Connecting To Your Dream List

What’s cool about my business Ninja Outreach is that my users will test out different email approaches for us, and then we can go back and crunch the numbers for them.

Then we go ahead and put the best practices into use for ourselves and continually improve how we’re connecting with prospects.

The tactic I wanted to share today focuses on how you can warm up your cold emails. The idea here is that cold emails are hard and if you can somehow connect to your prospect then it’s going to be that much more effective.

This technique works best for capitalizing on super high value influencers and opportunities to connect with them. This isn’t necessarily the strategy to use with your entire list of prospects, but rather with people that are dream connections for you. There is some scalability here, but only to a small degree.

The other caveat is that this technique takes some time to reap the benefits from.

It’s not necessarily going to give you tangible results in a week or a month but over the course of a year it could lead to some amazing results in your business.


 
The first step is to make your list of the 10 to 20 people who could make a big difference in your business. These should be aspirational contacts or huge movers in your space. Again, this isn’t supposed to be an exhaustive list.  

Find Their Hangout or Content Stream

The next step is to find their online hangouts. Where do they like to communicate and spread their message. Most people who try to make these types of connections just send out a standard offer. Unfortunately this isn’t going to work.

High value influencers receive tons of cold offers on their emails everyday. Sometimes they even have to declare email bankruptcy from the daily load so we have to do something different if we’d like to connect.  
The two main barriers you’re facing are: 1. The prospect doesn’t know you, and 2. Your offer may not fit their current focus.
 

Overcoming The Barriers

You need to fill in the blanks of “who do they know” and “what are they working on” in order to find a fit into their universe. You can follow their blogs or podcast and see who’ve they’ve interviewed previously.  
You can find out who they’re connected to on LinkedIn. You can even ask around in your own network for connections.

At the same time you can look at what they’re currently focusing on. What projects are they working on? What are they about to launch? The chances are they’re probably talking about it online.

Begin connecting with your list of folks on social media. Follow their blogs and Twitter accounts, start listening to their podcasts on iTunes.

What I like to do when I use this strategy is to create different Twitter lists so I can interact with this group of people separately from the rest of my feed.
 

Ritualize It

Now that you have your list and you’re following them, make it into a ritual either once a day or once a week where you engage with their content. This will give you a leg up over all the other blind pitches coming in.

You’ll have some real context in which to connect because you’re following their journey and you know what they’re up to.

During this time you’re looking for windows where you can make yourself known to your list. You can engage with them by responding from time to time. This is your chance to “be human” with them.

Any online influencer knows how valuable their followers are. That’s pretty much what makes them influencers in the first place.

As you begin engaging with them you start to stand out as a member of their audience.
 

Finding Opportunities

Over time it’s likely that you’ll start seeing opportunities pop up to connect with them deeper.

They might be traveling near you, or they’re asking for beta testers to give them feedback. These are your chances to provide some value to them. At this point any conversation you have with them is no longer part of a cold email.

They’ve already invited you into their world. They may not go for your offer but at least they will have heard you out and considered it.

This sounds very simple, but most people aren’t doing it. They’re letting these opportunities go by and they’re missing out on the chance to dramatically increase their business reputation in the world.

 

Action Steps

  1. List out the 10 – 20 people you’d like to connect with, these are big names who have a lot of sway in your space.
  2. Find them online and follow their blogs, social media, and content streams.
  3. Study who they know by figuring out how you’re connected to them, and what they’re working on.
  4. Engage with them occasionally to stand out as an active follower.
  5. Ritualize the process of checking in on these lists of people either daily or weekly.
  6. Watch for opportunities where you can connect with them in a deeper way.
  7. Use these opportunities as a chance to give your pitch.

 

Result You Will Achieve

Connections with high value targets that gets you around the typical barriers of the cold email approach.

Mentor: Dave Schneider

Co-Founder of Ninja Outreach. Dave’s proven method to get the attention of highly qualified prospects. You won’t find this method anywhere else and it can and should only be applied to the most successful people in the industry you want to connect with.

 
This article is based on an EHQ interview with the mentor.