Talk a lot about emails. LinkedIn Top Voice in Sales - Helping people write their best emails, faster
@lavenderhq
Married to
@laurbisho
| Dog Dad | ATL-native
Lavender 3.0 is officially live today. 🎉 Here's 10 things you'll notice:
1) Set up is almost instant
Most "AI-SDR" companies are a *lot* of work to get started. It's because their backend is a content management platform. That's not the promise of AI.
We do the heavy lifting
@realBrookNash
Depends on size of company:
Massive co: That's a really interesting idea. *proceeds to spin up 14 meetings to debate if it should happen*
Medium co: That's an interesting idea. I'm not sure we have the bandwidth for it given our strategic priorities.
Small co: fuck that
@shl
We did something similar with Discord.
Voice is great. Speeds up communication like you're in an office again.
We set it up with:
- a public lobby
- team rooms
- personal "offices"
Discords great because you can quickly fire up a screen share as well.
@pm
False.
The inbox is an amazing equalizer of opportunity for those that can write.
Making it harder for those that don't have the "connect" isn't the answer.
The challenge is the content.
@heyalexfriedman
This shows up in so many places.
@lavenderhq
analysis of cold emails shows that adding a second question decreases reply rates by 26%
A quarter fewer replies...
Fewer questions >
Fewer choices>
@jaltma
🙏Good writing can do you wonders.
A well written email can open doors if its:
1. Concise- respect their time
2. Clear- make it easy to understand
3. Actionable- make the next step easy
(a 15 minute phone call isn't easy)
Today marks a major shift here at
@lavenderhq
We're leveling the playing field for buyers.
Too many sellers are sending too many good emails with our tool.
We're excited for this future and hope you'll join us.
💜
Shocked to learn that
@LinkedIn
has named me a Top 10 Voice in Sales for 2021.
My only goal this year: help sellers navigate a rapidly changing email landscape.
🙏
Still floored I'm on a CMO summit panel with Gong's long time CMO (now chief evangelist) and the CMO of Airmeet next month.
Like... Our company should be dead.
Now this... 🙏
The hot topic at last night's SDRLeaders dinner? Deliverability
Outreach sends one email and you'd think email was dead. 😂
Y'all really thought you could blast 500 spam templates a day and expect 0 consequences?!
Google has to protect their users.
If you swipe a credit
Hi 👋
P.S using a p.s will boost your personalized email's reply rate an extra 35%
PPS. It doesn't make a difference if your email is an automated template
Sellers... plz stop "stumbling across" companies.
"Oh I stumbled across your company"... you sound like a f***ing idiot.
Act with intention. Stop stumbling.
my wife: You've been gone for a long time... you ok
*me recording the same tiktok for 30 minutes questioning my existence as a 31 year old walking around talking into a camera about cold email in public*
If you're going to run a podcast... some advice (as a guest)
1) Don't outsource your relationships
2) Be intentional with what you want someone to come on and talk about
3) Don't make me fill out a f***ing form with my email address, social links, and bio.
Do it yourself.
@Bosefina
I got you, Bo! Gmail templates + cal integration + calendly= thoughtful and efficient:
When in doubt, just say:
"Mind sending me your calendly? Feel free to use *mine* if easier."
They'll always default to yours, but you seem nicer.
One of our core values at Lavender is to "Give First"
For a sales community that has given us so much... we wanted to do our part in giving back this holiday season.
2023 has been hard enough.
If you're in sales, and you've been laid off, last thing you need to be worried
So about that Gong email data...
"Longer is better"
Definitely not true for the 1st cold touch, BUT in the follow up we do see a significant uptick when you explain yourself.
So... go short or go long?
Depends on the framework:
A thoughtful bump? That's going to be shorter
Struggling to figure out if your emails are landing in SPAM or if your copy is just terrible?
Well this is a start. Email lavender
@email
.webhook.site and you'll get an automated report emailed right back to you.
"I don't often reply unless I can tell the email is full-send custom, followed by quick punchy content."
- CRO (co valued @ $800m)
This quote was left in my comments. The part to focus on... "I can tell the email is full-send custom"
This is your buyer's mental spam filter.
