Warm up those cold emails!

I came across this post titled A Strong Cold Email Always Beats A Weak Warm One. It is written by a VC who is making a good case for why a good cold email from an entrepreneur would go a longer way than a weak warm email.

That reminded me of what I wrote about cold emails a couple years ago. While reading what my younger self had written on this topic, I did cringe a lot to be honest. The choice of words, the framing of sentences and the usage of specific instances were all not that great. But, I think that the broader point I was trying to make still holds up.

I wouldn't want you to cringe a lot so here are a few excerpts that are less cringeworthy from that post :

Instead of making them feel leveraged, make them feel valued. Instead of disrespecting their time, make their lives or work simpler. They don’t care about your name or where you came from unless you are Warren Buffet or Seth Godin. They do care about how you can add value to them. By helping them in the tiniest way possible, you can build a genuine relationship with someone over time such that they will make sure that they do their best to help you out in achieving your goals.

Instead of wasting my time drafting the perfect cold emails, I spent time researching on them to see where and how I can add some value to them. Doing so has multiple advantages for you.

Firstly, you get to learn a lot about their journeys they took to become successful and get inspired. Secondly, by being able to state something that couldn’t have been known without a thorough research helps build credibility and trust. Thirdly, and most importantly, you plant seeds for building a lasting connection. The goal is not to get a response but to get yourself under their radar.

An act of adding value to someone the first time you reach out to them can go a long way. It helps in building authenticity and increases the odds of them trying to figure out how they could reciprocate the gesture.

Your efforts might not help them out in taking huge leaps in their careers and lives, but the fact that you made an authentic attempt to take an interest in their work and offer them ideas, feedback or anything that could possibly help them in their journeys holds tremendous significance.

Start helping people take a step up the ladder for getting them close to their goals instead of treating them as merely a step in your ladder to success.

Yes, it sounds very cliched. But, it works over time.