in the very beginning. You should be posting content on a regular basis to get them familiarized with you and what you help people with. Consider using social media automation for this to save time. 

This is an open door to opportunity to create value and start to establish your authority or else prospects will see right through you. 

Here’s an example of outreach template #2: 

Subject Line: Great to connect, (FIRST NAME) 

Hey (FIRST NAME),

We recently connected on LinkedIn, and I just wanted to reach out and say thanks! Looking forward to keeping up with what’s new at (XYZ Company).

I try to do a good job of keeping in touch with my contacts so that we can find ways to help each other whenever possible.

From time-to-time, I might check in and share some things that my network is finding valuable. Who knows, I may even have a referral for you at some point. 

Looking forward to keeping in touch and hopefully we can connect over the phone or zoom sometime. 

Your Name  

Outreach Template #3: The Expert Content Campaign

This is one of the best outreach templates for reaching colder prospects because it allows you to build relationships by providing relevant information. A good tool to use within the email template is to write an article of authority or share a 3rd party article that provides value. 

Creating a sequence allows you to send follow-up messaging, ask for feedback, extend your authority and most importantly establishes trust. 

Here’s a sample of outreach template #3: 

Subject Line: Curious about (XYZ company’s) experience? 

Hey Josh, 

I came across your information online, and thought it was worth reaching out. 

We’ve recently put together a report for business owners just like you that also want to (COMMON GOAL OF YOUR PROSPECTS) and I was hoping to get some quick feedback before we go live with it. 

ADD DETAILS ABOUT THE REPORT OR ARTICLE (example below)

We surveyed 1300 business owners about their business struggles, their secrets for growth and, yes, how they get clients. 

If you want to learn why the fastest-growing businesses get 24% better response from their email outreach than their competitors, then check out our Client Acquisition report here: LINK 

Let me know if any numbers in the report surprise you or catch you off guard, FIRST NAME? 

Any other feedback you’d like to share before we publish this next month? (I’d be happy to quote you if there’s any insight you think our readers should know) 

Thanks, 

YOUR NAME 

Outreach Template #4: Referral Network Campaign 

Creating a referral network and helping prospects and existing clients make connections is invaluable. By serving as a hub and center of influence, this outreach template allows you to build upon the trust equation that you have started to establish and creates a perpetual flow of new leads and sales opportunities. 

Template #4 is a top outreach template for businesses that don’t have many prospects and want to grow their lists or are looking to connect with similar businesses to share best practices. Below is an example of a referral network campaign email template. 

To learn more about creating a referral network, sign up for my free referral masterclass. 

Subject line: A referral for you?

Hi FIRST NAME - Thanks for accepting my invite (alt: Been awhile since we last touched base. OR I came across your site the other day)

As I mentioned/I thought it was worth reaching out because I’m looking to create a referral network in the X market. 

I’ve been blown away by some of the people that have shown early interest so far.

We’re going to have a lot of great leads to send each other’s way. Anyways, there’d be no cost or anything.

I’m just doing this to up my own marketing and would love to include you in the network if you’re open to it.

Is there a time we can connect next week, just to introduce myself, learn more about your business, and the types of clients that are good for you?

YOUR NAME

Outreach Template #5: We Want to Feature You Campaign

Our fifth template packs a punch and is one of the best outreach templates to turn prospects into sales. This approach provides an attractive offer to feature your prospect in a blog post, web content, or any other element that focuses the attention on them. 

You’re creating value right from the very beginning because you’re helping prospects gain exposure, showing them that they matter, and that their feedback is important to you.  

It’s the ultimate template to establish trust, exert authority and turn these leads into clients. 

Here’s an idea of how you can use outreach template #5 to capture clients:

Subject Line: Could we feature (XYZ Company) in our next post, FIRST NAME?

Hey FIRST NAME,

I hope you’re doing well.  I am currently producing an (interview series) and was wondering if you might be interested in participating?

The series features top marketing and sales leaders in the industry. We promote it to our email list each week, share it across social media and publish it on our site.

Check out an example of a previous post/interview here: LINK

The format is really simple. The two of us jump on a Zoom for a 15–20-minute interview and I’ll use your responses to form the article for the series.

With your background, I’m sure you have plenty of insight to share that other (INDUSTRY) professionals would love to read about.

Would you be open to participating?

Let me know if you have availability next week for a quick call and we can go from there?

Cheers,

YOUR NAME

Your Turn

Learn How to Implement The Trust Equation in My Upcoming Lead Blueprint Workshop

Want a better way to get leads and clients? Sign up for my upcoming workshop that goes step by step through our lead generation process that has been so successful in our clients’ businesses -- the L.E.A.D. Blueprint. 

In the workshop, I’ll be teaching:

• Exactly what an Authority Leadership Platform is and how you can leverage our Authority Amplifier process to position yourself above the competition, putting your business on an entirely different playing field.
• How to target high-end prospects using online platforms (social media + email) in a unique way that builds instant trust by doing the polar opposite of what most ‘salespeople’ try
• How to develop real relationships online using a highly-personal Multi-Touchpoint Messaging Campaign to naturally guide the conversation towards an appointment
• The right way to automate processes that build trust, improve credibility, and increase responsiveness in your campaigns.

Join an upcoming workshop session by signing up here!

Implementing the Trust Equation is a game-changer and can propel your small business in front of more prospects, generate more leads and grow your business. 

From email automation to lead management to social media automation, Connect 365 can help you turn those cold leads into warm prospects and create long-lasting, lifetime customers. 

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