The agency industry has changed dramatically in recent years. A shifting industry and fierce competition leave those who don’t actively pursue new leads behind. Even frequent sales prospecting might not be enough if your cold emails aren’t hitting the mark.
This guide is here to help. We’ll explore why many cold email templates and cold calling scripts often fall flat. More importantly, we’ll equip you with the knowledge to craft and run successful cold outreach campaigns, as well as how to leverage powerful tools like agency CRM and AI to generate real, tangible leads for your agency.
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Let’s take a look at what doesn’t work.
These kinds of emails are incredibly common and do not perform well. The reasons are simple: they tend to be irrelevant, self-serving, and unappealing, among other things.
Rule number of successful cold outreach is to address the problem areas first. It’s important that you have your sales ducks in a row before you make contact with sales prospects. Let’s dig deeper into the following cold outreach aspects:
If you have these ingredients in your cold outreach campaign, you’re ready to send out your campaigns.
Related: Not happy with your cold calling results? Follow this cold-calling guide to improve your performance.
Cold outreach can be a goldmine for agencies, but success hinges on thorough preparation. Before crafting your message or dialing that number, take a deep dive into these key areas:
Let’s go through each of these steps in closer detail.
Audience research is where the money is made.
You can use audience research tools like Ahrefs, Sparktoro, or similar tools to turbo-charge your sales prospecting and get the data-driven answers you need from your audience research. Some of the data that you can get include:
Another option is to look at your CRM solution. Potential customers might not have been contacted or deserve a second chance. If you use Pipeline CRM—one of the best agency CRMs in the market—you can easily find these prospects in your customizable contact and lead management by filtering the contact list and details.
Then, use this information to:
Now, sort your prospects into buckets. For example, if you’re an agency targeting manufacturing companies, you could segment your prospects by revenue, size, location, types of manufacturing (e.g., automotive, textiles, plastics, furniture, etc.), and focus (e.g., B2C, B2B, B2G, etc.).
Segmentation is essential because it facilitates task batching. You can create workflows that group similar tasks, research, and processes together. This means you can give prospects the customization and personalization they want at scale.
Additionally, customer segmentation shows you which groups are profitable. Let’s say you initially focus your agency’s attention on large B2C manufacturers. Later, you discover that selling to small B2B manufacturers is much more profitable.
You can make the switch.
If you send outreach messages indiscriminately and haven’t segmented your prospects, it’s much more difficult to achieve the clarity or results that lead to long-term revenue growth.
Learn more about how to segment your prospects and the 6 segmentation groups in this guide.
Through the audience research step, you know where your prospects spend their time. This means you (a.) know which platforms they use, (b.) know how to find prospects (via keywords in their bio/profiles), and (c.) the best ways to get in touch.
This is important for several reasons.
Now, we’re ready to pitch our prospects.
If you want to convert cold outreach to warm leads and sales revenue, you’ll need to focus on the right type of content that demonstrates results. This includes case studies, actionable lead magnets, and irresistible offers.
Of course, there’s a cadence to these. If you show up in someone’s inbox and make an offer, that won’t go over very well. On the other hand, leading with a case study is a straightforward way to get prospects to self-identify.
Here are a few cold email templates you can use as inspiration.
Related: Discover more FREE email templates in our databank, such as email ideas for introduction emails, demo requests, and follow-up emails.
Hi [Prospect],
Last week, I helped [name: similar business], a small manufacturing company just like yours, generate [$623,417] in new revenue. Here are the results I achieved for them:
I do this for [manufacturing] companies like yours. Are you interested in the case study showing what I did and how I did it?
[Signature]
Hi [Prospect],
When we worked with [name: similar business], a small manufacturing company in [location], we generated 417 leads for them in a single month. We helped them close 90 of these leads, with a total lead value of [$1.8M].
We cut their cost-per-lead in half (from $57 to $26.50).
I do this for [manufacturing] companies like yours. Are you interested in the case study showing what I did and how I did it?
[Signature]
Hi [Prospect],
A recent study from [source] stated that U.S. manufacturing firms in the [midwest] overspend on raw materials, paying 36% more than companies in the south.
Are you paying too much for raw materials?
Our calculator shows you in real time.
We pull data from [4,691 sources] to identify whether your supplier’s pricing is high or low. It’s free, and you can get answers in 60 seconds.
Oh, forgot to mention.
We also provide you with a list of vetting suppliers offering the same raw materials for less.
Hope this helps.
