3 ms·

They don't care about you. Make the conversation about them. The sooner you are talking about them, the better. Figure out a way to offer some value to them.

by rgraham 15y ago

They don't care about you. Make the conversation about them. The sooner you are talking about them, the better. Figure out a way to offer some value to them. http://bit.ly/oeZDzC http://bit.ly/oeZDzC [whitetailsoftware.com] When you are speaking with them, ask open questions like "What are your three biggest problems in X business?" One of the three is usually hiring quality people. Anyone got a solution? More ideas on refining the calling approach: http://bit.ly/vPCtuI http://bit.ly/vPCtuI [blog.asmartbear.com]

domodomo 15y ago
Hi, I'm Ian, the author of the blog post. Thanks for taking the time to reply. I'm a little late to this thread. I'm a fan of your posts and listened to the the interview you gave (eh the link escapes me) and found it super interesting. After listening to your interview, one thing that I thought of was the advantage you had in at least starting with an industry that you know exists. You can speak their lingo already, you may have some theories on their problems, etc. But what if you are starting from scratch? In my case, I'm going totally blue sky and just contacting random industries. I contacted farm inspectors, CNC milling companies, elevator repair companies, OSHA consultants, and other random companies. And how honest would you be about your approach, and your ignorance of their industry? So far I've taken the approach of being as honest and authentic as possible. Perhaps to a fault, I should probably fake up some confidence. Another thought I had, I think you may have mentioned this in the podcast interview, is in addition to "making it about them" is to offer something of value in return. I have a background in IT support and consulting. So one thing I was thinking to offer was a free IT assessment of their network. Maybe even include an attached invoice with the amounts zero'd out. I know that the cold email approach is inferior to calling, but I wanted to dip my toe before I took the plunge into cold calls. For what it's worth the one on-site interview I got just lead to a second interview with a different company last week. So I wouldn't say these emails are totally worthless. Also, what's your workflow for finding cold prospects? I found the most time consuming task was just creating a spreadsheet of contacts, and googling for companies. Maybe I should go to a business library and work with a librarian or something.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
domodomo 15y ago
Okay, sorry to re-reply but here are the two versions of the email I sent. Mind skimming them and tell me what I did horribly, horribly wrong? I'd honestly love your feedback. I think I would follow something shorter than this but the same in spirit for cold phone calls. So maybe you can save me some pain and anguish. Polite Version: Dear %fill:FirstName%, First off, sorry for this out of the blue email. I found your name %fill:FoundYourNameSource%, and was hoping you might be able to help me. My name is Ian Fitzpatrick, I'm the founder of a small software company in Saint Paul. I'm investigating ideas for my next software product, and I'm interested in creating an application that serves your industry. I see that you're a %fill:JobRole% at %fill:CompanyName%. Are there any parts of your job that you feel are a hassle, repetitive, or error-prone -- where if you had the right software at work, your life might be a little easier? That's the kind of thing I'm super interested in hearing about. If you have just 20 minutes available any time this week, I'd love the meet and pick your brain. I'm honestly just trying to learn, and hopefully create a product that makes your life a little easier. Impolite Version: Hi %fill:FirstName%, I’m a software developer investigating some projects ideas in the %fill:IndustryName%. I’d like to understand the problems and successes you've had at %fill:CompanyName% a bit better. I’m not trying to sell you anything, I would just like to hear your thoughts on a few things related to the industry. Do you have 20 minutes available to meet at some point in the next week? I'd like to conduct an informal interview with you.
- domodomo 15y ago
  Oh and if you look closely, you'll see I completely stole my copy from you. Doh.

by rgraham 15y ago

domodomo 15y ago

Hi, I'm Ian, the author of the blog post. Thanks for taking the time to reply. I'm a little late to this thread. I'm a fan of your posts and listened to the the interview you gave (eh the link escapes me) and found it super interesting. After listening to your interview, one thing that I thought of was the advantage you had in at least starting with an industry that you know exists. You can speak their lingo already, you may have some theories on their problems, etc. But what if you are starting from scratch? In my case, I'm going totally blue sky and just contacting random industries. I contacted farm inspectors, CNC milling companies, elevator repair companies, OSHA consultants, and other random companies. And how honest would you be about your approach, and your ignorance of their industry? So far I've taken the approach of being as honest and authentic as possible. Perhaps to a fault, I should probably fake up some confidence. Another thought I had, I think you may have mentioned this in the podcast interview, is in addition to "making it about them" is to offer something of value in return. I have a background in IT support and consulting. So one thing I was thinking to offer was a free IT assessment of their network. Maybe even include an attached invoice with the amounts zero'd out. I know that the cold email approach is inferior to calling, but I wanted to dip my toe before I took the plunge into cold calls. For what it's worth the one on-site interview I got just lead to a second interview with a different company last week. So I wouldn't say these emails are totally worthless. Also, what's your workflow for finding cold prospects? I found the most time consuming task was just creating a spreadsheet of contacts, and googling for companies. Maybe I should go to a business library and work with a librarian or something.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

domodomo 15y ago

Okay, sorry to re-reply but here are the two versions of the email I sent. Mind skimming them and tell me what I did horribly, horribly wrong? I'd honestly love your feedback. I think I would follow something shorter than this but the same in spirit for cold phone calls. So maybe you can save me some pain and anguish. Polite Version: Dear %fill:FirstName%, First off, sorry for this out of the blue email. I found your name %fill:FoundYourNameSource%, and was hoping you might be able to help me. My name is Ian Fitzpatrick, I'm the founder of a small software company in Saint Paul. I'm investigating ideas for my next software product, and I'm interested in creating an application that serves your industry. I see that you're a %fill:JobRole% at %fill:CompanyName%. Are there any parts of your job that you feel are a hassle, repetitive, or error-prone -- where if you had the right software at work, your life might be a little easier? That's the kind of thing I'm super interested in hearing about. If you have just 20 minutes available any time this week, I'd love the meet and pick your brain. I'm honestly just trying to learn, and hopefully create a product that makes your life a little easier. Impolite Version: Hi %fill:FirstName%, I’m a software developer investigating some projects ideas in the %fill:IndustryName%. I’d like to understand the problems and successes you've had at %fill:CompanyName% a bit better. I’m not trying to sell you anything, I would just like to hear your thoughts on a few things related to the industry. Do you have 20 minutes available to meet at some point in the next week? I'd like to conduct an informal interview with you.

domodomo 15y ago
Oh and if you look closely, you'll see I completely stole my copy from you. Doh.