Cold outreach has been a classic method for agencies to gain more B2B clients. But is it still the most effective strategy? How can agencies build a cold outreach plan that fits their goals?
We’re here to help. In fact, we assisted a client in making $47k from just one email campaign.
Key Highlights of Cold Outreach for Agencies
- Define your Ideal Client Profile (ICP): Identify your target audience by considering their industry, company size, challenges, and decision-makers to enhance outreach accuracy.
- Build a quality target list: Use platforms like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Apollo.io, and Hunter.io to find and qualify leads efficiently.
- Craft personalized messaging: Avoid generic outreach. Tailor your emails and calls to address the specific pain points, goals, and activities of each company.
- Leverage multiple outreach channels: Combine cold emails, social media, and cold calls to increase engagement and response rates.
- Use automation and outreach tools: Platforms like SalesLoft, Outreach.io, and HubSpot help streamline prospecting, follow-ups, and tracking of campaigns.
- Measure success with key metrics: Track open rates, response rates, conversions, and meetings booked to refine and improve your strategy.
- Follow up consistently but strategically: Send 3-5 follow-ups over a few weeks, focusing on relationship-building rather than being overly sales-focused.
Preparing for Cold Outreach
Before diving into outreach, preparation is key. Follow these steps to set the stage for success.
Define Your Ideal Client Profile (ICP)
Building your contact list should always be the first step in your outreach campaign. To identify and qualify leads effectively, create an Ideal Client Profile (ICP). Knowing who your perfect client is helps you focus your efforts, but your ICP should be based on data, not just industry or company size.
Define your ICP by considering factors like:
- Industry or niche
- Company size
- Location
- Challenges they face
- Decision-makers’ roles
The best way to gather this information is by using a data collection platform like a CRM.
This data is key to targeting and personalizing your outreach. As you create your outreach content, ask yourself:
- What pain points are you solving?
- How can you connect with this lead or company?
- What goals is your lead trying to achieve, and how can you help them reach those goals?
- What are the top three concerns you hear during the sales process?
- Has there ever been a time when your products or services weren’t a good fit for a client?
Once you have this information, you can begin building your target list, setting the stage for the next steps.
Build a Target List
Source: Slide Team
Once you have your ICP and criteria for qualified leads, you can start building your target list. Use tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Apollo.io, or Hunter.io to create a list of prospects that fit your ICP. Make sure your list is clean, accurate, and up-to-date to maximize the effectiveness of your outreach efforts.
Develop a Value Proposition
To stand out from competitors, clearly define what makes your agency unique by answering these questions:
- What specific problems do you solve?
Identify the key challenges your agency helps clients overcome, whether it’s increasing brand visibility, improving sales, streamlining operations, or solving a specific industry-related issue. - What benefits can clients expect?
Highlight the positive outcomes clients can expect from working with you. This could include improved efficiency, higher ROI, enhanced customer engagement, or other measurable results. - Why should they choose you over competitors?
Explain what sets you apart. This could be your personalized approach, innovative solutions, industry expertise, proven track record, or exceptional customer service. Show why clients can trust you to deliver superior results.
By addressing these questions, you’ll create a compelling value proposition that resonates with potential clients and demonstrates your unique strengths.
Craft Personalized Messaging
Generic messages don’t work. That’s because all sales outreach professionals must move past these hurdles:
- Your emails may feel like a sales pitch
- Most professionals have their guard up when they receive an unsolicited sales email
Gone are the days of sending mass unsolicited emails. Before getting to the subject matter, all sales professionals must use personalization in their outreach. Personalization can give you 10%-15% revenue growth since you develop a connection with your leads immediately after contacting them.
Begin by researching your prospects thoroughly and customizing your outreach to address their specific needs, pain points, and goals. Make a strong first impression with a persuasive email opening that highlights how you can help them.
To make your emails even more personalized, track a company’s recent activity and gather valuable insights into their challenges. Mention these details in your outreach to show you’ve done your homework.
Here are some examples of online activity you can track:
- Blog posts
- Podcast appearances
- Forum discussions
- Social media posts (Twitter or LinkedIn)
By referencing this activity, you can demonstrate your understanding of the company and its needs, making your outreach more relevant and engaging.