Seeing a new cold email pattern emerge:
"The Mouse Trap"
- Painfully short: 1-2 sentences
- Drives an impulsive reply based on priority & curiosity
ex. Will, looks like you're hiring reps.
Would it be helpful to get a more granular look at how they're ramping on email?
Prospecting in 2018: push button and fire off 200 automated emails
Prospecting in 2023: carefully research and reach out to 20-50 people 1:1 per day across 5-20 accounts.
Prospecting is sales.
Don't get it confused.
Cracking up 😂
7pm on a Friday. Last day of the quarter, trying to sign a contract so a sales rep can get a win before EOQ.
He sends it over w/ my name spelled wrong.
WHY DOES EVERYONE DEFAULT TO ALFRED?!?!
Best way to get cold emails to stop?
Reply to them.
"Hey, we're covered. Thanks."
"Hey, not a priority. Thanks!"
... not that hard to clean up your inbox.
Having a moment...
I've been a
@HubSpot
marketing fanboy for a minute. Low key... cool AF to get mentioned in their blog and then for the blog to get sent out via
@TheHustle
...
😅💀💜💜💜
Personalizing an email doesn't mean adding 3 sentences about the person, and then launching into a pitch.
Your email still needs:
- Relevance
- Flow
Stop slapping personalization on a pitch template and calling it a day.
On call today w/ a 2x founder (exited both +100m val)... Hiring came up
Immediately he says: "Weird market. Lotta talent available, but most talent isn't good enough for this market. Average sellers don't cut it anymore."
If you're a seller? It's time to work on getting better.
*Goes to write a thoughtful LinkedIn post*
*Wastes 30 minutes*
*hits delete and repurposes dumb tweet*
*Post goes 🚀*
Me: "damn... I need to stop trying so hard"
Cracks me up that there are sales leaders that:
1) ask their sellers to make cold calls
2) get mad at sellers that cold call them
Get mad at something reasonable...
Like automated trash emails.
SDRs need to get comfortable "sitting with the work"
Say I tell you "manually send 30 (very) personalized emails today"
You might try...
You might hit 12
You're thinking "dang this is hard"
You're right. It is hard.
You're not going to ace it out of the gate.
But that
Curious how to "Personalize" a cold sales email?
it requires 2 things:
1. An observation
"I saw you're hiring for sales reps."
2. An insight / problem (based on
#1
)
"I’m guessing you’re already thinking about how you’ll ramp those new reps."
Personalization + Relevance
Crazy concept for sales people... stop trying to be so creative with your subject line.
You're just raising red flags.
The slightest whiff of marketing, and it's immediately read through a different lens.
The subject line has 1 job. Tell me what is in the email
Clear > Clever
I love sending a
@loom
for customer support questions.
"video takes too much time"
False.
Going back and forth 10x times and them still not "getting" what you described takes too much time.
Just got an automated "Q4" email from a sales rep who's company is a prospect. CRO has been dragging his feet on our contract for months.
Start of the email?
"Hope all is well"
... you can't make this 💩 up
Entrepreneurs don't do it alone.
@JustWillAitken
supported me on my journey at
@lavenderhq
. Built some incredible things alongside this team.
Guy is a special talent.
Thrilled to support him in what's next.
Sales coaching
A prospecting course
And great merch
Go check out
Got a couple DMs congratulating me on 20K.
LinkedIn: 20,012
Twitter: 1,125
TikTok: 1,355
Newsletter: 1,036
Audience size has never been the focus. Focus is helping sellers write better emails faster.
That said... Cool to see the personal audience #'s grow.
ok internet... where am I wrong?
Over the next few years - I think this will be the default mid market GTM.
History doesn't repeat... But if often rhymes
You'll have a CRM although I imagine Snowflake and other data warehouses will start to play a role as SEPs (Gong,
NGL - this is a big milestone for me. In the first few years of my career, I read
@FastCompany
daily.
Now... I'm sharing email advice w/ their audience.
Doesn't feel real, but check it out here:
49,905 followers on LinkedIn
1993 followers on Twitter
Do I hit 50K or 2K faster?
1) grateful anyone cares
2) lol'ing that I noticed because it's just a vanity metric