Transcription
What's the best cold outreach method for landing clients? This is a question I used to ask myself all the time when I was first starting my digital marketing agency. There's so many different ways to reach out to potential clients, and in theory, they all work. But after personally trying every B2B outreach method, I finally cracked the code on which ones work the best. And I'll also show you the absolute best outreach methods that are the most effective for getting B2B clients for your agency. And I'll share with you the scripts that I use for each of them.
But before we jump in, let's establish what makes a great outreach method in the first place. The first thing that's an absolute necessity is response rate. If you're sending out hundreds of messages, but nobody's responding, then you're wasting your time. A great outreach method should have a high percentage of responses from business owners who are actually interested.
Next, we have conversion rates, because it's one thing to get people to respond, but it's another thing to turn those responses into paying clients. The best outreach methods don't just get responses; they start real conversations that lead to deals being closed.
And lastly, a great outreach method needs to be scalable. If you can't send out a large volume of messages consistently, or you're limited on how much you can do, then that method won't help you grow very much.
So now that we know what makes an effective outreach method, let's break down the methods that don't work as well. At the C tier, we have cold DMs. Cold DMs are when you send direct messages to potential clients on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. While it might sound simple, this method has some major flaws. Let's break down cold DMs with our perfect outreach formula.
First up, we have response rate. Business owners get tons of spam messages every day, and most of them don't even check their DMs anymore, especially the ones that go to their spam folder. And it's really hard to stand out in a sea of just generic messages. I've personally found that it takes around 150 cold DMs to get one positive response from a business, and that's just a response, not even a closed client. And I'm not trying to sound prideful, but that's with my social media following, and I have over 50,000 followers. The less followers you have, the less responses you'll get. And because of this, I'd give cold DMs a response rate score of just three out of 10.
But what about conversion rates of cold DMs? Even if you do get them to respond, a lot of times they're not very serious buyers, because you haven't built a great connection with them, and getting on a call with them is a real struggle. I found that it takes around 450 to 500 cold DMs to get one booked appointment, and then out of those booked appointments, only 50% of them show up. So realistically, you'll have to DM around 1,000 businesses to get one closed client from cold DMs. And because of that, I'd give cold DMs a conversion score of four out of 10.
And lastly, we have the scalability of cold DMs. It's pretty easy to send messages, but most platforms limit the amount of DMs you can send per day, and if you send too many, you can risk getting banned. On Instagram, you can send around 100 cold DMs per day; on Facebook, it's 50; and then on LinkedIn, you can send around 20 per day. So between our main three platforms, you can only send 170 cold DMs per day. And for this reason, I give cold DMs a scalability score of four out of 10. While cold DMs can work, it's not the most effective method, and there are definitely better ways to reach out to business owners. And with all of those added up, that gives our cold DMs an overall score of 11 out of 30.
Next up, at the B tier, we have cold walk-ins. This is where you literally just drive to a business, walk inside, and pitch your service right there on the spot. I did this a lot when I first started my marketing agency, and I also did it for another two years before that, selling solar panels door-to-door, so I've got a lot of experience with this one.
First, we have the response rate of cold walk-ins. Since you're talking to people face-to-face, they do always respond, but unfortunately, not always in a good way. When you walk into a business, around 50% of the business owners won't even be there at all, and then out of the ones that are there, only 50% of them will be available to hear your pitch. That means only around 25% of your total cold walk-ins will even give you the chance to pitch your service, which is why I'd give cold walk-ins a response rate of only four out of 10.
Up next is the conversion rate of cold walk-ins. If you can have a solid conversation and build rapport in person, this method can definitely lead to sales. However, a lot of business owners won't make the decision right on the spot, which is fine, but you'll usually have to book a follow-up meeting to pitch them again and close the deal later, which just takes more of your time. But the conversion rates for cold walk-ins are actually pretty high, especially if you're good with people and you're just good at building connections with them. So overall, I'd give cold walk-ins a conversion score of seven out of 10.