Cold Outreach Channels for Agencies
Another part of client research is knowing the channels they use. Let’s explore the most effective channels for cold outreach. Segment your leads by these channels to better target these prospects.
Cold Email
Cold email campaigns are among the most popular outreach methods (especially for SaaS brands). After all, B2B emails have 3.18% click rates because these buyers prefer email communications.
Here’s an email method that sales professionals should follow to optimize their outreach:
Step 1: Build Your Email List
Include key recipient information such as:
- Name
- Company name
- Job title
- Contact information
Step 2: Personalize Your Email
Use the insights you’ve gathered to personalize your message. Follow these best practices for cold emails:
- Catchy subject line: Grab the reader’s attention right away.
- Personalized first sentence: Show you’ve researched their company or challenges.
- Keep it short: Stick to 150 words or less.
- Clear CTA: Always include a direct call-to-action.
- A/B testing: Experiment with different email approaches to see what works best.
Example Template
Subject: Ideas to improve [Specific Metric] at [Company Name]
Hi [First Name],
I noticed that [specific observation about the company]. At [Your Agency Name], we specialize in helping companies like [Prospect’s Company] achieve [specific result].
For example, we recently helped [similar company] increase [specific metric] by [percentage].
Would you be open to a quick call next week to discuss how we can help [Prospect’s Company] achieve similar results?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
[Your Name]
[Your Position]
[Contact Info]
This template is simple and effective, showcasing your value and encouraging further communication.
Social Media Outreach
Marketers often use platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to boost brand reputation and share content. However, these platforms also offer valuable opportunities for direct engagement with potential clients.
Social Media Best Practices:
- Personalize your connection request: Take the time to craft a message that is relevant to the individual.
- Avoid being overly salesy: Focus on building a relationship rather than pushing a sale right away.
- Engage with prospects’ posts: Show genuine interest in their content to foster a connection and build rapport.
Social Media Outreach Example:
Hi [First Name],
I came across your profile and was impressed by your work in [specific field]. I’d love to connect and share some insights about how we’ve helped companies in [industry/niche] achieve [specific results].
Looking forward to connecting!
[Your Name]
This approach is friendly and non-invasive, encouraging a genuine conversation while subtly introducing your expertise.
Cold Calling
Source: Investopedia
Although “cold calling” can refer to any sales solicitation, this section specifically focuses on sales calls. Cold calling may seem intimidating because it often takes an average of eight calls to reach a prospect. However, it can be highly effective when done right.
Tips for Cold Calling:
- Start with a strong opening line: Make a clear and engaging introduction.
- Focus on the prospect’s challenges: Rather than pushing your services, address their specific problems.
- Handle objections confidently: Be professional and calm when responding to concerns.
- Keep it brief and to the point: Respect the prospect’s time and get to the heart of the matter quickly.
Example Opening:
“Hi [First Name], this is [Your Name] from [Your Agency]. I noticed [specific observation about their company], and I wanted to quickly share how we’ve helped companies like yours solve [specific challenge]. Is this a good time to chat?”
This approach starts the conversation on a positive note, focusing on their needs rather than your sales pitch.
Sales Outreach Tools for Agencies
There are numerous platforms and software that can streamline the sales outreach process. Here are some of our favorite examples.
All-in-One Sales Platforms
- A powerful platform for creating and scaling sales cadences:
- Tracks activity across email, phone, and LinkedIn, ensuring seamless outreach management.
- Provides analytics to help improve engagement, revenue, and conversion rates, allowing you to refine your strategy for better results.
- Streamlines multi-channel outreach campaigns (email, calls, social):
- Offers team collaboration features and AI-powered insights to enhance efficiency and decision-making.
- Includes tools to boost metrics like engagement rates, helping you reach your goals faster.
- Tracks and optimizes outreach performance in real-time, allowing for continuous improvement and better results.
- Perfect for cold email, phone, and social outreach:
- Follow-up automation to ensure timely and consistent engagement.
- Includes A/B testing and templates to optimize your messaging.
- Integrates with CRM systems like HubSpot and Salesforce, helping you find and target your ideal customers more effectively.
