When to skip formal greetings in cold emails

NEVER start an email with “hope you are well” 🙄 **especially if it’s a cold email. “Hope you are well” is the fastest way to blend in and stay ignored. 🎯 Glenn Kramon, a beloved Stanford lecturer and former New York Times editor of 35 years, shared this advice: ❌ Skip the generic pleasantries. ✍🏻DO YOUR RESEARCH✍🏻 ✅ Start with something specific and personal. Mention a recent article, talk, or project of theirs that inspired you. Reference mutual connections or shared interests. 💡 Example: Instead of: “Hope you’re well. I’d love to connect to learn more about your work.” Try: “I just read your piece on [topic], and the part about [specific insight] struck a chord. I’m working on [related project/idea] and would love your thoughts on [specific question].” Even better? “[Mutual connection that means something to them] suggested I speak with you.” A few extra tips: 1️⃣ Keep it concise—your email should fit on one screen. Imagine they’re reading on their phone. 2️⃣ Have a clear ask, whether it’s advice, a quick call, or feedback. 3️⃣ Close with gratitude and confidence. You MAY write “Hope you are well” at the end if you have to. In a world of endless inboxes, the personal touch matters more than ever. Thanks to Glenn Kramon for this timeless advice. You can find our podcast episode together on YouTube. How do you make your cold emails stand out? Share your tips below! 👇 #emailtips #writing

Cold Email Lessons from my Junk Folder (2.0). 1 - "I came across your company and was impressed by..." Are we their mom or dad? If yes, use it. If no, don't. It's inauthentic drivel. Even if we're sincere, "personalization-at-scale" tools have ruined this as a cold email opener. 2. "What would it mean to your business if we could..." 1983 called and wants their Sales tactics back. Instead, bring a POV, loosely held. 3. "I just wanted to..." NOBODY CARES. We are strangers. Remove as many I/We/Our/Company references as possible. 4. "I would be delighted to arrange a brief introductory meeting where we can discuss your unique needs." Unless there is a secret prize for using multi-syllable words, kill this type of formal language. Cold email readers are skimmers. Skimmers love short, choppy, direct language. It's more polite to respect their time than impress them with our vocab. And, of course we'd be "delighted". But, prospects aren't in their inbox looking for ways to delight us. 5. "Hope you are doing well!" Believe it or not, IT'S STILL ALIVE AND WELL. Here's my take on this. We use it as an opener when we're trying to "warm up" the prospect. We feel badly "bothering" them. So, we show them we're one of the nice ones! What I failed to realize as an AE is that because SO many reps use this as an opener, that it becomes an easy 'tell' for prospects when they see an unknown sender name + this preview text. I promise you, you lose nothing when you drop it. (PS for sellers: ask your CXOs to show your team a screenshot of their junk mail folder + what 'tells' suggest it's an email they can ignore/delete. Ideally - ask the CXO who shares the same title as your prospect.)

I get 100+ cold emails a week. Most don’t get past the first sentence. But when one lands, it’s usually because the founder nailed this simple 4-line format: 1. The opener Make it personal. Reference something specific …..a post, a portfolio company, a shared contact. Skip “hope you’re well.” 2. The context What are you building and why now? Keep it crisp. Think of one sentence. One insight. One market shift. 3. The ask Be direct. Do you want feedback? A warm intro? A meeting? Don’t bury the lead. 4. The proof Traction, backers, or insight that earns the reply. You don’t need 5 paragraphs. You need 1 signal. That’s it. No pitch decks. No walls of text. No 3-paragraph origin stories. Just signal, clarity, and respect for the reader. Founders who write like this? They get replies …. even if the answer is no. Because they made it easy to say yes. What’s the best cold email you’ve ever sent or received? #startups #founders #coldemails #authority

Your cold email probably isn’t getting ignored because it’s bad. It’s getting ignored because it sounds like a robot wrote it at 3AM. Let’s break it down: ❌ THE BOT VERSION “Hi there, I hope this email finds you well. My name is Jack. I wanted to reach out because I saw your company is growing, and I think we can help you scale faster…” Yeah, no one’s replying to that. Why? – It’s vague – It’s forgettable – It says absolutely nothing ✅ THE HUMAN VERSION “Hey Jack - just saw your team’s latest job post for 3 outbound reps. Curious - are you scaling that in-house, or exploring outside help at the moment?” Why this works: – Specific signal observed – Speaks to real intent – Feels like a real person noticed something and asked a smart question Most people think cold email is about writing a "good message". It’s not. It’s about starting a conversation. And conversations don’t start with fluff or fake familiarity. People see through it easily. They start with: ✔ a clear signal ✔ a sharp angle ✔ a relevant question Here’s what actually moves the needle: • Call out a signal Saw they raised a round? Mention it. Hiring fast? Reference it. Just swapped tools? Ask about it. • Ditch the pleasantries Skip the “hope you’re well” and get straight to the point. • Write like you’d talk in real life If it sounds like something you'd never say out loud, delete it. That’s exactly why we built our prospecting system on A-Leads. We’re not guessing who to contact. We’re not scraping outdated titles and hoping someone bites. We're not scraping lead lists where people have left their job 9 years ago. Or retired. We’re pulling live data on: → who’s hiring → who’s raising → who’s replacing vendors → who’s actively in motion for what we're offering Then we’re matching that to verified emails, matched to their ESP - and sending short, punchy emails based on what they’re doing right now, this second. No fake personalization, mentioning what the weather is in their {{City}}. If your emails still feel like they’re talking at someone instead of to them… It might be time to write like a human. And build your list like one too.

Stop writing cold emails like it's 2012. Cold email isn't dead. But these phrases are. "Hope this email finds you well." Too generic. Too safe. Too easy to ignore. Your prospect has seen it 500 times this week alone. "I hope you're doing great." Fake familiarity has no place in a cold email. You don't know them. They know you don't know them. "Just following up." If your first email got no reply, it wasn't targeted enough. Sending the same energy twice won't change that. Don't expect a different result. "I saw you liked a post on LinkedIn." This is not personalization. This is creepy. In 99% of cases, that like was not a sign of interest. "I'll keep this short." Translation: I have no idea how to explain what I do. Please let me disturb you anyway. Every unnecessary word is one less chance your prospect reads to the end. "My name is X and I work at X." Your name is already in your signature. Nobody cares at line one. Get to the point. Cold email works when it earns attention. Not when it apologizes for taking it. Same rules as a cold call.