Next, we have the scalability of cold walk-ins, and this is where it lacks. You can only walk into so many businesses in a day, especially if you live in a smaller area where the businesses are really spaced out, and that just makes this method pretty slow and time-consuming and definitely not scalable unless you were to hire sales reps to do this for you. So because of that, I'd give cold walk-ins a scalability score of just two out of 10, which leaves cold walk-ins with an overall score of 13 out of 30. And don't get me wrong, cold walk-ins can work, but it's hard to do at scale because you'll eventually run out of businesses to visit, and there are other methods that are just a better use of your time from my experience.
Which leads us to our next outreach method at the A tier, which is posting in Facebook groups. And this is where our outreach methods start to become very effective. Instead of messaging businesses one by one, you can post in local or niche-specific Facebook groups where they already hang out. You can join a bunch of these groups, and you can post in them periodically to find clients. Here's the Facebook group script that I like to use for my web design offer, but this will work for whatever you're offering as well: "For my car detailing business owners, I'm offering one free website for one car detailing business that needs it, no strings attached. All I ask for in return is that you leave me a positive testimonial if you like the website that we build. You let me know if you or someone you know could use a new website." Giving away one free website like this will cause a lot of interested businesses that need your services to comment on your post and expose their need of what you're offering. So then I'll pick the one free website winner like I promised, and then I'll have a ton of other businesses that I can reach out to, and I'll tell them, "Hey, I've already picked a free website winner, but I'm happy to still help you for a discounted price since you commented on my post." So now you know how this Facebook group outreach method works, but how does it match up to our cold outreach score?
First, we have response rate. If you make a good post that provides value, or you're giving away something for free or something at a discounted rate, you can get tons of engagement from business owners who actually need your service. Whenever I find a solid Facebook group and I make a post like this, I typically get around 20 to 30 business owners commenting or messaging me that they want my website offer, so that's 20 to 30 of my ideal clients that have literally raised their hands and told me that they need what I have to offer. And it only takes a minute or so to make these posts. Because of this, I give Facebook group posting a response rate score of eight out of 10.
But how are the conversion rates with Facebook group posting? Since people are coming to you instead of the other way around, the leads are warmer and more likely to convert. I found that I can convert one paid customer for every 10 comments I get on a Facebook group post. So if 30 people comment, I can usually get three paid clients from that, and that's honestly a really high conversion rate. So for that reason, I give Facebook group posts a conversion rate score of nine out of 10.
But how about the scalability of posting in Facebook groups? Posting in multiple groups can bring in leads consistently without having to send hundreds of messages, but you can run into issues with getting banned from groups if you post in them too much. So this outreach method unfortunately can't scale infinitely, but if you do it every once in a while in different groups, it can be a great source of consistent leads. For those reasons, I'd give the scalability score of posting in Facebook groups a five out of 10, which gives us an overall score of posting in Facebook groups of 22 out of 30. Posting in Facebook groups is one of the most underrated ways to get clients, especially if you're starting out. If you provide value, maybe give something away for free like the example that I showed you, clients will attract to you.
So now you know about Facebook group outreach and how effective it can be, but what are some of the top-tier outreach methods that work the absolute best? Which leads us to our first S-tier outreach method, which is cold email. Cold email is exactly how it sounds: sending personalized emails to potential clients. This is the script I like to use for my web design services, and you can use a similar script for whatever service you're offering as well: "Subject line: Is new website for your nail salon? Hey Nail Salon 101, we built y'all a new website for your nail salon and wanted to send it to you. It will definitely give you the best-looking website in Chicago (it'll paste in their city name right there). Is it cool if I send you a quick Loom video showing you the site? Jasper with Web Juice." The reason this email is effective is because it leads with value and shows the prospect that we've already taken time to do something for them, which was build the website. And this isn't actually a custom website that we build for them; it's just a template that we use for their niche, and we show every prospect that we email the same one. If you can find ways like this to lead with value and stand out when you're reaching out to potential clients and do it at scale, then you'll see much higher conversion rates for your business. And that takes us to our first step in our perfect outreach formula, which is response rate.
