The Best Cold Outreach Email Award Goes to…

It’s rare that a cold sales email gets my attention and convinces me to open it. It’s even rarer still that I read the whole thing and write back to the complete stranger. That’s exactly what I did after receiving this email. I told Alan that I am not a prospect for him right now but that his outreach was fantastic.

Why I loved it: He used nostalgia and humanized himself and his company to be more relatable and build trust. He could have said something like, “We are the best, we’ve won these awards, you should hire us.” That’s what so many sales emails say. But not the one from Alan Bramson.

Here is what he sent me (I am redacting some of it so I don't reveal all his magic):

SUBJECT LINE: Service in the Old Days

"Dear Shawna,

My name is Alan Bramson, owner of Value Added Accounting Solutions. I am a professional virtual bookkeeper.

Remember when you could go to your local pharmacy that was not part of a billion-dollar chain and actually talk to the owner and pharmacist?

Or actually visit your bank without being heavily discouraged to do so and almost forced to deal with them online?

We can all think of so many things that have become impersonal over the years. And that includes your bookkeeper or accountant.

[Redacted, but he humanizes himself and what he does further.]

If your main interest is finding the cheapest bookkeeper that you can find, we will probably not be a good fit. We offer much more than the mechanics of bookkeeping. If you need a ‘mini’ or fractional CFO or perhaps just someone who will work with you to determine what reporting and metrics you need…to help you understand your financials, and help identify problems before they become serious, then you’ve come to the right place.

To someone you can trust, a person you can always reach…like the old days.

Please feel free to visit our website which describes our approach [valueaddedaccountingsolutions]

Thank you for your time. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Thanks,

Alan Bramson - Value Added Accounting Solutions"

FINAL THOUGHTS

In the span of a few lines of text, Alan built trust and painted a picture for me about what it would be like to work with him. Pssst...if you're in the market for a virtual bookkeeper, I think you should reach out to him for the redacted part of his story!

Shawna Suckow, CSP, CVP, CMP, is a consumer behavior expert who helps humans, companies, and audiences worldwide to understand the latest trends and strategies in sales and marketing. DM her if you want a really unique speaker, an unrelenting business coach, or dad joke.