2 builders who never spoke to each other

Ask what annoys them about the tool they use now

Make the first message a question about their current frustrations rather than a description of your product. It is answerable without commitment, it surfaces the complaint you can sell against, and anyone who replies has already started a sales conversation.

The method

1. 01

   Make the first email a question about what currently frustrates them, then offer a call to work through it and demo the product there.

2. 02

   Make the cold email a question about what frustrates them in the tool they already use, not a pitch, and name a few customers they will recognise.

3. 03

   Before asking someone to switch supplier, ask them to rate the one they have, because that surfaces a complaint instead of triggering an automatic refusal.

4. 04

   Move anyone who replies onto a call, and demo from there.

What it returned

• Nathan Barry's first ConvertKit email asked about frustrations rather than pitching

• He sent that email over a thousand times, citing Wellness Mama, Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income and Chris Guillebeau as users

• Gusto asked the reader to rate whoever handles their payroll today, before making any pitch

Sources

• How Convert Kit grew from $1.5k to $100k MRRHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · 2/ Don't sell, ask about frustrations · undated
• How to write a funny cold emailHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · Force comparisons · undated
• Direct Sales for Bootstrapped SaaS Startups: from $1,300 to $725,000 MRRNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · Ask about frustrations · 2017-07-06