MBA2304 Must Read: The Cold Email Manifesto by Alex Berman & Robert Indries

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0:30on our must-read episodes, I share with you a book that I have read that has influenced me as an entrepreneur. I share with you its insights, its takeaways, and why you should read it too. Today's must-read is The Cold Email Manifesto by Alex Berman and Robert Endries. The reason why I decided to read this book is because I like to challenge myself to ask the question, what are some things that I do not like doing, that I avoid doing in my business, and what are the costs of not doing them? What are some things I'm missing out on by not doing these actions? One of those actions are cold emailing.

1:02I have my perceptions about it. I think maybe it's a little bit aggressive or pushy or maybe even a little spammy. I ask myself, why do I think that? Maybe I don't fully understand what cold emailing is, its benefits, and how it can help my business. So I picked up this book to find out. And I'm really glad I did because I learned a ton that I can implement right away in my business. And I want to share with you what those things are in today's episode. In business, you always need to try to have a competitive advantage. And one of the ways you can have a competitive advantage is to do things people are not willing to do.

1:35People maybe avoid doing and cold emailing is one of those. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. I want to start today's lesson by just saying we all have assumptions when it comes to cold emailing. Maybe it's annoying. Maybe it's aggressive. Maybe, again, it's spammy, not aligned with your brand, whatever it might be. But for the next few minutes, I want you just to suspend your assumptions for a moment. Just stop worrying about what you currently think about it and have an open mind. And that's how my mindset was as I started to read this book. The book starts out by talking about the mindset you have to have before you enter this world of cold emailing.

2:11Your perception of cold emailing is most likely not the perception of everybody else. And he highlights this by mentioning that this is not something new in business. This is traditionally how business was done. People used to do door-to-door sales. People used to do cold email sales. He shares a story where his father was selling latex gloves in the 80s. Now, there was a big, big need for latex gloves in the 80s because regulation was put in place in the 80s in the States for doctors and anybody who's in the medical field to use latex gloves to be more hygienic when they're operating on patients.

2:44They mandated it. So everybody had to use late gloves. So when his father would cold call dentists, doctors, podiatrists, whatever they might be, he was approaching people that needed his product. So he was actually doing them a favor by making them aware that, hey, I have something you need. This is how you can get it. All of a sudden, this doesn't sound like it's so annoying. It doesn't sound so spammy. And I'm actually really appreciative that he started out with that example because a big part of the strategy that is shared in this book is preparing your cold emails for the right audience, gathering the right leads, understanding who you're speaking to so that your response rate is quite high.

3:28So it's not seen as useless information or an email that's annoying. The other thing that he touches on in the beginning of the book is the power of cold emailing. If you're able to do this right, you can basically never go hungry, right? You can basically sell anything you want, anytime you want, if you can nail this strategy. This is very powerful as a concept as a business owner. It's like, hey, I can sell my products and services at will whenever I want to. Maybe it's not a bad idea to think about learning a little bit about cold emailing. In chapters four and five, he starts to go into the strategy of cold emailing, how to do this right.

4:04And I really liked these chapters in particular because he talked about what's called the pre-work and lead generation. They really stress in the book that, hey, who you're sending this email to is more important than the actual content of the email. A lot of people think that the art of cold emailing is writing great copy that is irresistible and grabs people's attention. That is true. It's a part of the cold emailing strategy, but it's not the most important thing. The most important thing is who you're sending it to, that they're receptive to this message. And in these chapters, he talks about how to kind of create a potential client list.

4:39Who would benefit the most from your product or service? Who really needs it? Who can really improve or benefit from it? And you make a list of all these people you could think of in every industry, all the different kind of companies, all the kind of consumers that might be a good fit. Then you do the legwork of seeking out these people, finding them, whether that's through LinkedIn, whether that's through Twitter, and starting to follow their work, maybe have some conversations, sub-tweets. And this is actually quite important because when you do send them an email, you get their email address and you send them an email, you're not a stranger, so to speak.

5:15They've seen your name somewhere. They may have a conversation or two with you before offline or on social media. It's not completely cold. And again, you're emailing somebody that actually really needs what you have. I find that this part of the book is so, so important and so valuable because most of your work is done here. Now that you're able to kind of have a semi-relationship with them, they know who you are, they need what you have, they're gonna be a whole lot more receptive and open to having a conversation and learning more about what you can offer them. In chapter six, they go through the perfect cold email.

5:52What makes a great email and what are the parts of the email that you need to include? One of the things I like about this strategy is understanding that the cold emailing part is not a sales exercise. It's a relationship building exercise. It's one of the steps in the process. You're not gonna just close a sale right off the email. Usually it leads to a phone call, a video call, some sort of conversation where they can learn more and then make a decision to buy or not. I get so many cold emails where people are trying to just close a deal off the first email. Hey, buy my service. Hey, check us out.

6:26Here's a discount code, all this weird stuff. And it's like, I don't even know if I want this. I don't even know if you're good for my business. I don't even understand what you're offering. So the cold emailing is just your gateway to a conversation where you then can educate the customer and see if you're a good fit for each other. But the book doesn't end there. It talks about how to build a team around you so that you can start scaling this operation so you're not doing one-on-one sales via cold email. And this is the part that a lot of people forget. This is just the beginning. Cold emailing is a scalable way to get new clients.

7:04But a lot of people feel like it's a not scalable solution because how many emails can you send? It's not at mass if you're doing these one-on-one emails, but you can build a team around the system and start scaling out as long as they're following the same methodology. They also go into how to lead your team and also some fun and interesting other uses of cold emailing in your business. After reading this book, my perspective of cold emailing completely changed. I definitely have learned a ton about how to craft a great email and how to have a strategy about who I'm trying to contact to make sure that, hey, I can offer them my products and services.

7:40Even if you don't decide to do cold emailing, I'm using some of these strategies in the emails I'm sending my potential partners, people already have relationships with, and strengthening my sales strategy with the element of crafting a great email. I'm a big believer of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater. So there's a ton you can apply with what you're already doing right now. Guys and gals, I do recommend that you check out the cold email manifesto. If you want to get better at just emailing in general and gaining clients in a strategic way via email. And what I ask you to do is read the book and then make a decision.

8:17You don't have to do anything. Read the book, make a decision. If there's some elements you want to apply to in your business, or you don't want to apply any of it at all, and it'll strengthen your position of not doing it. But it's really good information. It's a really good perspective on how to sell and differentiate yourself from other businesses that are not as high touch as emailing or one-on-one sales. And it also shows you the power of cold emailing, what you can actually accomplish in your business using these strategies. It's okay to challenge your beliefs. It's okay to challenge what you're currently doing in your business.

8:51it's either going to help you see a new way or improve the way you're doing things or it's going to help you get more clarity and affirm that you're making the right decision by not doing it. So it's a win-win. Thanks so much for listening to The$100 MBA Show. If you love what you hear, hit subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast app. Just hit those triple dots in whatever app you use to listen to podcasts and hit follow. That way you get our next episode automatically and you get over 2 ,300 episodes in our back catalog. So go ahead and follow us right now. Before I go, I want to leave you with this.

9:23If you're feeling stuck in business, if you feel like you're not getting the same traction as you used to, maybe it's time to start doing different things. Maybe you need to challenge what you think is the right way to do something or the right way to gain customers or market or sell. Doing the same thing and expecting different results is a fast way to go crazy, okay? Don't do that. Change things up. Try something new and see if it makes a difference. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.