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Phone/E-mail Sequence – Sanity Check
Hey Guys,
Any feedback on the below would be fab.
Cold Call Template
Morning/Afternoon/Evening [Name], How’ve you been?
I was chatting with some similar finance teams to you guys last week, and they were telling me how tiring it is running their wholesale businesses from spreadsheets. Some of them also have massive admin overheads from manually keying information.
Is this something you guys are struggling with too?
[They explain]
Which area do you think is most of a challenge at the moment?
[They explain further]
OK, well I’ve called you out of the blue, but I do think we can help. It would be good to jump on a call to talk through how we’ve helped [customer] achieve [xyz]. Do you have your calendar handy?
Just so I can make our conversation super relevant can you tell me…
[VOICEMAIL – Hey [Name], Adam from Thinc. Wanted to share some ideas with you as I’ve been chatting with some similar finance teams to you guys. They’ve been telling me how tiring it is running their wholesale businesses from spreadsheets, with some of them even wasting time manually keying info. Call me back if you like, but I’ll drop it into an e-mail to you as well.
Sequence
1. Day 1 – Follow on LinkedIn – Call as per the above – Send e-mail 1 (A/B test)
E-mail 1 – A
Subject Line – Spreadsheets causing admin overhead, {{first_name}}?
Body
Hi {{first_name}},
The finance teams I was chatting with last week were telling me how tiring and un-fun it is running their wholesale businesses from spreadsheets.
They were surprised when I outlined how most of them could be ditched, with less upheaval than they expected.
[Customer A] are an example where we reduced their admin overhead and increased their turnover by 10%. Gary, their Ops Director, is pretty pleased with the cashflow improvements they’ve seen as well.
Does it make sense to jump on a quick call to see whether we can reduce your admin overhead as well?
Best wishes,
Adam
E-mail 1 – B
Subject Line – How to reduce your admin overhead
Body
Hi {{first_name}},
The finance teams I was chatting with last week were telling me how tiring and un-fun it is running their wholesale businesses from spreadsheets.
They were surprised when I outlined how most of them could be ditched, with less upheaval than they expected.
Well, we have helped [Customer B] reduce their admin overhead and increase their turnover by 10%. Gary, their Ops Director, is pretty pleased with the cashflow improvements they’ve seen as well.
Does it make sense to jump on a quick call to see whether we can reduce your admin overhead as well?
Best wishes,
Adam
2. Day 4 – Call as per above – Send E-mail 2
E-mail 2 – Any thoughts?
3. Day 7 – Call as per the above – Send E-mail 3
E-mail 3 – Manual or Auto, {{first_name}}?
Hi {{first_name}},
It’s common for finance teams to manually key transactions, but it’s yet another un-fun activity that affects morale and performance.
It would be nice to think you could get to a place where everything’s on auto-pilot, so you can focus on activities that will increase your revenue or reduce your expenses.
[Customer C] put their order processing on auto-pilot and managed to achieve a 3.6% reduction in safety stock really quickly. Their co-founder, Simon was also put at ease by our approach.
Does it make sense to speak at some point about how we can put your processes on auto-pilot as well?
Best wishes,
Adam
4. Day 10 – Call as per the above, send E-mail 4, Connect on LinkedIn
E-mail 4 – Decisions in seconds, not hours
Hi {{first_name}},
It’s one thing to have data in a spreadsheets, but if they’re not connected, something that should take seconds to find can cause hours of headache.
There is a place where ‘live’ information is easily found, making split second decision making easy.
[Customer] not only improved their stock visibility and control, they’re decision making ability is now on steroids. Duncan their GM is pleased with how easily it is for them to find areas they can improve on.
Does it make sense to get a call in the calendar to see how we can help improve your decision making capability too?
Best wishes,
Adam
5. Day 14 – Call as per above, send E-mail 5
E-mail 5 – Before I go, this might help
{{first_name}},
Since I’ve not heard from you, I’ll assume the timing isn’t right for us to help you.
In the meantime, you can find the case study on [Customer A] here and [Customer B] here and [Customer C] here. The insights section of our website is also continuously updated with useful info as well.
If you do need me for anything, just let me know.
Best wishes,
{{sender_first_name}}
Here are some inital thoughts for you Adam. I’d add a little more social proof to your messages.
I was chatting with some similar finance teams to you guys last week, and they were telling me how tiring it is running their wholesale businesses from spreadsheets. Some of them also have massive admin overheads from manually keying information.
Can you name drop who you’ve been chatting with. Even better if it could be a competitor!!
Which area do you think is most of a challenge at the moment?
This is slightly too open for me on a cold call. I’d ask “PERSON said that THIS is a challenge for them at the moment. Is it a challenge for you?
This will also qualify the prospect too (I know Will loves qualification!!)
OK, well I’ve called you out of the blue, but I do think we can help. It would be good to jump on a call to talk through how we’ve helped [customer] achieve [xyz]. Do you have your calendar handy?
Again following Will’s advice I’d say “Does it make sense to jump on a call…” rather than “it would be”. Of course it would be good to jump on a call with you, it might not be great for the prospect!!