If you send a well-crafted email with something valuable and hitting on different pain points of your prospect, you can expect a decent response rate, especially if you're personalizing your outreach. On average, for every 1,000 cold emails I send, I get about three to four positive replies of people saying they're interested in the new website I built for them. But you might be thinking, "Will it take forever to send 1,000 cold emails manually?" Yes, it would take forever, but I use a software called Instantly AI, which allows me to send 5,000 to 10,000 cold emails per day and land in the main inbox of my prospects 95% of the time. I made an entire free training showing my full cold email software setup, which I'll link down below this video. But because of everything I mentioned before, I'll give cold email a response rate score of seven out of 10.
What are the conversion rates like for cold email? Cold email works really well because it allows you to send something of value directly to your prospect's inbox, which is a place that they're checking usually a few times a day. Typically, out of every 20,000 cold emails I'll send, I'll get 70 to 80 positive replies from interested prospects. Then, out of those 70 to 80 interested, I'll call them, and I'll book in about seven to eight of them for appointments. And then out of those seven to eight, about half, so three to four of them, show up for the sales call. And then out of those three to four calls, I'll usually close one to two of them. So with all that in mind, I give cold emails a conversion rate score of seven out of 10.
And our last category for cold email is scalability. The nice thing about cold email is that you can automate your campaigns with the Instantly AI software that I mentioned earlier, and you can reach out to thousands of people super quickly. That means we can just take a few minutes of our time and be sending out thousands of cold emails per day to our ideal prospects. The only issue you might run into is that you might not have a lead list big enough to continue to send thousands of emails per day, and you'll run out of leads. But there are tons of sources for leads, so you can usually just buy more or scrape more emails. So because of everything I mentioned, I give cold emails a scalability score of nine out of 10, which leaves cold email with an overall score of 23 out of 30. Cold email is a strong outreach method; it can be automated, which leaves you a bunch of time to do other manual outreach methods, and it can bring in consistent clients.
So now you know how to use cold email to get clients, but what are the other S-tier outreach methods that really work? The next one is cold calling. Cold calling is still one of the top outreach methods, despite what other people out there are saying. Still, to this day, there are massive companies that have multi-story buildings full of people cold calling all day, and they do this because it works. The script I like to use for cold calling is this: "Hey Abby, this is Jasper with Web Juice. How are you? The reason I'm calling is because I built y'all a new website for your nail salon and wanted to show it to y'all. Are you the one that's in charge of the marketing stuff? Perfect. We work with other nail salons like yours to help them get customers through web design. Would you all be available to check out the website that I built for you really quick? I can shoot you over a Zoom link. Awesome. Be on the lookout for that Zoom link to your phone number and email. And the reason for the Zoom meeting is just to show you guys the website and see if it would benefit y'all and continue the conversation if it's a good fit. If not, we can part ways. Is that cool with you? Cool. Looking forward to chatting then. Have a great day." So now you know the winning script, but what are the response rates like when cold calling? In the cold calling world, the term that we use for response rate is called pickup rate, which is just basically how many businesses answer the phone. Typically, what I found is that 20% of businesses I call pick up the phone on the first time I call them. So if I want to talk to 20 business owners, then I need to call about 100. This is actually a really high response rate compared to our other outreach methods, so I'd give cold calling a response rate score of nine out of 10.
But how many of those picked-up calls can we actually expect to convert? This part really depends on how good you are at sales and communicating with people. The better you are, the more you'll convert. But I would consider myself a very average salesperson, and I can convince about one out of every 10 businesses I talk to to book an appointment with me where I can close them. And out of every appointment I book, only about 50% of them show up for the Zoom call. And then for every business that shows up to the Zoom call, I can close about 30 to 40% of them. So basically, I need to make around 300 total cold calls to get one paying client. But the cool part is that you can make about 150 cold calls per day pretty easily, which means you can land a client every two days just cold calling. That's two to three new clients per week. So because of everything I mentioned before, I give cold calling a conversion rate score of nine out of 10.
And lastly, we have the scalability of cold calling. The average person can make around 150 cold calls a day, which takes about six hours to do, and you can do more if you're really fast and efficient. But eventually, you'll hit a cap of how many cold calls you can make in a day. So the scalability of cold calling can really only grow if you hire a team of people to cold call for you, which is definitely doable, but it will require time and resources to train them and get a smooth process going. So because of all that, I give the scalability score of cold calling a seven out of 10, which gives cold calling an overall score of 25 out of 30. Cold calling works because it forces a direct conversation with the decision-maker, and when done correctly, it converts better than most other outreach methods. But most people are just afraid to do it, but not you. Now you know how powerful it can be.
