Why should the person at the receiving end of your message do business with you? The answer to this question is your value proposition and the crux of your cold message. 

 

 

Here is the thing, marketing messages are often too salesy and turn off prospects because companies like to focus on what they do and how they do it. While it is good to articulate what and how you do what you do, your cold message recipients do not care about that. 

 

 

What Is a Value Proposition In a Cold Message? 

 

What they care about is what your business can do for them, which is the reason they’d want to do business with you. 

 

 

In a cold message, the value proposition is the part where you tell the prospects the benefits of doing business with you. 

 

 

So how do you flip your messaging and make it about them? Ensure your value proposition messaging answers the following questions:

 

• Why should  “X” do business with us?
• What can we do for  “X”? 
•  What benefits or value will  “X” get when they buy our product or service? 
• What’s in it for “X”?

 

In the questions above, “X” is the prospect. 

 

 

How to Communicate Your Value Proposition 

 

Your cold prospect has little to no idea about your company’s existence and what value you can add to their business. You’ve probably gathered their contact information from online research, advertisements, public relations teams, or networking events.

 

 

After getting their contact information, find out any real and present challenges they are facing that your product or service can solve. Remember, your value proposition must correspond to their pain point.

 

 

1. Connect – Find out what matters to them.

 

What matters to them should determine how you craft your value proposition. In most cases, you will find that you qualified the company as a prospect since they fit into one of the archetypes defined in your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).  

 

 

An ICP is part of a sales and outreach strategy that describes who a company should target and why. It outlines firmographics such as funding, company size, location, revenue, and industry. A robust ICP protects you from lamping up the needs and dynamics of all your existing and prospective clients. It helps you document your customer’s pain points and characteristics, equipping you with the data you need to offer specialized services, moderate your customer acquisition costs and retain your client base. 

 

 

Assuming that you have defined your ICP correctly, your prospect will fit into one of the profiles, and the value proposition in your cold messaging will resonate with the challenges the archetype is facing. 

 

 

2. Compliment – Recognize what they are doing right.

 

Once you have identified the challenge your prospect is facing within your service or product offering context, determine if they have in place any efforts to address it. 

 

 

Chances are, your prospect is not blind to their challenges. Therefore, it is always good to acknowledge any remedial efforts in place. Compliment such measures and highlight any possible gaps or risks your prospect may still face even after implementing the remedies. 

 

 

3. Craft your value proposition in a cold message.

 

Remember, your value proposition is about the target client. The main objective of your proposition is to clarify how your business solves the problems of your target market. Therefore, while crafting your value proposition in a cold message: 

 

• Avoid Jargon – At all costs. While communicating your value proposition, avoid technical terms and compound phrases. Keep it light and simple, and make your point early. 

 

The moment your message recipient has to pause and think if they understand the terminologies used in your messaging, you’ve lost them.

 

• Make it personal but don’t be creepy – In your message, only utilize data given willing and avoid the temptation of sending hyper-personalized messages, making the prospect feel like you are stalking them.   
• Ask questions – Even though you have spent time researching the prospect before crafting and sending the cold message, still be careful not to make any presumptions. In your message, try not to sound like someone who has the prospect all figured out. Ask questions regarding the gaps you have identified in their messages to address their pain points. 
• Have a call to action – After reading your email, think through what you want the prospect to do. Do you want them to sign up for a demo? Schedule a discovery call? Visit a particular landing page? Let them know what you’d like them to do. 

 

Examples of How to Communicate Your Value Proposition In an Email

 

Cold email with value proposition/pain point example 1 

 

 

Scenario: Let’s say you are the sales manager for a leading online conferencing software company with a tool called MeetUpX. You have discovered that a company that recently went fully remote in bids to cut costs and build resilience against the increasingly unpredictable business landscape now fits into your ICP. 

 

 

Your cold email should read something like this:

 

 

[Salutations]   Hi,    [Connect and Compliment]   I read on [mention the name of the publication where you saw the news] that you recently went full remote? The future of work is fully remote or hybrid; therefore, congratulations for being among those first to blaze the trail.    [Your Value Prop]   Do you have an effective tool for managing your remote team? If not, connect and collaborate with your remote team from anywhere in the world with MeetUpX.    [Call to Action]   I set up a special three-month trial link with all the premium features for your team to use MeetUpX. Sign up using the link below:    <Link>   I’d be happy to walk you through our product and highlight the unique ways MeetUpX can enhance collaboration and staff management.    Do you have time for a call next week? Please book through my calendar or let me know  other dates which work for you.    Thank you.

 

 

If you are unsure about the exact person or department to send your email to, call the company, introduce yourself and ask how best to contact your person of interest. Also, you may spend time on LinkedIn and other networking platforms to discover the appropriate person to address in your email. 

 

 

Cold email with value proposition/pain point example 2. 

 

 

Scenario: Professionals use LinkedIn to publish thought leadership pieces on the challenges and opportunities they face in their line of work. Let’s say you have come across one such thought leadership piece in which the person writes about a challenge they face in their line of work and how they manage to resolve it. You notice from the article that there is an unresolved pain point or that the solution described won’t fully address the problem as effectively as your product or service. 

 

 

Your cold email should read something like this:

 

 

Hi,    Just read your article on LinkedIn [give the title and highlight what resonates with you]. I love how [compliment an insight or practical advice they shared in the piece].   Are you still facing challenges with [reference an unresolved pain point they highlighted in their article]? I think you can benefit from [articulate your value prop]    [Give an example of how a well-known brand faced a similar challenge but benefited from your product or service.]   Perhaps we can set up a meeting to explore how we can add value to you as well?    Let me know.   Regards.

 

 

Here is an example of how NOT to structure your cold email.

 

 

Hi,   My name is [Give your name] from [your company name and corporate blurb]. Use our enterprise-grade online meeting software and collaborate with your remote team [Use jargon and other expert terminologies]. We [provide additional information about your company products or service and other notable details].    I’d like to discuss how our company can help your business [Give generic references indicating that you do not understand your prospect’s pain points and are uncertain if your product or service can solve them].   Please find my calendar below to schedule a discovery call?    Thanks,

 

 

LinkedIn Post 

 

How do you incorporate your #valueproposition in a #coldemail? 

 

 

Make sure that at the heart of your message is how you can solve your prospect’s pain points, not how fantastic your company is or details about your products and service. 

 

 

Ensure your #coldemail answers questions like:

 

 

✅  Why should  “X” do business with us?

 

✅ What can we do for  “X”? 

 

✅  What benefits or value will  “X” get when they buy our product or service? 

 

✅ What’s in it for “X”?

 

 

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