An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M.

Buchan

An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails

Introduction
GREETINGS READER!
If you’re a member of my group, you can skip this bit.
If you’re not, you should read it. You should also ​join my Facebook group!
Below, you will find some responses from my cold emails and direct mail campaigns.

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

This is what I do for a living. I’ve met with senior decision makers at RedBull, Pepsi,
Symantec, Hewlett-Packard, HSBC, Barclays and countless other global brands. I’ve used
this same style to get senior editors at large publications to respond to me and publish my
clients content. I’ve used it to help people get as many job interviews as they want - and to
meet people I really look up to.
I want to share the methods I use to enable others to book sales meetings, open up job
opportunities, get in front of journalists, get famous folks on your podcast, and who knows
what other dastardly things…
If you want to learn how to write great cold approaches, don’t click ‘leave group’ just yet.
So, cold approaches…they’re generally not liked. People ignore them. They delete them or
even reply with mean words.
I’ve never had this issue.
The first cold email I sent was in 2012. At the time I was running a digital marketing agency
and sales had fallen flat. I realised that while I was great at closing deals at the agencies I’d
previously worked at, I never knew how to open them. I was gifted good leads by great
sales people. One night, I got drunk and wrote an email. I woke up and still thought it was a
good idea to send this completely absurd email to very busy, Senior Marketing Directors at
large brands.
I sent 6 emails manually. It wasn’t long before I got 2 replies. Both of them were highly
complimentary but telling me they already had agencies in place. Then I got another
response, and they wanted to meet me. I couldn’t believe it. The email I created should in
no way work. It was out of the ordinary and weird and ridiculous. Yet it did.
I began sending to larger numbers of key prospects, and every time I did, I got the same
result- lots of very praiseworthy responses. Some of them wanted to meet me immediately.
Some said to stay in touch and some were the most complimentary rejections one could
ever get. Many expressed regret at their current contractual obligations with existing
agencies, as they’d love to see what we were about.
I’d accidentally created something very successful. I’d accidentally been clever.
This interested me. I could gauge from the responses that nobody else was sending emails
like this and that I stood out and they liked my prose. However, I wanted to know the
reasons behind why the email I wrote when drunk worked so successfully. I bought the
book “Influence - The Psychology Of Persuasion” and this gave me some answers. Over the
years, I’ve managed to dissect the exact influences in my life that led to the copy I created.
The biggest two influences were from way back when I was just a kid. My older brother
gave me some advice when I was 7 or so which was “Always be different”. And it’s
something I’ve stuck to ever since. The second was that from the same age, I had a TV in my

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

room and watched mostly American stand up comedy and sitcoms till the early hours of the
morning most nights.
Comedy is all about surprise and getting people’s minds to switch gears. The simplest
device is called “The Reverse” where you guide people one way (the open), only for the pay
off (the punch line) to take them somewhere they didn’t expect.
Being funny definitely works for me. It’s the best ‘pattern interrupt’ in the world. Better
still, people will have a positive opinion of you before they meet you. You’re primed to do
well. They already like you.
I understand humour isn’t relevant for all situations. However, everyone likes to laugh. This
approach won’t work on everyone - but there isn’t a ‘type’ of person it doesn’t work on.
I now run a company called Charm Offensive. I develop compelling direct mail and email
campaigns for clients in a variety of sectors. Sometimes humour is inappropriate. If I can’t
be funny, I’ll be clever. If I can’t be clever, I’ll keep it short.
I don’t think anyone else is teaching this stuff. I’ve looked - and all the cold email courses
say the same generic stuff that should be obvious. All the other courses seem to be about
how to improve your email marketing. Nobody talks about how to do creative cold
approaches that cut-through.
I’ll be honest, I’ve never read a book on copywriting. I didn’t know the pattern, so I
interrupted it by default.
I may talk a little about prospecting and technology but I mostly wish to focus on the
creative and the copy. The construction of the actual messages. How to write captivating
prose. How to use imagery to accompany that copy in clever ways. How to maintain
interest. How to stand out and impress. In short, how to write to delight...
If you wanna learn, stick around. I hope we can create a great community here.
I hope I can help you create opportunities for yourself even if you have no case studies, no
testimonials, no office, no staff, no money to burn. All you need is internet access. Heck, you
could even do this with just a pen and paper and some postage stamps.
You can make life very exciting with these skills. It certainly changed my life.

