Most cold emails are weak because they:

• Fail to focus on something specific.
• Fail to focus on something specific that’s relevant to the reader.
• Fail to communicate clearly.

Part of the reason is that sales reps write their emails “from” the wrong place.

They use value props like this:

“We help [PERSONA] accomplish [GOAL] by [SERVICE/PRODUCT]”

This is fine for internal strategy, your website copy, or anytime someone comes to you.

But when you are going to a prospect, suddenly that value prop sounds vague and company-focused.

Instead, try using a “job story” (from the Jobs to be Done methodology):

(in the customer’s voice/POV): “When [SITUATION], I want to [MOTIVATION], so that [OUTCOME].”

This creates much more specific and relevant messages.

For example, let’s say you’re an analytics company serving renewable energy companies.

Your value prop might look like this:

Again, that’s probably easy to understand - you “get” what this value prop means.

But, try sitting down and writing a cold email from it.

Suddenly, it’s not really the right starting point.

Who will you write to? What problem are you focusing on? Why should they care?