[VOICEMAIL – Hey [Name], Adam from Thinc. Wanted to share some ideas with you as I’ve been chatting with some similar finance teams to you guys. They’ve been telling me how tiring it is running their wholesale businesses from spreadsheets, with some of them even wasting time manually keying info. Call me back if you like, but I’ll drop it into an e-mail to you as well.
Are you sharing your phone number when you say “call me back”. I know it sounds idiotic but lots of people don’t know how to use their desk phones to find numbers.
Sequence
1. Day 1 – Follow on LinkedIn – Call as per the above – Send e-mail 1 (A/B test)
I know everyone talks about A/B testing everything but how many emails are you sending? If you’re not sending LITERALLY hundreds, A/B testing doesn’t really work.
Hi {{first_name}},
The finance teams I was chatting with last week were telling me how tiring and un-fun it is running their wholesale businesses from spreadsheets.
Same thing as above. Can you name drop someone specifically?
E-mail 5 – Before I go, this might help
{{first_name}},
Since I’ve not heard from you, I’ll assume the timing isn’t right for us to help you.
In the meantime, you can find the case study on [Customer A] here and [Customer B] here and [Customer C] here. The insights section of our website is also continuously updated with useful info as well.
If you do need me for anything, just let me know.
Best wishes,
{{sender_first_name}}
I would try and leave the door more open here.
“Is it OK if I sent you a monthly industry update?”
Or something like that. If no response, still add them to your list.
Everything else looks decent. Are you having success with this and want to tweak it? Or is it failing you??!
Thanks Jimmy,
FEEDBACK
Can you name drop who you’ve been chatting with. Even better if it could be a competitor!!
This is tricky, I’m not having a huge amount of conversations as my part of the business is very young. I want to be genuine. I’ll maybe have to think of some other ways to generate interest?
Are you sharing your phone number when you say “call me back”. I know it sounds idiotic but lots of people don’t know how to use their desk phones to find numbers.
Fair point, I’m mostly calling mobiles, but do also leave my number.
I know everyone talks about A/B testing everything but how many emails are you sending? If you’re not sending LITERALLY hundreds, A/B testing doesn’t really work.
Noted
I would try and leave the door more open here.
“Is it OK if I sent you a monthly industry update?”
Good idea
Everything else looks decent. Are you having success with this and want to tweak it? Or is it failing you??!
I’ve had reasonable success with the sequence, but the messaging is completely new so I’ll have to try it and see. All of the above is based on the buyer profiles of the small amount of customers we have however so I’m reasonably confident.
PREVIOUS APPROACH
My previous approach was taken from ‘Problem Prospecting’ with e-mails like the below.
E-MAIL
—
Hi Fran,
Saw you’re a new preferential rate supplier for [Supplier] and it looks as though [Company] have plans to scale?
No doubt you have ambitions to continue to scale the business, but perhaps without increasing headcount and the expense that it incurs?
Is there anything stopping us from having a look at what other high-performing finance teams are doing here? Specifically, the way they’re leveraging technology to reduce painful month-end processing, unify their operations across departments, and improve their ability to make strategic decisions.
Don’t know if it’s a fit yet, but I have a couple of ideas that it would be good to get your thoughts on.
Does it make sense to get a bit of an exchange going for you to decide?
Adam
P.S – I see you’re originally from Spain, but then potentially did some work with [Company] in New York? How do you find London compares to New York?
—
They got a decent reply rate, but none from buyers that were a good fit for our services. Plus they take AGES to write. My best was 10 e-mails an hour taking this hyper-personalised approach so I just wasn’t seeing the response for the time invested.
PHONE CALLS
I’ve also been getting reasonable responses from phone calls like this the below.
—
[Name], this is Adam Shilton and my company is called Thinc. You and I haven’t spoken before, but I was hoping to steal you for 35 seconds, just to explain why I’ve chosen to call you? You can then decide whether it’s worth a future conversation or not. Is that fair?
[Yes]
I speak with a lot of successful finance leaders in a similar position to you, and despite having a strong team, they tend to face a couple of challenges:
Firstly, they’re concerned that the technology they have in place isn’t helping them save costs and drive more revenue.
Secondly, with a team bogged down in admin, month end completions are often long and painful, but employing more staff just for low level admin seems counter-productive.
Do either of those resonate with you at all?
No? Are there any other challenges you have where you think technology might help?
—
Again, the above approach was OK, but the impression I got from the people I was speaking to was a bit wishy washy.
I think with all of the above I was trying to be a bit too clever. Hence the new approach takes things back to basics a bit.
I think Jimmy has done a solid job here (well done mate).
Is the “reasonable success” you’re having enough to get you hitting over quota Adam?
If so, removing things and simplifying rather than adding more or tweaking is going to work better. Plus adding a “nurture” step to the end of the campaign that doesn’t end.
If it isn’t working well enough to get you smashing quota then I’ll go through and add another layer of insight.
Let us know.
Is the “reasonable success” you’re having enough to get you hitting over quota Adam?
Not yet, but it’s early days
If it isn’t working well enough to get you smashing quota then I’ll go through and add another layer of insight.