- Automate your meetings, follow-ups, and communications:
- Provides detailed insights into email engagement to track performance.
- Includes scheduling tools and email templates to streamline outreach.
- Features integrations with Gmail and Salesforce, making it easier to manage your workflow and customer interactions.
- Offers phone, SMS, event, meetings, and video conferencing:
- Ideal for remote teams needing seamless communication tools for collaboration.
- Includes call monitoring and reporting features to track performance and improve efficiency.
Email Outreach Tools
- Custom emails with a targeted approach:
- Advanced automation for follow-ups, ensuring timely responses.
- Tracks email opens, clicks, and replies to measure engagement.
- Helps you build an email list, optimizing your outreach efforts.
- Tracks email outreach directly in your inbox:
- Provides templates and insights into prospect behavior to refine your messaging.
- Works seamlessly with Gmail and Outlook, making integration easy.
- Includes A/B testing, allowing you to identify which messages resonate best with your prospects.
- Finds and verifies email addresses from websites:
- Includes email tracking and integration with outreach platforms to streamline communication.
- Ideal for building clean and accurate email lists, ensuring your outreach is effective and efficient.
- Send highly tailored cold emails by using placeholders like names, companies, or job titles:
- Verify email addresses for free to ensure accuracy.
- Schedule and automate follow-up emails based on triggers like no reply, email opened, or link clicked.
- Test subject lines, content, or CTAs to identify the best-performing versions for better results.
- Works seamlessly with CRM platforms like HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce, and others to simplify lead management and improve outreach efficiency.
CRM and Lead Management Tools
- Software to track sales and marketing efforts:
- Free-to-use CRM with sales pipelines and tracking features to manage your leads.
- Helps manage contacts, track interactions, and schedule follow-ups efficiently.
- Integrates with email tools and marketing platforms to streamline your sales and marketing workflows.
- A sales-focused CRM designed to close deals:
- Manage deals with AI and automated activity reminders for efficient follow-ups.
- Features customizable pipelines and AI-powered sales insights to optimize your sales strategy.
- Includes automation options for repetitive tasks, saving time and increasing productivity.
- Designed for small teams and SMBs:
- Combines CRM functionality with email and call tracking to streamline communication.
- Enables easy task management and follow-ups, improving team efficiency and organization.
Social Media Outreach Tools
- A sales tool powered by LinkedIn to find prospects:
- Advanced filters to help you find your target audience with precision.
- Features lead recommendations to assist in identifying high-potential prospects.
- Includes relationship-building features like InMail for LinkedIn messages to engage leads directly.
- Integrates with many CRMs for seamless tracking and management of your outreach efforts.
- A social media management tool that offers social listening and analytics:
- Schedules and monitors social media posts to maintain a consistent presence.
- Tracks prospect engagement across social platforms for better insights.
- Provides sales analytics to help refine and optimize your social outreach strategies.
Prospecting and Lead Generation Tools
- An AI-powered tool that helps sales professionals find warm leads and close deals:
- Combines prospecting and outreach automation for streamlined sales efforts.
- Offers verified contact data and email sequences to improve outreach accuracy.
- Features a Chrome extension for on-the-go research, making lead discovery easier.
- Automates sales outreach:
- Helps you find qualified leads and book meetings effortlessly.
- Tracks the performance of multi-channel campaigns to optimize results.
- Analyzes email and call outcomes to continuously improve outreach strategies.
- Features a Chrome extension for LinkedIn automation, making prospecting even easier.
Cold Calling Tools
- A cloud-based phone system tailored for sales teams:
- Integrates with CRMs and help desk software for seamless tracking and call logging.
- Features call analytics to provide insights into performance.
- Includes voicemail automation, streamlining communication and follow-up processes.
Overcoming Common Challenges in Cold Outreach
Since 55% of sales professionals fail to hit their targets, it’s easy to make bad decisions in an outreach campaign. Here are common challenges that sales professionals face and how you can use them to create a successful cold outreach campaign.
Low Response Rates
Are you not getting any responses to your cold email strategy? This is one of the most common problems since cold calling has an average success rate of 4.8%. However, there are ways to increase open and response rates, even with cold outreach.
Solution: Personalization.
