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Let’s get into the content! What’s on the agenda?

• Tips from the top

• First lines of cold-emails (with examples)

• The case for leaving voicemails

• Low connection rate? Try Phone Oracle!

• LinkedIn Best Practices

• Creative Tactic of the week

Tips from the top

This week’s tip from the top comes in the form of a LinkedIn post from Will Allred. We often talk about the danger of using buzzwords, and Will hits the nail on the head here. Be sure to follow him and like his post to support him!

“Turns out... if you put bad messaging into AI, it still drives bad results.

The worst culprit? Buzzwords. I use a "jobs to be done" mentality to cut these pesky words out.

Buzzwords are simply words that could mean multiple things.

While this can be applied to jargon. ex. "Cloud Architecture"... jargon doesn't have multiple meanings. It just doesn't mean anything to outsiders.

What are some buzzword examples?

• Platform

• Visibility

• Strategic

• Flexible

• Scalable

• Personalization

• etc.

An example I always use is "visibility".

A marketer on our team might want to refer to Lavender as creating "Inbox Visibility"... it sounds cool, but in practice it doesn't mean anything specific.

Your prospect isn't sitting around for a Rorschach test. They don't read email. They scan it. Average reading time is only 9 seconds.

Instead... Make it concrete. Break it down to its root.

To the “job to be done”. What exactly do you mean by “personalization” What exactly do you mean by “flexibility”

Is “platform” a placeholder… or something real… if so what differentiates it?

Let’s apply this to visibility. Inbox visibility. Are we reading your emails. Is it analytics?

To make it EASY to understand let’s break visibility down to a simpler term, "see".

What does a marketing term like “inbox visibility” mean?

It means you can SEE why email is working and who is struggling. You could apply this to cloud architecture (doesn't mean you should)

... what is architecture? It's how something is set up. Let’s break down a few more words:

• Visibility = See

• Scalable = works as you grow

• Flexible, Adaptable = works with different processes

• Workflow = How you work / process / or even more specifically define the process

• Platform = tool

What's a buzzword that you see? Using this how would you break it down?”

The First Line of a Cold Email (with examples)

The first line of a cold email is your place to prove that it's worth your prospect's time to keep reading. The first line of your cold email is what can make or break your cold email.

The key is to make it as specific as possible and relevant. Make it known that the message isn't automated by avoiding generic phrases.

Need some inspiration for opening lines? Check out these:

• Hi John - Looks like your team is running ads on Facebook (saw the “state of software” ebook download ad).

• Hi John - As your team works through the layoffs in December, I imagine XYZ

• Hi John - From your experience at company A to Company B, you must be an expert in e-commerce advertising

• Hi John - Looks like your team is using Mailchimp.

• Hi John - Bob Smith sent me your way.

• Hi John - Looked at your recent job posting for a content strategist and noticed XYZ

• Hi John - Saw your post in the Online Geniuses Slack Community regarding Google Analytics

• Hi John - Your G2 review of Hubspot caught my eye.

• Hi John - Congrats on your promotion in January.

• Hi John - Your team is publishing quite a number of ebooks (saw the most recent one focused on analytics software)

• Hi John - Congrats on the recent integration with product X.

There are so many unique things you can say to stand out in the first sentence. Try identifying a few things you could use for your own company!

The case for leaving voicemails (examples included)

One of the greatest debates on a salesfloor is whether salespeople should leave voicemails.

In this video from 30 Minutes to President’s Club, Nick and Armand discuss why you should leave voicemails (backed by data) and provide key characteristics of top-performing voicemails.

Check it out below!

In partnership with: Phone Oracle

LinkedIn Prospecting Best Practices

If you use LinkedIn for prospecting, here are a few tips:

1. Try to avoid sending prospects away from LinkedIn’s inbox. For example, if send over a Loom video on LinkedIn - it takes the prospect away from the inbox conversation on LinkedIn and on to another web page. Use the native video feature in LinkedIn to keep them within the platform.

2. Include links first, then type your message. When you send a link on LinkedIn, it shows a preview of the webpage, which blocks the message that you left above it. So always send the link first, and then type your message and reference the above link.

3. Don't request to connect with inactive accounts. You only get so many invites a week, use them efficiently. Click the 'Show All Activity' button on a prospect's page. If they have liked or commented on anything recently, avoid it and move on.

4. Use the language that your prospect uses in their 'summary' section. A great way to start off a LinkedIn message is 'in your summary you mentioned (put something they said here)', and then ask a question.

5. Take a look at the 'Interests' section. You can learn a lot here. Take a look at the companies they follow, the groups they are in, or organizations they track. For example, I once saw that a prospect followed a smaller company that we worked with. I referenced it in the outreach and booked a meeting.

Creative Tactic of the Week

This week’s tip from the top comes in the form of a LinkedIn post from Jason Steele, Senior AE at DeepHow.

We could try to explain it here - but we think Jason does a better job in his LinkedIn post.

Check it out here!

Resources from Our Partners

• PitchFolio: Looking for a new sales job? Stand out to hiring managers by building a brag book with PitchFolio. Showcase your cold emails, mock cold calls, + other sales skills to land more interviews!

• RepVue: Worried you might be underpaid? Check out RepVue (it's free!). RepVue has tons of data on base salaries, OTE, quota attainment, product/market fit, and so much more. 

• Skylar: Want to practice your cold calls? Try cold calling the Skylar AI bot (it's free)!  Think you can book a meeting with the bot? Try it out!