Personalized Cold Outreach: Add More Value to Your Conversations

Personalizing cold outreach might sound like a contradiction to some. Cold outreach, by its nature, is designed to reach new prospects that you’ve never connected with before. So how can you possibly personalize your communications to attract the right audiences?

The good news is that there is more that you can do than you might think. Cold outreach campaigns are often something that make marketers and sales reps cringe because they take more work. However, the work is well worth the effort when you realize how easy it can be to add a little personalization. 

What is personalized outreach?

It’s more than just finding out someone’s name and adding it to an email, or picking one tidbit of information you can use to make a connection. You really have to put in as much effort as you can to find out:

• Who your ideal recipient is 
• What you can do for them

If you can answer both of these questions (and convey them effectively to your leads), you will be much more successful with your cold outreach efforts. You can also enlist the help of experts by outsourcing your outreach campaigns to a team like Smith.ai, where personalized outreach comes standard. 

The benefits of personalized cold outreach 

When you take the time to personalize your cold connections, you are going to give people more reasons to trust your business and consider working with you. The biggest perk is that today’s ideal customer does business with companies that they know and trust. Therefore, if you can show them why they should trust you, you’re already ahead of the competition. 

Other perks of personalized cold outreach include:

• A chance to show people that you’ve done your homework and aren’t just reaching out to anyone who will listen. 
• An opportunity to stand out from your competition and provide a better connection. 
• An increased likelihood of getting a response from cold leads. 
• A chance to show people you value their time (which gets huge points in today’s busy world). 

Of course, in order to reap these rewards, you have to know how to personalize your cold outreach. 

Tips for personalizing your communications

A little research can go a long way in helping you make a lasting impression. Learn about the individual or organization that you are trying to reach. Find out what their goals are, what challenges or pain points they have, and how you can help resolve those. Tailored messages that focus on addressing specific needs always get better response rates than those generic, untargeted marketing emails. 

Other tips for success include:

Check and double-check contact information. Nothing says “generic outreach efforts” like getting someone’s name or title wrong when you create your email or collect information for your cold calls. If you’re sending written messages, do a good spelling and grammar check, too—a simple typo could cost you valuable reputation points and potential leads. 

Don’t copy/paste and send the same email to everyone on your list. This is a great way to end up in spam folders and leave a bad taste in people’s mouths. You should also avoid generic phrases and language that can seem salesy and unintentional. “I feel like we have the perfect solution for you” is problematic for several reasons:

• It’s generic and impersonal
• It’s obvious (if you didn’t have a solution, why would you be reaching out?)
• It sounds disinterested and scripted

Don’t send attachments without asking or giving notice. This can cause your emails to end up in spam folders, or it can just come across as too sales-y, neither of which is what you want to happen with your personalized messages. 

Find a connection and make that known in your outreach. That can help people see the value of working with you and give them the chance to see that you’ve done your homework. Master the research process of cold outreach campaigns and watch how much more successful your efforts are. 

Be a human, not a robot. Use personalized language and talk to people like you’re talking to a friend or family member. Today’s consumers don’t want to be sold anything. They want to connect with real people who can help them solve problems. 

Automate elsewhere. While there are certain parts of your cold outreach campaigns that you can automate, the actual communications shouldn’t be on that list. You can automate things like newsletters, lead generation, and other tasks, but when it comes down to the actual cold conversation, you need to deliver a personalized, one-on-one connection that is real and unique. 

Always provide value. It doesn’t matter who you’re reaching out to in your campaigns, because if you don’t have something of value to offer, you aren’t going to get their attention. Make sure that you communicate what you have to offer, why it makes your company unique, and why your company is the best choice for them. 

Be creative, not cute. People like personalization, not patronizing emails and cutesy marketing content. Their time is valuable and they are educated, experienced people who deserve real answers. Creativity is great, but being cute can often get your emails tossed in spam or misinterpreted, neither of which will get the outcomes you wanted. 

Outsource through a partnership with Smith.ai for perfect cold outreach every time 

Of course, the ultimate tip for success with cold outreach campaigns is to enlist experts who know what it takes to get results like the virtual receptionists at Smith.ai. Our team of dedicated agents can make sure that your outreach campaigns go off without a hitch. Plus, we can also support your efforts for lead intake and appointment scheduling, and serve as your 24/7 answering service to ensure you never miss a lead. 

To learn more, schedule a consultation or reach out to hello@smith.ai. 

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