[Signature]
Hi [Prospect],
Remember how I said we generated 417 leads for [name: similar business] in a single month? We helped them close 90 of these leads, with a total lead value of [$1.8M] by month two.
I’d like to do the same thing for you.
Here’s the catch.
You pay per lead. No upfront costs. You pay for what you use. We keep the content, landing pages, and materials we create for your business.
If you hate selling, we can help you close these leads, too.
Are you interested?
[Signature]
What about sales calls? If you’re cold calling, you’ll need a script for that as well. Here are some cold-calling scripts you can use.
[Prospect],
It’s John with [Company]. Last week, I helped [name: similar business], another company in town, generate [$623,417] in new revenue. Here’s a 20-second rundown of the results I achieved for them:
If you’re interested, text “Go” to [827-XXX], and I’ll send you the case study. I’ll show you what we did and how we did it.
[Prospect],
It’s John with [Company]. So apparently, [source] thinks you’re paying too much for raw materials. They say you spend 36% more than companies in [county].
Are you paying too much?
I’ve got a calculator that shows you.
We pull data in real-time from [4,691 sources] to determine whether your supplier’s pricing is too high or really low. It’s free, and you can get answers in 60 seconds.
Are you interested? If so, text “Go” to [827-XXX], and I’ll send you a link to the calculator so you can try it out for yourself.
Hi [Prospect],
John with [Company] here. Remember how I said we generated 417 leads for [name: similar business] in a single month? We helped them close 90 of these leads, with a total lead value of [$1.8M] by month two.
I’d like to do the same thing for you.
Here’s the catch.
You pay per lead. No upfront costs. You pay for what you use. We keep the content, landing pages, and materials we create for your business.
If you hate selling, we can help you close these leads, too.
Interested?
Text “Go” to [827-XXX], and I’ll send you a link to the calculator so you can try it out for yourself.
Hi [Prospect],
John with [Company] here. Last week, I told you how we quadrupled leads and tripled sales revenue for [name: similar business] in one month.
It seems like you aren’t a fan.
No problem at all.
I don’t want to keep spinning my wheels here if you’re not interested. If I haven’t heard from you by [date/time], I’ll remove you from our list. Cheers!
These cold email templates are concise and cold-calling scripts grab attention, lead with value, and speak to outcomes. If you’re sending out cold emails or making cold calls, each message should meet this standard, with no exceptions.
Did you know that 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up attempt?
They give up because they don’t know what to say! They’re unsure how to “follow up” with sales prospects without feeling like a pest. It’s awkward and often comes across as self-serving.
Here’s a better option. You lead with content. Use compelling content to follow up with prospects.
If you get stuck in creating appealing content, use AI. For example, you can use AI-generated emails in a variety of ways:
Just make sure that AI-generated emails receive a once-over before they’re sent out to prospects. Sending out an email filled with gibberish is a deal breaker for many prospects.
Learn more about how to write sales email outreach with AI in this blog.
It’s important that you’re able to track your messages across platforms (e.g., phone, SMS, email). You can do this automatically if you’re using CRM software like Pipeline CRM. You’ll also want to verify that your CRM software can send bulk campaigns and semi-automate the follow-up process.
Use your CRM to create automated multi-step email automation sequences. You can add prospects based on various triggers such as deal, person, company, calendar item, activity, or customer.
What about SMS messages?
If you’re using a CRM, you need dialer integrations. Pipeline CRM integrates with tools like JustCall, Dialpad, and Kixie. Here’s the great part about these integrations. They allow you to use these services to send, receive, and log SMS messages directly inside your Pipeline CRM system without switching applications.
At this point, you’ll want to identify the specific factors that impacted the success or failure of your cold outreach campaign. This means you’ll need to go through a list of metrics you can use to measure the success or failure of your cold outreach strategies.
Here’s a list of metrics you’ll need to monitor to optimize the success or failure of your campaign.
What can these metrics tell you?
Focus on continuous improvements for long-term success. Consider adding CRM software for agencies to your outreach tool stack. It’s an easy way to account for the vast majority of requirements in this guide.
Using your CRM agency reports, you’ll be able to identify:
Use the guide to cold outreach above as the guidelines for your next sales prospecting campaigns. Remember the following points:
Follow these steps, and you’ll find that you can consistently make cold outreach work for your agency, regardless of your industry or niche.
Adopt an agency CRM solution like Pipeline CRM to help you manage all your leads and communication. We streamline your sales process from lead generation to nurturing with our robust features, such as built-in AI email writing assistance, automated email sequences, and customizable deal stages.
Try Pipeline CRM for free for 14 days. Sign up now!
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