Thank you. Not too concerned about the structure and the process. Just concerned I haven’t nailed the messaging yet
OK, lets simplify further. Have you closed any sales with this messaging?
If so, work backwards from your quota.
How many sales to hit quota > How many prospects in pipeline to make those sales > How many cold emails/calls to generate the pipeline > Daily activities > Specific messaging.
If you can send enough of this messaging each day to hit your quota, don’t mess with it for now. If you can’t send enough of this messaging to hit your quota then we need to refine it.
I know it’s boring, it’s a pain in the ass to calculate and there will be some guess work. But if you don’t have a baseline of the numbers of things you likely need to do each day to beat your quota, you’re just throwing stuff at the wall hoping it’ll stick.
Does that make sense?
OK, lets simplify further. Have you closed any sales with this messaging?
No, I’m just into 6-7 weeks in the role.
Before creating the above approach (which I’m not running yet) the stats showed 2 opportunities per 1000 calls and 1000 e-mails. Neither of which have closed yet.
I’m thinking a combination of messaging and wrong target were the issues here. I am therefore trying to refine the messaging as per the above approach, as well as trying to find better data based on triggers for the individuals we’re looking to find.
No, I’m just into 6-7 weeks in the role.
Thank you for the context.
Before creating the above approach (which I’m not running yet) the stats showed 2 opportunities per 1000 calls and 1000 e-mails. Neither of which have closed yet.
How many meetings? Industry average is 1-3% meetings booked on cold email.
But for someone like you who isn’t a numpty it should be at a minimum 5%+.
How many meetings? Industry average is 1-3% meetings booked on cold email.
But for someone like you who isn’t a numpty it should be at a minimum 5%+.
None yet as I’ve only started today, but with a few tweak from the previous thread the messaging that’s gone out today is:
FINANCE
SUBJECT – Month-end taking too long, Graham?
Hi James,
Was chatting to [Name] at [Company] the other day. He’s in finance like you.
We were chatting about how quickly month-end can go from “This is manageable” – to – “Is this really the second week I’m finishing at 7PM?” – Has this hit you yet?
We help finance leaders close their month in days, not weeks. We just helped Grahame (Finance Director, [Company]) slash his month-end by centralising his reporting.
Does it make sense to jump on a quick call to see whether we can reduce your month-end too?
Best wishes,
Adam
—
We’ve helped hundreds of finance leaders just like you. Click here to view the case studies.For Finance teams:
OPERATIONS
SUBJECT – 2 weeks behind, to 2 weeks ahead
Hey David,
Was chatting to [Name] over at [Company] no too long ago.
The chat was about how quickly things can go from – “I ‘think’ that order volume should cover us'” – to – “When’s that shortfall coming in? I need it for this customer urgently.” – Has this hit you yet?
We help businesses deliver ahead of schedule by improving planning. We just helped Gary (Director, [Company]) go from 2 weeks behind, to 2 weeks ahead of schedule while reducing overtime pay.
Does it make sense to organise a quick call to see how we can help you deliver ahead of schedule too?
Best wishes,
Adam
—
We’ve helped hundreds of operations leaders just like you. Click here to view the case studies.Probably sent 100 e-mail this morning, 1 response so far to say not interested
FINANCE
SUBJECT – Month-end taking too long, Graham?
Hi James,
Was chatting to [Name] at [Company] the other day. He’s in finance like you.
We were chatting about how quickly month-end can go from “This is manageable” – to – “Is this really the second week I’m finishing at 7PM?” – Has this hit you yet?
We help finance leaders close their month in days, not weeks. We just helped Grahame (Finance Director, [Company]) slash his month-end by centralising his reporting.
Does it make sense to jump on a quick call to see whether we can reduce your month-end too?
Best wishes,
Adam
—
We’ve helped hundreds of finance leaders just like you. Click here to view the case studies.STATS FROM THIS – 59 Delivered – 13.6% Opened – No replies
OPERATIONS
SUBJECT – 2 weeks behind, to 2 weeks ahead
Hey David,
Was chatting to [Name] over at [Company] no too long ago.
The chat was about how quickly things can go from – “I ‘think’ that order volume should cover us’” – to – “When’s that shortfall coming in? I need it for this customer urgently.” – Has this hit you yet?
We help businesses deliver ahead of schedule by improving planning. We just helped Gary (Director, [Company]) go from 2 weeks behind, to 2 weeks ahead of schedule while reducing overtime pay.
Does it make sense to organise a quick call to see how we can help you deliver ahead of schedule too?
Best wishes,
Adam
—
We’ve helped hundreds of operations leaders just like you. Click here to view the case studies.STATS FROM THIS – 52 Delivered – 48% Open Rate – 1 Negative Response
The second emails open rate is great and I think the copy looks great too!!
Ignore the negative response. There’s always some too big for their boots managers who don’t want email.
Have you tried an email that links out to a case study or some content to test what rate people are clicking?
It might be that people are interested but are not quite ready for a call.
Have you tried an email that links out to a case study or some content to test what rate people are clicking
I can only see open rates at the moment as my deliverability decreases when I turn on link tracking…
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