Comments on: Don’t make this dumb mistake promoting yourself

By: Pierre Eustache

Pierre Eustache — Thu, 28 May 2015 19:57:56 +0000

I found that post really interesting! First, the email was bad as you point it out! But what really surprised is that ” Now, Let’s talk about THAT webinar”! I scrolled up to see if there were mention for it before! And, then, I saw it!

And I said: “Wow! That is a great way to get the attention to the main point”! Good work!

By: chris

chris — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 14:16:16 +0000

A good book is how to win friends and influence people which has a whole chapter on this subject.

By: Alex Arkhangelskiy

Alex Arkhangelskiy — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 19:46:48 +0000

Great comments. I don’t necessarily agree with the super negative comments calling this guy a moron or sayimg his email is disgusting. I think we have all made a mistake like that once or 100 times. Maybe not all of these at once, but still.

I did learn a lot from your breakdown of the email, Derek. I know you have written a how-to for doing this type of thing properly. Could you please share it with us in the comments?

Hpw well does it work for when you send someone you don’t know a link to something? I am always extra cautious in opening links from random people (viruses, etc.). What else could you give or do to have the right first impression in a cold email to a prospect or maybe just someone you want to help you in some way? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Keep up the great work man!

By: Rashedul islam

Rashedul islam — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 13:31:36 +0000

LoL, How could people send some nonsense email to promote something.
Thanks derek for letting me know. Before i used to think that spam message never crosses it’s boundary. it remains in spam, but i was wrong 😀

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 13 Nov 2014 15:23:47 +0000

Approaching someone for the first time in business online is, for the most part, like approaching someone in person. The big difference, of course, is that you need to convey that you are trustworthy and likable without the benefit of a friendly smile or handshake. I believe being especially generous and helpful is the best way to overcome the risk of sounding like you are all about your agenda as a salesperson looking to fill your lead sheets or quotas. Thank you, Derek, for focusing on this. And, yes, time is so incredibly valuable that you would hope a cold emailer would appreciate that!

By: Karissa Baca

Karissa Baca — Wed, 25 Jun 2014 00:24:15 +0000

I agree with everyone so far on the (bad) email…no idea how my emails measure up though, can I say I absolutely cannot stand emails that end with “Cheers” what is that? I mean, I am no prude, I enjoy a good beer, good times but, “Cheers”? I worked with someone when I was a Marketing Manager and he would sign all his emails that way, “Cheers” drove me batty….kinda like a slimmy used car salesman, used furniture salesman, anyways, just my penny

By: Steve Faber

Steve Faber — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 14:10:18 +0000

Derek, Nice post. The first step in sales is qualification. Anything else is a waste of time; yours and theirs. As you point out, a mere 5 minutes of research would have shown online stores aren’t your bag. Oh, well.

So many sales people take the old adage “Sales is a numbers game.” to heart, without ever stopping to think about how they can improve the percentages, instead simply upping the numbers. Maybe reaching out to you first jus to say “Hello” would have helped, maybe not. It’s not like you’re tough to find.

As you point out, we’re all busy today; too damned busy. You’re right… gotta go! Thanks for the post.

PS – AJ, I get those Indian SEO / web design emails too. Don’t answer them.

By: Neil Roach

Neil Roach — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 21:11:40 +0000

I get a lot of these emails, especially in my current professional as a technology consultant – buy this, we have that, have you seen this, and so on. Whilst I agree that it’s a terrible email, perhaps we should look at it from the salesman’s perspective too!

In my experience these sort of emails come from a salesperson who’s driven by a poor manager. The manager is asking ‘how many calls/emails have you made today?”. The guy sending the cold email isn’t then focussed on getting the ‘message’ correct or building the relationship in the right way. He’s just hoping he can say “I’ve found over X contacts today on the Internet and emailed Y of them all”.

It’s just about numbers, almost like spam!

As we all know, this then bites him in the ass a few weeks later when the same manager asks why he’s not getting responses or conversions, but that manager takes no responsibility for developing the salespersons skills and just asks him to send more emails, or make more calls.

And these companies wonder why they aren’t doing as well as those that focus on the long term relationship. It’s like a total schoolboy error, but happens so frequently across many industries.

I’m just starting out on my own journey as an internet entrepreneur, but still know, through receiving these cold messages, that it’s about the long term game plan and not focussing on making money ‘today’.

By: Bill Kinkaid

Bill Kinkaid — Sat, 14 Jun 2014 11:55:29 +0000

I thought about sharing my blog, then after reading this I can now see why certain things come of as completely impersonal. Thanks for the article.

By: Alex Morris

Alex Morris — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 13:14:13 +0000

I agree these sorts of e-mails are often idiotic, but I have seen far worse. At least the guy had a go at it – I think some people are sincere with their efforts, whilst others are merely spam. The former deserve some consideration, even if they did mess things up a bit.