Cold email is a volume game for the sales hungry, but for me, it’s more of a precision play. I hand select a recipient and deliver a specific request tailor made for them. If you could turn cold email into a game of darts, I would land a bullseye 50% of the time. I've gotten pretty good at emailing the right people the right ask at the right time. Those three ingredients all need to align for your email to get a response.
I’ve been sending cold emails since forever. At least since I was a teenager, when I got my first AOL account and I needed to rack up experiences and accolades for my college applications. I sent cold emails to the colleges themselves and I sent cold emails to impressive people I thought could help me get into college.
Cold emails work even better if you have a tiny in with the person you're writing. Even something as simple as “I saw your talk” or “We’re in this group together” works to open up the door to a conversation. I’m always looking out for the right moment to reach out and I keep a little wishlist going of people I’d like to run into more. It's a practice I've been honing for nearly 30 years. Some of my favorite clients, collaborators and sponsors have come from thoughtful cold outreach.
One of the best cold emails that worked for me was a 2015 note to Syd Mead. Syd is famous for being the concept artist behind Blade Runner, Tron, Aliens and a bunch of other cool stuff. I wanted to interview him. So I found his website and emailed him. This wasn't even for an outlet. It was just for my blog.
A few months later, I was sitting in his living room in Pasadena, California. Syd himself walking me through his artistic process and showing me around his studio. Hands down one of the most pinch me moments in my life. All because of a cold email.
Still—cold emails are stressful. They’re wildcards. Who should you send them to? Which scenarios are they right for? What makes them work?
I’m no expert in cold email selling, but I dabble in the art form quite a bit so I wanted to share some of what’s worked for me. I gathered up 10+ examples from my inbox on everything from getting client work to booking sponsors to finding collaborators, and even just meeting people I wanted to meet.
Find the emails, along with my take on why they worked, below.
In this post:
- Emails to get clients and members (3 examples)
- Emails to book a sponsorship (2 examples)
- Emails that got me on someone’s radar (4 examples)
- Emails to team up with someone (2 examples)
- The email that sold my newsletter (1 example)
- The email that got me the Syd Mead interview (1 example)