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

Let’s get down to brass tacks...

What is cold email useful for?

- Book sales calls / meetings

- Get speaking gigs
- Invite yourself onto podcasts
- Book great podcast guests
- Get journalists to reply to you - book PR coverage
- Get job interviews without going to the normal route
- Talk to people you look up to

What do you need?

- Something you want to achieve (E.g. Book sales calls/meetings)

- Prospect data - contact details
- A way to send emails en masse
- A message to send - copy that compels responses

What do you want to achieve?

Let’s assume you want to book sales / calls and meetings for this guide. This is the most
common use of cold email.

Don’t worry, you will be able to use the processes in this guide, no matter what your
desires may be.

Getting prospect data

If you don’t know who your target customers are, you need to figure this out.

As a rule, for small businesses, I usually target the founder / managing director / CEO.

For larger businesses, I’ll target the most senior person in a given department. If you run a
marketing agency, I’d target the Marketing Director or Head of Marketing. It’s not
complicated.

You can go more senior. This works too.

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

Other things to consider are:

- Geography (Can you serve international customers? Or do you want only customers
in your country, city or village?)
- Industry (Do you have skills that work for a particular sector?)
- Company stage (E.g. Startup or gargantuan corporation?)

So you know your ‘customer criteria’ is…

Now you need to get their email addresses.

How To Find Your Target Prospects

You need to get a subscription to LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

LinkedIn only provide the useful search filters to premium users. Stuff like “company size”...

For example, you can do a search for Marketing Directors in New York who work at
Computer Software companies with 50-200 employees.

This is some laser targeted shit.

Then you can use a variety of tools to grab email addresses.

Hunter.io​ - These guys have a free option you can use to test the platform.

Elucify

If you need US based data, you can use Elucify. ​Use this URL to sign up and get 300 free
credits every week!

FindThatLead

FindThatLead​ helps to find emails with real verification and also find prospects for you.
They have different tools tools that helps any sales person find prospects and their emails

MailDB​ is a new platform that helps find the emails and phone numbers of your prospects.

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

LeadIQ​ is an awesome prospecting tool too.

Email Magpie​ is great for buying data in bulk. They can also find data for journalists and
influencers.

Sourcing Data Yourself

Then there’s ol’ fashioned Google.

This is especially effective if targeting smaller businesses.

For example, if you want to target Opticians in London.

Google “Opticians London”

Or you can go more granular.

“Opticians North London”

“Opticians Camden London”

Then go to each website and find their email address and add it to a spreadsheet.

You can also grab their mailing address and phone number.

The mailing address is useful if you want to send them postcard or letter in the post.

The phone number is useful it you want to follow up with them on the phone.

Simple stuff really.

This is time consuming and can be outsourced. I have some partners who can help with this
if required.

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

Sending emails

Sending emails

Don’t be an idiot.

Don’t just send an email with all your prospects addresses BCC’ed.

This won’t work.

Get some software to automate sending emails and follow ups.

I like ​SendX​.

For my email marketing, I use SendX. It has all the functionality I need. I’m able to schedule
campaigns, do clever automation, run split tests and I’m barely scratching the surface of
what SendX can do. For instance, I need to check out the landing page functionality.

They’re adding a ton of cool new features such as optimising campaigns so they are sent
when the prospect is most likely to open based on historical data. Pretty damn cool. They’re
also implementing some features I’ve suggested too. BOOM!

