Ever go on a date where your date tried to posture? You detected it instantly. 

Remember back in time. Your date showed you—he/she was attracted to you. But you weren’t sure. Yet. Then, suddenly, you were.

This person was not a match.

Maybe because they started caring about earning your attraction—too much. They were trying too hard.

Meeting a customer for the first time is the same. Subconsciously signaling “I want you to respect me” is the kiss of death in business.

The moment you start caring too much you risk being seen as desperate or needy by prospects.

It’s the same with your cold emails, LinkedIn connection requests, InMails and voicemails. The best connection request is no request. The best meeting request is no request. You’ve got to give it time. You’ve got to create an urge for the prospect to want it… for their own selfish reason.

Sales is courtship. Nothing screams “I’m trying to persuade” you louder than trying to establish credibility. Posturing to impress.

Without being provocative your email or connection request will get deleted. Period. Take it to the bank.

Credibility is less important when starting conversations—more important to earning consideration. Believe me: people don’t consider doing business with other people based on ONE cold email, nor one LinkedIn connection request.

Prospecting outreach is about provocation. It’s not about earning consideration from go. Your first connection request or cold email does NOT need to appear credible. It needs to provoke. It needs to earn a reply that starts a conversation… which may progress toward consideration IF your prospect allows it.

Provoke their curiosity. 

Reach into your email. Do it now. Seriously. Look for that latest spam email. The one from someone who wrote in a way that screams, “I know you won’t believe me… so here is research from a credible source… to convince you to talk about buying my thing.”

It shouldn’t take long to fish one out. Or maybe I’ve just described your email technique.

Truth is, most field and inside sales teams are advised to establish credibility when cold emailing. “Without being seen as credible, your email will be deleted by prospects.”

Simply. Not. True.

Without being provocative your email will get deleted. Credibility has little to do with starting conversations.

Trying to establish credibility–too early–sabotages the chance to get conversations started.

Don’t fall into the trap. Don’t write to be seen as credible from cold. That’s marketing. This is sales. Provoke first.

Here is an example from a student I’m working with this week. I’m not using his name or company to protect the innocent.

Hello, [client],

Hi First Name,
Are you currently 100% confident your cyber security needs are being met? I am with XYZ LLC. Hopefully you have heard of us. But in case you haven’t, for over 50 years XYZ LLC has helped several large, multi-national financial institutions including ABC Corp., a banking software company, with their cyber security needs. I thought there might be a good fit for your company too.

Our world class cyber security experts have helped secure some of the worlds largest organizations and I think it’s something that your organisation might see immediate value in.

Thanks,

Messages like this often use phrases like, “I would love to get to know your company and projects better as perhaps there are X and Y products we can provide you.”

Do you see how using words like “I’d love to” and using words like “world class” and “world’s largest” and “large, multi-national” and “immediate value” sound make the seller sound like he cares too much?

Notice how the message starts off. See how the seller is talking about how established the company is? Such a turn-off. It’s like being on a bad date!

This same student, with a bit of coaching, was able to produce a totally different, effective cold email approach. Here’s the lead-in…

[client],
Are you open to an unorthodox way to prevent attacks from compromised login credentials—in real time? 

He went on to BRIEFLY describe how he did exactly what is described for a large bank located within the same city as his prospect. (that’s another trick—geo-relevancy) Then he ended it. Done! Provocative. 

This is the kind of cool stuff we work on in our quarterly workshops and coaching.

What the seller described above is provocative because it’s short, sweet and focused on the potential client’s open-ness to hearing about a different way to achieve a goal he/she probably has. It works for a half-dozen other reasons too.

This is just one of many effective technique options we can show you.

Beware: When you attempt to establish credibility in the first stage of a conversation it often backfires. Because there is no decision being made here — other than replying to an email message.

Need more examples? Have some to offer yourself? Let me know in comments or shoot me an email!

Or join us in a 8-week workshop and coaching to learn from (and practice with) others like you. 

Care less. Because trying to appear credible causes readers to run the other way, hit delete. Offering them reasons to connect with, or do business with you, is a turn-off.

Because it feels persuasive.

These days we are bombarded with messages trying to persuade.

Think about it: Those that do manage to persuade you are neutral. They don’t try to instantly persuade. They allow you to persuade yourself… slowly… if it’s for you. If not, you disqualify yourself, naturally.

Consider the above re-write. Notice how the seller does not try to persuade. He doesn’t try to look credible. Instead, he presents a subject the customer likely cares about… in a way they cannot resist acting on.

That is credible. Especially when all the other emails hitting his clients’ inboxes look like his first message–desperate! The fact that my student’s message is not posturing and trying to persuade is, in effect, credible enough to earn a reply… in comparison to the competition.