THE COLD EMAIL
FRAMEWORK
By Florin Tatulea
TABLE OF CONTENTS
03 Section 1: The Cold Email Framework
04 Section 2: Email Deliverability
05 Section 3: Relevance > Personalization
07 Section 4: General Rules for Email Body
08 Section 5: Opening Sentences
10 Section 6: Common Triggers
Section 7: Here are 3 Real-World Triggers that
11 I’ve seen Work Really Well
Section 8:The “Meat & Potatoes” - Telling the
13 Story of your Solution
15 Section 9: Call-to-actions (CTAs)
16 Section 10: Leveraging the P.S.
19 Section 11: Summary
SECTION 1:
THE COLD EMAIL FRAMEWORK
Here is a proven framework I’ve been using for 3 years and
has worked across multiple industries, personas and
company sizes. It’s helped me book more than 300
outbound meetings.
Depending on your Ideal Customer Profile, this averages 3-7% replies and out
of those replies a 25%+ positive reply rate (23% is good according to
Outreach).
3
SECTION 2:
EMAIL DELIVERABILITY
First things first…emails actually have to actually land in a
prospects inbox before you worry about subject lines, copy
or the body in general.
Email deliverability at this point is table stakes. I don’t claim to be an expert
but here are some of the basis
Email deliverability is going down across the industry. Google/Microsoft are
cracking down on spam and the algorithms are only getting better.
What you can do:
1. Use MxToolBox to check your domain health (are you on the
blacklist?)
2. Setting up your DNS Record: SPF, DKIM, DMARC (explainer video
here)
3. Consider setting up multiple domains and using an Inbox Warmer
4. Set up Prospect Throttling in your Sales Engagement Platform
(max 50 per day)
5. No tracking Links in your first emails (this means no video)
6. Keep your email signature plain. No links in it
7. Include your company address in your signature
8. Put a profile picture on your Gmail/Outlook Profile
9. Avoid spam words.
4
SECTION 3:
RELEVANCE > PERSONALIZATION
Personalization alone is not going to get you a quality
meeting booked. Especially not at the executive level.
I myself have booked and managed reps that have booked meetings with C-
Level execs at Fortune 500 companies.
At any given time they probably have 3 initiatives that they care about. If you
can't articulate how your solution is going to move the needle on one of
those 3 things, you will NOT get a meeting.
You're not going to close a deal because you found out they like certain
hobbies, puppies or went to a certain school.
Your goal is to book meetings that close, not just meetings.
Being relevant also allows you to send messages at scale. Volume will
always matter if done right.
I don't care what anybody says. For the people that have been in the trenches
for years, this has been proven time and time again.
Sending 10 "personalized" emails a day and making 20 calls a day isn't going
to do anything for you in the long term.
5
Section 3 continued
How do you make sure you are relevant?
Stick to the cold e-mail framework and make sure that you have:
1. A trigger that is relevant to your buyer
2. A problem they can relate too
3. A clear solution to that problem
6
SECTION 4:
GENERAL RULES FOR EMAIL BODY
Here are some general rules for the email body that will put
you ahead of 90% of reps.
i. Research shows that brevity is key
1. 50-125 words is the ideal zone
2. Optimize for mobile with spacing (most people open an
email on their phone first)
3. 3rd grade reading level (write like you talk)
ii. Make it about them
1. Nobody cares about you (especially if you are selling them
something). Everybody is asking themselves “what’s in it for
me” in all aspects of life.
a. Avoid saying “I”, “We” as much as possible
i. Avoid saying “I”, “We” as much as possible
iii. Use Unsure tones (per Lavender)
1. “I’m not sure if”
2. “It looks like”
3. “It seems that”
iv. Opening sentence of email is just as important as subject line (per Inbox
Triage).
v. The “Meat & Potatoes” of the body is the story you need to tell in your
2nd and 3rd sentences which are highlighting the current vs. future state.
7
SECTION 5:
OPENING SENTENCES
People often forget that open rates for emails larger rely on
the first sentence in an email which can be seen as a
preview in an inbox.
Jason Bay recently pointed out in a screenshot of his inbox just how
important that opening sentence is:
That first sentence is also more than just the open. Your goal with the first
sentence is to:
1. Avoid wasted words that have no value “Hope you are well” “My name
is…” “I noticed on LinkedIn…” etc.
8
Section 5 continued
2. Get right to the point and the trigger (context)
3. Make it about them: absolutely no “I” “We” “Me” type language
4. Pattern break by changing the order of the sentence with no
salutation up front
Instead of:
Hi Paul, stumbled across your press release mentioning your
expansion in London.
Try:
Stumbled across your press release mentioning your expansion
into London, Paul.
9
SECTION 6:
COMMON TRIGGERS
If you are stuck coming up with common triggers, here are a
few that I’ve brainstormed for you that can be relevant:
Funding Round (Although overused)
Revenue or headcount growth (or decline)
Job Postings
New hires
LinkedIn Post prospect made
Expansion into new territory (i.e. EMEA launch)
New Product Launch
New Job for Prospect
10K Report or Earnings Call (Public companies)
Mergers & Acquisitions
Security Breach Upcoming conference / event
10
SECTION 7:
HERE ARE 3 REAL-WORLD TRIGGERS
THAT I’VE SEEN WORK REALLY
WELL:
1. Glassdoor Reviews
Context: At Barley we sell a solution that helps companies better
manage/communicate their compensation to employees. I realized
after looking at glassdoor reviews that employees are always
complaining about comp.