What’s best about SendX though is the support. Poor Mayank (the founder) has helped me
with all of my annoying requests. I’m amazed at his patience. The whole team are brilliant. I
highly recommend SendX.

You can learn more about SendX by clicking here​.

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

The Three Key Variables

There are three key controllable elements to any cold outreach campaign. (For sales
purposes, at least)

Data​ - Your prospect data has to be up to date and accurate. If your data is crap, it doesn't
matter how good your copy or offer is.
Copy​ - If your copy is boring... you will be ignored. If your copy is really bad, you may even
get some mean words as a response. Most cold approaches fall into this category.
Offer​ - This is a little more complicated. Will what you're selling interest your target
prospects? Do you have a good reputation and case studies? Have you given them a good
reason to think a call or meeting with you isn't an awful use of their time?

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

Then there are the elements outside of your control. The externalities. E.g. Some prospects
may be under contract with other suppliers. Some may have been in a bad mood when they
get your message.
You get around externalities with scale. In short, you need to contact a lot of people!
Even with the best data and the most amazing approach, you will often have a lot of
competition. Both from other suppliers but also for your prospects time and attention.
In short:
You need good data that's up to date and accurate.
You need compelling copy that stands out.
You need an offering that your prospect will likely be interested in.
You need to contact a lot of prospects.

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

Writing “Magic” Copy

So now you know how to get prospect data and some software to use to send your emails &
follow ups.

Now all you need is copy.

The Key Principles

1.​ ​Impact, Communication, Persuasion

2.​ ​Stand Out

3.​ ​Principles of Persuasion Science

4.​ ​The Warren Buffett Technique

5.​ ​Differentiation Matters

6.​ ​What’s Your Story

Impact, Communication, Persuasion

If you’ve already read the “magic emails cheat sheet” you can skip this bit…

So many cold approaches such because they go straight to persuasion.

The very first line starts with something like … “We’re the best people in the world at X…
We’ve worked with X client and are ground-breaking X technology is a world’s first…”

YUCK! Of course that gets deleted!

Your job is to sell the idea that a call or meeting with you is not a bad idea. Not to give every
little detail – or to sell your entire offering in one go. Those steps come later…

Dave Trott talks about this when talking about effective advertising.

He brings it down to a level anyone can understand.

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

Imagine for a moment that you wanted your other half to make you a cup of tea or coffee.

You need first make impact.

“CATH!”

That gets her attention.

The communication is next…

“Cath, will you make me a cup of tea?”

However, that’s not very persuasive.

“If you make me a cup of tea, I’ll take the trash out.”

The same rule applies to direct mail or cold email.

You need to make impact first.

You need to stand out.

Your prospect likely gets a ton of other emails – and they all look exactly the same.

You need to make ​IMPACT​.

It’s the single most important thing you should focus on.

Getting cut-through is everything.

Without that, it doesn’t matter how good your communication is. It doesn’t matter how
persuasive you are. It doesn’t matter how good your product or service is.

Most people think persuasion is the most important.

You need people to actually see and read and listen before you can communicate and
persuade.

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

Stand Out

The brain recognises patterns.

If your prospect has 50 sales emails in their inbox, you need to do something special, clever,
funny or unusual to get their attention.

You have to be different to everyone else.

This is why a lot of sales emails don’t work.

Everyone writes the same thing.

Even professional copywriters are guilty of this.

Even the most persuasive copy won’t be read if your approach is bland.

By blending in – your share of mind is the same as everyone else’s.

Being different means you have to risk being disliked. To be remembered, you have to take
chances. Not everyone will like you.

By standing out – you occupy a different part of the brain to all the other messages that are
bland and similar.

When you position yourself, you reposition everybody else.

This is important. It also means you’re much more likely to get a reply. You are novel.
Original. Unique. Funny. Clever. These are all good qualities.

Some people find this impossible to deal with – and those people don’t have much success
with direct mail, cold email, creating adverts or anything like that.

