153: The 2 Cold Email Strategies You Should Know

Welcome back to the Practical Prospecting newsletter!

Today we're talking about why your cold email strategy should look completely different depending on what you sell.

We'll cover how to tell whether you're trigger-driven or continuous-demand, and the exact plays to run for each.

Agenda:

1. Are you selling a trigger-driven or a continuous-demand product?

2. How to sell trigger-driven product/services

3. How to sell continuous-demand products/services

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Step 1: Are you selling a trigger-driven or a continuous-demand product?

Every product falls into one of two buying patterns, and it changes what your cold email strategy should be:

#1: Trigger Driven Products/Services

Typically expensive and "sticky." Once implemented, buyers don't go looking for a replacement. They only switch when something breaks or they hit a renewal and are forced to re-evaluate.

Think learning management systems, CRMs, etc.

#2: Continuous Demand Products/Services

These are products/services where the buyers can be in market at any point, budget just needs to line up, so the buying window is open all the time instead of only cracking open once a year.

Think consulting, marketing services, one-off software tools.

Step 2: How to sell trigger-driven product/services

For these products, we run two strategies at the same time:

#1: Signal based campaigns

Trying to time when those perfect moments happen (M&As, job changes, renewal dates if we have them etc.).

#2: Soft CTA TAM Blasts

Essentially we’re emailing the rest of the TAM 1 or 2 emails a quarter with a soft CTA like:

• “Can I send a quick video?”

• “Can I send a one-pager with more information?”

• “Mind if I stay in touch when you’re coming up on your next renewal?”

The goal is to stay top of mind so that when that moment comes, they think of us.

Think of it less like outbound and more like running your own private ads network against a list you already know is your ICP.

Step 3: How to sell continuous-demand products/services

People can be in market for them at any point.

So signals still help, but they're not necessary (and are often a distraction). Volume and conversion at scale matters more here, because the buying window is open all the time instead of only cracking open once a year.

The main thing you want to focus on here is building trust. The offer needs to give the prospect something valuable before they've committed to anything, so saying yes to a meeting feels low risk.

For me, that's almost always one of two things:

1. An audit offer

2. Or a benchmark report.

But keep in mind: audit-style offers (i.e. "we'll review your X and send you what we find") consistently perform well with founders and owners, and consistently underperform with the operators who actually run the thing day to day.

A founder didn't build the email program, the ad account, or the outbound motion. Someone on their team did. So when you offer to audit it, you're offering them free intelligence about their own company. There's no ego involved.

But when you offer to audit an operator (think: VP Sales, VP Marketing, etc.) on what THEY built, you're essentially offering to “grade their homework”.

So the positive response rate on those is much lower. Operators respond better to benchmark framing instead.

Messaging like, "Here's how your peers are handling X" gives them outside intelligence they couldn't get themselves. It’s more of a fear-of-missing-out angle.

So before your next campaign, ask yourself two questions:

1. Are you dealing with a trigger-driven product or a continuous-demand one?

2. And if you're leading with an offer, does it match the persona?

Thanks for reading,

Jed