2. Headcount Decline in Recent Months
Context: At Plato we were selling a mentorship platform that ultimately
led to better retention in team’s that used us.
11
Section 7 continued
3. 10K Report / Earnings Call mention to Executive (Public Company)
Context: One of our SDRs at Loopio reached out to a Fortune 50 CEO
who had 50,000 employees. This opener caught his attention after the
SDR listened to the earnings call.
12
SECTION 8:
THE “MEAT & POTATOES” - TELLING
THE STORY OF YOUR SOLUTION
As we learned in the 10 Laws of Copywriting Playbook,
humans resonate with stories. They always stand the test of
time.
But how can we tell a story in such a short space in a cold email?
The answer is that we can break the story down into 2 simple parts:
1. Current State: Highlighting the problem with the prospects world
today + asking a thought provoking question.
2. Ideal State: Pitching the solution as a narrative through solution
proof.
Here are a couple of examples:
Example 1:
13
Section 8 continued
Example 2 (assuming you have no relevant social proof):
Example 3:
14
SECTION 9:
CALL-TO-ACTIONS (CTAS)
At the end of your email comes the call-to-action - the
proposition or reason for the prospect to reply to you. This
is where we look to convert interest into action by securing
some sort of next step with the prospect.
There are three types of CTAs:
1. Open-ended: When can you connect next week?
2. Specific: Are you available to talk tomorrow at 10:00AM?
3. Interest-based: Are you interested in learning more about XYZ?
Gong found in an analysis of 300K+ emails that an interest-based CTA
yielded 2x as many results as any other CTA.
The idea is that you want to spark a conversation. Not try to sell a meeting.
Here are some interest-based examples I like to use:
1. Opposed to learning more?
2. Interested in doing the same?
3. Any chance this is on your radar?
4. Mind if I send you a <1 minute video?
5. Worth an exploratory convo?
15
SECTION 10:
LEVERAGING THE P.S.
The P.S. statement is single-handedly the most under-
utilized tactic that’s helped increase my reply rate by 40%
(with the same copy otherwise).
Lavender also just released some data showing it’s effectiveness:
It's a HUGE hack because we mentally separate anything after the sign-off as
NOT part of an e-mail. It's almost like a second mini-email in itself.
The P.S. is where you can personalize, be creative, show your personality etc.
16
Section 10 continued
Examples:
1. Use it as a way to humanize yourself + let your personality shine:
Include a photo of yourself with a whiteboard + their name and a
message like "P.S. excuse the plain background, my dreams of moving
to Tulum haven't exactly panned out this year"
My go-to Robot Photo
This prospect had a Rubik’s Cube channel with 100K+ subs
17
Section 10 continued
This prospect LOVED Shark Tank
Is this silly? Yes… but it gets people’s attention and it’s quick to do.
Also, do I have a folder of robot photo’s with every popular name ready to
go? Also yes…
2. Use it as a way to show personalization (if you can find out something
interesting about your prospect).
This way, you don’t need to disrupt the flow of your email and can focus
on relevance in the body and 1:1 personalization here.
"P.S. saw that you've completed a few marathons, just signed up for my
first half-marathon, any tips?"
3. Use it as a way to ask for a referral:
"P.S. I know that the RFP process isn't always owned by sales, so if I'm
off on reaching out to you specifically, let me know!"
18
SECTION 11:
SUMMARY
Here’s the Cold Email Framework one more time.
As a sales leader, I currently get hit up 20+ times a day. Most emails suck.
If you stick to this cold email framework, I guarantee you will start seeing
results and getting the results that you need.
It should also make it easy, if you ever get stuck and have writer’s block. Go
back to the 10 Laws of copywriting playbook and focus on this framework.
19
ABOUT FLORIN TATEULA
Sales Leader, 3x Top 10 LinkedIn
Sales Star, GTM Advisor and author
of the Salesflo Substack
I'm a passionate leader that lives and breathes all
things sales.
I was lucky enough to be the first sales hire at Loopio and have had
the opportunity to be a part of and contribute to the exponential growth that
had led us to a sales team of ~50 strong. In my 6.5 years at Loopio we grew
revenue by 65x.
I am now doing it all over again at Barley.
Whether it's been as an SDR, AE, Manager or Director, I'm constantly looking
for ways to reinvent myself and my team.
I'm a people-first leader that understands that leading a team is not about
me. It's about lifting others up and seeing them succeed. My success is
simply a bi-product of my team's success.
As a sales leader, I'm curious about scaling sales teams, generating
pipeline, increasing win rates and lowering ramp times in a remote world.
As an individual, I'm passionate about copywriting, sequence/cadence
building, leveraging social selling and the future of sales technology.
21
Connect with Florin on
LinkedIn
Click Here to Follow
Subscribe to
Florin's Newsletter
Prospecting Tips from the Sale Trenches
Subscribe
