Entrepreneurship is all about reaching beyond your current resources to build a profitable company. That means that at some point, you’ll need to reach out to someone you don’t know for help. While getting an introduction is the best way to meet a person, there are sometimes customers, investors, and potential employees who aren’t linked to you in any way. In this case, you’ll need to do a “cold outreach”. In this blog, we’ll focus on email, but the same lessons can also apply to Whatsapp, LinkedIn, or other messaging platforms.
Tip 1: Ask for advice.
Human beings are wired to want to help each other. According to one CEO, “If you ask for advice, you get money. If you ask for money, you get advice.”
Tip 2: Convey your passion.
If you write with enthusiasm, the person reading it will feel motivated to return that enthusiasm in-kind. Make sure you convey how important your work is and how important their contribution could be.
Tip 3: Get to the point
People are busy! According to Forbes magazine, if you want to increase your chances for a response, the reader should be able to read and respond in under 1 minute. If you are sending it on WhatsApp and the reader needs to click “Read More”, you’ve gone on for too long.
Tip 4: Make it personal
Don’t try to save time by sending the same email to many people. While the messages would be quick to send, they will be useless. It’s highly unlikely that they will respond.
Tip 5: Timing is everything
We all know that weekdays are focused on moving from one task to the next. It turns out that weekends are the best time to send a cold-email.
Tip 6: Go for it
What’s the worst that can happen? Take time today to send a message to a key person who can help your business succeed.
OZÉ is a mobile platform that helps small business owners in Africa (starting in Ghana) to make data-driven decisions to improve their performance, tap into networks, and access capital. Entrepreneurs can track their sales and expenses, who owes them money and who they owe money to, see their profits on a dashboard, send receipts and invoices, and even access a business coach. Interested? Click here to try it today!