But there's actually an even better way that I found to do cold outreach that doesn't involve cold calling at all, but it gets the same result, and that would be a well-kept outreach secret called voicemail drops. And this one goes at our S tier. Voicemail drops allow you to send pre-recorded voicemails directly to a business owner's phone without actually calling them. It rings once on their phone, and then it goes straight to their voicemail with whatever you've recorded. And they're really powerful because you can use softwares like Go HighLevel to send these voicemail drops in bulk; you can do thousands per day. But voicemail drops aren't effective because of all the business owners who will hear your voicemail and are going to be super interested in your offer. In fact, the script you use with the voicemail doesn't even really matter. The reason it works is because now thousands of businesses have a missed call on their phone from your number, and they'll call you back to see what you needed help with. And now you can pitch them your services when their guard is down because you're no longer the cold caller; they called you. And because they called you, you get a chance to talk to a real person every single time instead of only getting on the phone with 20% of people like I mentioned with normal cold calling. But let's break it down. What's the response rate like with these voicemail drops?
Since most business owners check their missed calls, this method gets a decently high call-back rate. I found for every 500 voicemail drops I send, I get about 25 calls back over the next few hours, and that's actually a great response rate considering it only takes 30 seconds to send out 500 voicemail drops. For those reasons, I give the response rate of voicemail drops a nine out of 10.
But how many of the voicemail drops really convert? Even though voicemail drops work similar to cold calling, I've actually found the conversion rates to be better. I think it's because the business owners are now calling us instead of us calling them, and their guard is just lower. I found for every 20 businesses that call me back from my voicemail drops, whether they've listened to the voicemail or not, I can book in four of them for appointments. That's twice as high of a conversion rate than normal cold calling. And then out of those four appointments, two of them show up, and I can close one out of the two. For those reasons, I give voicemail drops a conversion rate of nine out of 10.
And lastly, we have the scalability factor of voicemail drops. The nice thing about these is that they can be automated using the Go HighLevel software that I mentioned earlier. You can send a few thousand of them per day, but you won't want to do that because if you send too many, you'll get too many calls back, and you won't be able to take all the calls. So what I'd recommend is sending 500 in the morning around 10:00 a.m. and another 500 in the afternoon around 2:00 p.m., which will give you a full day of businesses calling you back but not too many calls that come in at once. For this reason, I give voicemail drops a scalability score of eight out of 10, which leaves voicemail drops with an overall score of 27 out of 30. Voicemail drops are one of the most powerful B2B outreach methods because they combine high response rates with automation, making it easy to scale and generate consistent leads.
So now you know all the different cold outreach methods and how they match up on my tier list, but here's how I would combine them to get a crazy amount of new clients for your business. First, I would get a list of leads in my niche. I like to hire a guy named Ammed Mayer on Fiverr who scrapes these businesses' leads. He can scrape really high-quality leads for insanely cheap. The leads he scrapes are perfect for doing cold calling, voicemail drops, and cold email. I'll link his info down below this video so you can hire him and get some leads for yourself. And since cold email, voicemail drops, and Facebook groups can basically be automated, I would do these to start every day. First, I would set up my email campaigns and launch them, which would take about 10 to 15 minutes. And then I would find a few of the Facebook groups that I'm a part of and post in them with some sort of free discount or free service that I'm offering. And then I'd launch my first batch of 500 voicemail drops at 10:00 a.m., which would cause calls to start coming in from businesses that now see a missed call on their phone from me. And while all of these three outreach methods are going on, I would just simply cold call businesses while I waited for responses from my cold emails, the Facebook group comments, and the voicemail drop callbacks. And this would create the most efficient use of time and get results for your business guaranteed.
So now you know the top B2B outreach strategies for getting clients and growing your agency, but maybe you're still trying to figure out what to even offer in the first place. So check out this video right here if you want to learn the top offers that I found are the easiest to sell and fulfill for clients as a digital marketing agency owner.