Every buyer's inbox is full of the same bad cold outreach that screams templated email blast, with subject lines like “Quick question”, “Are you the right person, FIRSTNAME?”, and “15 minutes to chat?”.
Sam McKenna, founder of #samsales Consulting and former Head of Sales at LinkedIn, has built an entire approach to cold outreach called SMYKM (show me you know me). Even the Queen of Social Selling knows that sometimes you have to go cold.
Today we’re breaking down Sam McKenna’s cold email approach that gets 20% more replies into three sections:
- Your Only Chance to Land: Subject Line & First Sentence
- Transition to a Problem and Share Your Solution
- Pre-empt the Objection and Low-pressure CTA
Let’s do it!
Your Only Chance to Land: Subject Line & First Sentence
Your subject line and preview text are your one and only shot to get your prospect to open your email in the first place.
Sam says your subject line should make zero sense to anyone, EXCEPT to the person receiving it.
In this example:
- Dave Phillips = the prospects brother (a detail they KNOW)
- Hot Wings = something relevant (a detail they SHOULD know)
- #samsales = name of your company (probably DON’T know, but the first two should be enough to pique interest)
Here are a few other examples you might use if you were sending Armand a note about our AE opening:
- USC Wrasslin’ + 30MPC Fan + AE opening
- BJJ + New Yorker + Why Me
- Hawaii + NYC Burgers + I have a massive head (iykyk)
These unique subject lines would be really weird without any explanation, so use your first sentence to unpack them, just as Sam does in her example above. Here’s an example for a note to Armand:
“I’ve always been really fascinated by Brazilian jiu-jitsu but it looks super intimidating, any recs for a rookie looking to try it for the first time in NYC?”
Don’t use this first line to pitch or ask for anything yet. This will reassure your prospect (or Mando) that this is truly a personalized note and not part of an automated sequence, which makes it much harder to ignore.
Of course we’re not only here to talk about their hot wing obsessed brother Dave or jiu-jitsu, so let’s transition into the real reason we’re reaching out.
Transition to a Problem and Share Your Solution
It’s too jarring if you hard-pivot right into the pitch after talking hot wings. To ease your way into the actual ask, include a smooth transition like “The real reason for my outreach however…”
Then, make two things clear:
- PROBLEM - State a challenge your prospect likely faces
- I CAN HELP - State that you can help them solve it
Don’t try to pack a cold email full of every single problem you can solve, pick just one high-priority problem. This keeps the email shorter but also illustrates an understanding of their situation, which signals you know what it takes to solve their challenge.
By now your prospect officially knows you’re here to sell, and is likely thinking of their first objection.
Pre-empt the Objection and Low-pressure CTA
There is no greater feeling than seeing a reply in your inbox to one of your cold emails. There is no greater heartbreak than seeing that reply say, “Sorry, we already have a vendor for that. Take me off your list.”
Pre-empt their objection in your cold email by calling it out and addressing it right away.
In the example above, Sam sells LinkedIn training, and she knows the most common objection is an existing CSM. So she acknowledges that the prospect probably already has some alternative in place, then points out a gap where that alternative falls short. That gap gives her a natural opening to answer the objection and a chance to show credibility.
Close with a low-pressure CTA: in Sam’s example, she asks for a call and offers a full two-week window, so the prospect can easily pick a time that works. It may mean shifting your own schedule, but it spares your prospect the burden of back-and-forth scheduling.
That’s a wrap! A cold email template straight from the Social Selling Queen herself.
To learn about this in more depth, check out our episode with Sam on cold emails here.
