How to Write a Great Cold Email: An Example from My Inbox

It’s rare that I get an email that shows one iota of preparation. So when the below hit my inbox I was astounded:

From: Natalie Vicas [mailto:natalie.vicas@carta.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2018 5:58 PM
To: Steve Richard <srichard@ExecVision.io>
Subject: Carta says Hoya Saxa!

Hi Steve,

I see you went to Georgetown — I grew up a big Hoya fan! (Although my alma mater is across the beltway)

As both a DC native and a member of a BIG Georgetown family let me be the first to say — HOYA SAXA!

I wanted to inquire whether you’d be the best point of contact to discuss ExecVision’s cap table? As an introduction, Carta helps over 8,000 companies minimize the

time spent reconciling your cap table

back and forth with law firms

costs associated with 409a valuations

Do you have 5–10 minutes this week to discuss how we can help?

Best,
Natalie

What do I love about it? Everything.

1. Natalie did her homework and hit on a personal item that matters a lot to me.

2. She asks about my role related to the topic

3. She provides social proof about the number of clients using Carta (would love to see a few like-peers referenced)

4. Her call to action is simple and clear

Natalie graciously gave me permission to post it on this blog as a teaching asset for other salespeople.

There was only one catch. Vorsight and ExecVision are one in the same company. It turns out that Vorsight already uses their technology for our cap table management (it works great). In her defense the Vorsight-ExecVision relationship is a little confusing (ExecVision is a business unit of Vorsight). So she still gets an A+ for this sales prospecting email.

Got a great email template to share? Post it in the comments below.