That request may be to register for a webinar you ’ re hosting or to fill out an online form to download a piece of content such as an e-book , a free report , industry research , etc . They can also request to hear from you ( i . e ., subscribe ) by walking up to you at your trade show booth and handing you a business card or calling your office for more information . Clients who buy from you are also giving you permission to e-mail them ( at least here in the United States ).
When running prospecting campaigns of any kind , be it a trade show or an SEO campaign for your website , you should be collecting contact information as part of the process , such as the prospect ’ s name , company , e-mail address , and phone number . In some cases , like when they are registering for an event or consultation , it ’ s appropriate to request they give you their full mailing address and even cell phone to text-message them .
When a prospect gives you this information , they are giving you permission to communicate with them . Keep in mind , they might opt out after the first e-mail you send , so that permission is tentative and must be earned by providing value in your content and engagement on an ongoing basis .
This is how great list-building is done . You are running various lead generation marketing campaigns with offers designed to get prospects to opt in to your communications . That ’ s how we ’ ve built our list of over 45,000 + MSP CEOs . Further , we only e-mail people who have opted in to our list , and we fully respect the wishes of those who opt out of e-mail communications by either telling us to remove them from e-mail communications or using the opt-out link at the bottom of all e-mail broadcasts we send . This includes clients . If a paying client opts out of e-mail , we can no longer e-mail them marketing of any kind . And yes , this will happen , and yes , you need to respect their wishes .
The problem arises when an MSP wakes up one day with a burning desire to get more clients but has no permissionbased list of prospects to send e-mails to because they ’ ve neglected marketing for years . At that point , they don ’ t want to invest the time and money involved in running ads and implementing offline marketing campaigns ( like direct mail , telemarketing , trade shows , networking events , etc .) to build that permission-based e-mail list .
What they want to do is go on Seamless . AI or ZoomInfo , buy a bunch of e-mails of potential prospects , and spam out a campaign . However , this is not recommended for two reasons .
First , any e-mail service provider will shut you down if they see you spamming a list of people who have not given you permission . All ESPs will not tolerate this — Keap , HubSpot , MailChimp , Constant Contact , etc . That ’ s because your spamming on their platform and servers will hurt their ability to get legitimate e-mails delivered .
I had a client who sent an e-mail broadcast out of ConnectWise to over 2,000 e-mail addresses she had , only to have them shut her down from sending all e-mails — and ConnectWise was right to do it . She was spamming because none of these people had opted in .
Second , spamming people from your domain will hurt your sender score and reputation to the point where all of your e-mails end up in a spam filter or blocked altogether . Again , the “ gold standard ” is to run various direct response marketing campaigns to get prospects to opt in and give you permission to e-mail them .
If You Must Use E-Mails In Cold Outreach , Here ’ s The Best Approach
If you insist on doing cold outreach via e-mail to people who have not opted in to your list , let me give you a slightly less shady option that reduces your chances of being shut down as a spammer .
To be clear , with this approach , you ’ re still spamming people because they haven ’ t opted in . That said , here ’ s what you can attempt at your own risk :
1 . Use your personal Outlook to send the e-mail , not your CRM , and . . .
2 . Precede the first e-mail with a direct mail piece and a phone call immediately before you send the e-mail ( or at least within an hour of calling ), and . . .
3 . Work in small batches of 25 to 100 a week ( not thousands ), and . . .
4 . Make sure the e-mail aligns with what you said in the letter and in the call , and . . .
5 . Do not add them to your CRM for future broadcasts . You can store them there , but put them into a non-broadcast or non-opt-in status so you don ’ t accidentally spam them .
If you use the above approach , you are less likely to be flagged as a spammer and to significantly hurt your sender score .
Sending the e-mail from your personal Outlook will also make it more likely to get through because inbox-to-inbox delivery is higher than through a broadcasting software and will have a lower chance of getting flagged as spam . Once they opt in , you can use your CRM to send e-mails to them in broadcasts .
Side Note to TMT Clients : If you are a member of ours using our MAP ( marketing automation platform ), WE WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO IMPORT E-MAIL LISTS YOU ’ VE PURCHASED , SCRAPED , OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THAT HAVE NOT GIVEN YOU PERMISSION TO E-MAIL THEM . I won ’ t assist you in hurting your business in that manner . Sorry , not sorry .
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