Personalised Prospecting: Is it worth the time?

Expectation vs. Reality

When I first started prospecting at Yieldigo, I thought to myself ‘We have such a great innovative product, that’ll save companies time and money, I’m going to get so many replies because who wouldn’t want that?’’ This unfortunately was not the case. Receiving replies is as uncommon an occurrence as seeing a shooting star (unless you’re looking in the mirror).

As SDRs, we have to realise that those same prospects receive emails every day from people just like ourselves, trying to bring their attention to their services that can improve their operations. Realising that I was not particularly special was a tough pill to swallow. But then you have to ask yourself the question ‘How can I make myself special in the eyes of the prospect? What can I do differently to stand out?’

Learning to accept rejection is all a part of being in sales, holding onto the hope that ‘the people who are genuinely interested in our product, will respond’. And they will, but only if you put in the right amount of effort. 

Quality vs. Quantity

From my standpoint, the days of the ‘Spray and Pray’ method are over. Someone can see if an email is automated by the first sentence. I need to try to create a relationship with a prospect, just like I would meeting someone for the first time. My aim is to add those personal touches that make the prospect think ‘this person really took their time to reach out to me because they think I would particularly be interested in adding Yieldigo’s value to my company.’ 

Taking your time writing the first email is everything, this is your first interaction with the prospect. Make it meaningful and give it a human touch - no one wants to continue reading an email that isn’t interesting or seems like a robot sent it. I begin with finding out something that I genuinely find interesting about the person. This can usually be found on their public LinkedIn profile. Whether it’s a recent post, attendance at a webinar or event, their past experience, current longevity at the company or a new position, I want to show them that I took the time to make a meaningful connection and that they matter to me, because they do.

Often, I can spend 30 minutes typing out a flawless email to a prospect explaining why I reached out to them specifically. Then, when I finally muster up the courage to press send after my 6th revision… just to come to the conclusion that it was never opened or the delivery was hindered by a company email firewall. It can feel similar to crafting the perfect Tinder intro text, based on their profile, pictures, likes and music preferences and then being 'left on read' (or worse, unmatched!) by your potential soulmate. But do you give up dating? No, you just swipe along to your next potential match.

These personal touches will take time, research and patience, but I believe it gives your second email a better chance of getting a response or at least an open and a click through to the website. I want them to gradually become positively familiar with myself and my company.

I'm curious, what are your experiences with adding personal touches to your cold outreach?