Trott’s teachings apply to all media.

From direct mail, to radio, to television, to display advertising, to social media…. One thing
doesn’t change – the person. The customer. The human. Everything else is just a device to
reach that person.

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

Watch Dave Trott’s series – The Art Of Persuasion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYsPAGj6_hU

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

Principles of Persuasion Science

Robert Cialdini’s book Influence – The Psychology of Persuasion is HUGE.

I once used these principles to convince journalists to publish an infographic entitled “How
To Influence And Persuade” – using the very techniques on the infographic. My most ironic
case study!

Here is an explanation of each principle.

Reciprocity

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

Liking

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

Scarcity

Authority

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

Consensus

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

Consistency

Think of how you can use these principles in your messaging.

A good video to watch on this: ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFdCzN7RYbw

You don’t need to use them all.

Beware:​ Going overboard with these principles may make your email will look like
everyone else’s.

This is a famous book. It’s in everyone’s ‘formulas’ to use this.

They think just using these principles is enough.

It once was. Now everyone is using it. As such – you lose ​IMPACT​ just using these
principles.

Think about how to use a few of these principles in a subtle way. Don’t start of the ‘sales
alarm bells’… or you’ll email will get deleted!

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

The Warren Buffett Technique

Warren Buffett starts his presentations with bad news.

Why is it a good idea to do this?

1. It’s good to get this over with first.

2. It also gives everything else you say more credibility.

Think about the context of your cold approach.

What is the most honest thing you can say?

How do you say that in the first line?

Differentiation Matters

Every part of your email should be different to what everyone else is sending.

Not just the start. Not just the subject line.

The tone.

The rhythm.

The style.

The size.

The colour.

The pitch.

The Call To Action (or should you use one at all…?)

What is everyone else sending?

How can you be different in every single way? Even in parts that you may think are
insignificant?

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

What’s your story?

People very rarely say “I saw a great PowerPoint presentation the other day!”

People often say, “S/he told this great story!”

Do you have a compelling story that your prospect can be part of?

Or are you just going to write them a boring advertisement.

Are you writing as if you are speaking to one person individually?

Or are you rehashing key statistics, industry trends, and speaking in bullshit jargon?

One is compelling and interesting and entertaining.

The other is dull and boring and what everyone else is doing.

One of my key ‘stories’ I call “The ambitious underdog”.

What’s your story?

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

Example:

The letter/email on the next page has opened many doors for me over the years.

I've sent this copy to tens of thousands of people.

So if you're thinking of just copying it... that's probably not the best idea.

Get inspiration from the style.

But make it your own.

Don't just slightly tweak it.

Your prospects will ask you about your approach.

Make sure it fits YOUR personality. Not mine.

I naturally write like in the letter.

You need to remain congruent with your audience.

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

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 An Introduction To Charming Cold Emails by Jon M. Buchan

What Now?

● Get your cold email software setup

● Get your prospect data
● Write your first cold email
● Send!

What about follow up emails?

Yep. You should send a follow up email to people who don’t reply to your first email. I send
7 follow ups. I wait a week between each one.

Check out my other guides:

How To Be Somewhat Funny​ - A short primer on how to write somewhat amusing copy.

Stop Selling Time​ - A guide to starting your own following and selling your expertise at
scale.

What other stuff can I get my hands on?

Grab my ebook, ​Win With Words​.

It runs through one of my most successful templates (leading to meetings with RedBull,
Pepsi, Hewlett Packard, Symantec and countless other global brands) line by line.

I have templates, training videos, my ‘template swipe file’, my ebook and other stuff at:
https://bookme.name/charmoffensive

I just want you to do this all for me…

I still take on some clients. Ping me an email to ​[email protected]​ with the subject
line “DO IT FOR ME!”

If you still haven’t, ​join the Charm Offensive Facebook Group!

Thanks for reading,

Jon Buchan
Charm Offensive

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