When cold emailing, connecting over personal common ground with a prospect is a great start. But it’s not sufficient to get a meeting. 

To do that, a sales rep needs to show that they deeply understand the prospect’s professional/organizational challenges and strategic priorities. And they need to do it quickly.

This is particularly critical for consultative salespeople—those who aren’t just going for a transactional sale. If you’re selling 5- and 6-figure deals, you absolutely must show that you’ve done your homework. Unlike in the personal realm, where too much research might come off as creepy, the more comprehensive your understanding of the prospect’s business position and priorities, the better. 

While the hyper-personalized, consultative approach is increasingly foundational for account execs and senior salespeople, it also applies to Realtors, art dealers, and yes, fundraisers—anyone who needs to engage with a prospect, perform discovery about their problems, goals, or passions, and present a tailored solution.

So, how do you present a hyper-personalized business case over cold email?

It starts with good research, but your prospects aren’t likely to post much online about the aspects of their business that keep them up at night. You will need to do some focused reading, listening, and educated guessing to demonstrate your deep understanding of their challenges and how you can address them. There are many ways to do this. Familiarize yourself with their company’s website of course, but also read or listen to interviews with the prospect when available. Read up on the latest industry- or function-specific publications, or listen to podcasts on these topics. Take someone who knows more about the prospect’s space than you do to lunch and pick their brain. These and many other methods can get you the raw knowledge you need to show the prospect you’re an insider who understands them.

Once you’ve done your research, consider including the following in your email to build trust as you make the business case:

• Real-life struggles you’ve learned about from people with this person’s job title or in this person’s industry. Tell them what you know and what tangible support you offer to address their concerns.
• Language that will instantly resonate. Know how your prospect measures success (their own and their company’s), then speak their language. What industry-, role-, or organization-specific terms will make their ears perk up? Can you offer a compelling proof point of your solution using that term?
• Implications of recent developments in the person’s organization or career. For example, you might find in your research that their organization is growing quickly and hiring a lot, or that they just went through a merger, or that they just hired a new executive director. Each of these point to a set of pressures and issues that you may be able to address.
• Results you delivered for a prospect with similarities to them. If you have a great proof-point of value delivered to someone in their industry or role, even to a competitor, boil the story down to the essentials and show how this value will make their life or job better/easier.

A point of view. The Challenger Sale is a great read on this topic. Essentially, a good consultative rep educates the customer and challenges their conventional way of thinking. This requires presenting a clear point of view and going out on a limb, to some degree, based on the research done on the prospect and their organization. Even if your point of view is a little off, it demonstrates an honest attempt to engage authentically and can be the catalyst for a valuable business conversation.

AI can be a great time saver in doing your prospect research. There is a great article that offers prompt suggestions for gathering corporate and buyer insights.

All of these things will help you build credibility quickly. And that word quickly is paramount. Your challenge is to prove that you understand their strategic priorities and to position yourself as a resource in a highly succinct way — ideally a line or two. Your prospect’s eyes should spark with recognition, not glaze over at a wall of text.

Good luck! Let us know if you have any tricks or advice to share about making a strong business case via cold email.