A problem that many sales professionals have is they use a generic template for every lead. While it’s more time-consuming to personalize your sales pitch for all contacts, personalization can increase response rates by 135%.
How can you personalize sales outreach while scaling your strategy? First, focus your content on the client and cut right to the pitch. If you’re introducing your brand, keep it brief and boast about your successes after your pitch.
Over time, test different subject lines and your value proposition.
Deliverability Issues
Source: lemwarm
If you’re struggling with no open or response rates, ensure that your emails are being delivered in the first place. 45% of the emails we send every day are considered spam. Safeguarding your cold outreach emails from spam filters is integral to your strategy.
Solution: Invest in tools.
In the previous section, we recommended various sales outreach tools. Platforms like Lemlist offer features that track email deliverability, ensuring your sales emails always land in the primary inbox. Other best practices include using a reliable email domain and avoiding spammy language, such as phrases like “Act now” or “Limited time offer,” to increase your chances of successful engagement.
Rejections
How many cold emails do you need to send before getting a response from key decision-makers? You probably heard statistics like, “Customers say yes after four rejections.” But why wait for four rejections when you can get a “yes” the first time?
The key is to know why customers say no.
Solution: Be specific.
The key to a successful cold outreach strategy is specificity. A vague sales pitch is one of the main reasons prospects decline a meeting. For example, general subject lines like “Book a Five-Minute Call” or CTAs like “Want to discuss how we can work together” won’t capture a prospect’s attention or motivate them to continue down the sales funnel.
Instead, make your pitch specific. Address their needs and pain points with data-driven reasons showing why your product is the solution. By being precise, you increase the likelihood of sparking interest.
To keep the conversation going, consider asking targeted questions or offering valuable next steps that resonate with the prospect’s immediate challenges.
Measuring Cold Outreach Success
Track the performance of your campaigns using key metrics that matter to your specific goals, such as:
- Open rate: The percentage of recipients who opened your email compared to the total sent.
- Click-through rate: The percentage of recipients who clicked on your CTA link.
- Response rate: The number of leads who replied to your email.
- Conversion rate: Tracks how many responses turn into leads or paying customers.
- Number of meetings booked: The number of sales meetings scheduled within a certain period.
- Bounce rate: The percentage of emails that couldn’t be delivered.
- Win rate: How effective you are at closing sales.
- Lead to close rate: The ratio of closed sales to pending leads.
While all these metrics provide valuable insights, it’s crucial to focus on the ones that align with your campaign goals and the outcomes that matter most to your business.
The Importance of Follow-Ups
Source: Reve Chat
Follow-ups are crucial in cold outreach. If your prospects don’t respond to your first message, send them a reminder.
Consistency is crucial, but it’s important not to come across as spammy. Aim to send three to five follow-ups over a span of two to three weeks. Your follow-ups should focus on building a genuine relationship with your leads, rather than pushing for a sale. The last thing you want is for your email to be ignored or deleted.
Here’s an example of a follow-up email:
Subject: Following up on my previous message
Hi [First Name],
I wanted to follow up on my previous email about [specific topic]. I understand you’re busy, but I’d love to discuss how we can help [Prospect’s Company] achieve [specific result].
Let me know if you’d like to schedule a quick call.
Best,
[Your Name]
This approach is polite, respectful, and keeps the focus on how you can offer value to the prospect.
Cold Outreach for Agencies Can Be Effective
Cold outreach has long been a key strategy for attracting new B2B clients, generating leads, and growing your business. When executed with the right approach, it can help build strong client relationships.
However, without the proper strategy, cold outreach can fall flat. To increase success, follow these steps, utilize the right tools, and refer to these templates. Qualify your leads, personalize your outreach, and focus on offering solutions that address your prospect’s pain points.
If a direct sales strategy doesn’t seem right for you, marketing is a great alternative. You can still use the same channels, such as social media and email marketing, to boost brand awareness and nurture leads through the sales funnel. Digital marketing agencies, like Digitalixon, can assist with crafting and executing these strategies effectively.
If you’re ready to level up your cold outreach strategy, Digitalixon’s marketing experts can help!👇
Let’s Do Cold Outreach Right
