Each week, we meet sellers using the exact same cold email templates… sourced on Google. They all report the same results.

Nearly zero response. No meetings.

Worse, sellers’ emails aren’t being delivered—when sending from the organization’s domain. Prospects are marking as spam rather than un-subscribing or complaining.

Here’s why: Because they’re sending the exact canned templated messages everyone else is. Inboxes are saturated with identical messages.

Have a look at your inbox. See the same email template patterns over-and-over? How many times per week do you get the “eaten by an alligator” or “chased by a wild hippo” follow-up message?

Do your emails start with,

“Whenever I reach out to someone I have to have a reason. That reason needs to be timely and helpful based on research that I have done on your industry and potential risk exposure.”

How about,

“My name is ____. Whenever I reach out to someone I make sure to have a reason in order to not waste your time.”

Or,

“I read your comments in _________ [magazine] regarding [initiative/trend/issue].”

Or this follow-up template:

We’ve tried to reach you a couple times to introduce you to ________, but haven’t heard back which tells me something:

1) You’re all set and I should stop bothering you.

2) You’re still interested but haven’t had the time to get back to me yet (scheduling link listed below).

3) Maybe this is out of your wheel house, if so, is there some one you’d recommend connecting with?

4) You’ve fallen and can’t get up and in that case let me know and I’ll call someone to help you ….

Replace #4 with herds of stampeding hippos, images of rhinos… or references to alligators eating prospects.

Oh… and references to being “abducted by aliens.” 

Yeah. That’s right. Like thousands of other sellers you’ve Googled the same cold email templates as everyone else. And (like everyone else) you pump them out… looking for customers to meet with.

But your direct competitors use the same templates. Sellers you do NOT compete with use the same templates too. They compete for the same inbox space.

Result: Clients easily spot your messages and mark them spam. All because inboxes are becoming saturated with identical, canned messages.

Sales engagement and outreach automation companies like Outreach.io aren’t communication experts. Why would you put your trust in their canned templates? Especially considering the investment you’re making!

HOW you communicate is THE most important piece of your outreach strategy. Seriously. Hear me out. This goes for lead generation agencies and LinkedIn “experts” too. 

Why would you expect to find a better-than-average way to start conversations, using cold email, via Google? (everyone’s top go-to source for short-cuts!)

I get how Google ranks trusted resources.  

However, consider today’s most popular (ineffective) email templates come from dubious sources. Yes, Google aggregates them. But consider the end source.

• Cold email gurus  
• Lead generation agencies
• Email software companies
• LinkedIn & LinkedIn gurus

Seems fine and logical, right? A handful of online gurus and consultants claim expertise in cold emailing. Most offer free templates and webinars. In return for free wisdom they hope to earn your participation in an online class or hiring them to consult… to write emails for you.

But why would these experts provide good advice for free? Answer: They don’t.

Lead generation experts, software tools and agencies give-away email templates designed to start conversations with prospects. Even if they were experts, why would they give away “what works” for free? They have no incentive to. In fact, they’re under incentive not to.

Answer: They don’t give away useful information either.

Instead, they trade what doesn’t work for your email address. Do you trade your best email address in return for tips that worked in 1998? HA! Of course not. You give them that “other” email address.

The one you reserve for people who gate advice that ends up not helping you.

The biggest source of templates, hands down, seems to be software providers like HubSpot and outreach.io. Software providers want your email address too. In return they hope to sell you email management sending & analysis tools. As bait they offer stale, outdated tips-and-tricks.

Who knows what provokes conversations with buyers–lately? Your peers. Other sales professionals. The good ones. Join-up with them.

Software companies are experts in software. They are not communication experts nor copywriting educators. Instead, they publish lousy templates as a lead generation tool for themselves.

We trust those who aren’t experts because we’re lazy. It’s human nature. Plus, we want to believe the software tools we invest in are built (and used) by other successful experts. But this is rarely the case. Exceptional business practices are exceptional for a reason.

They’re not typical and not widely shared. Certainly not found on Google. They’re found in places like our workshop clinics. 

What DOES work? Original, vetted tactics developed by a community of sellers focused on innovative ways to communicate. 

Effective templates help customize faster, not send faster.

You’re under pressure. We all are. This is why we send cold emails to large numbers of contacts… trying to start conversations.

However, if you are sending large numbers of Targeted (one-to-many) email messages it may not be best. Starting conversations with decision-makers (especially if you’re selling a complex solution) requires more.

A Tailored (one-to-one) strategy earns better response rates, more conversations. Yet Targeted campaign-style messages are used—exclusively—by most BDR/SDR and digital demand generation teams.

This can be a mistake.