Cold emailing is the equivalent of cold calling – the solicitation of a potential customer who had no prior interaction with a salesperson – and is simply handled by email. It means you reach out to a sales target without them having made the first move. And that's why it amounts to shooting an arrow in the dark. Why? The prospect doesn't know you. Your email may land in a spam filter or remain unread even if it was delivered. Cold emailing is a tough exercise. Sometimes your arrow will hit, but often it will not. What you have to do is add a bit of light to the darkness to increase your chances of hitting the target. But it's not as easy as flipping a light switch on. It requires discipline and – for most service providers – a complete rethinking of how to email prospects.

开发信与陌生电访类似，泛指仅通过电子邮件开发潜在客户的一种行为，即在目标客户行动之前主动与之联系。因此，开发信沟通几乎只能靠运气误打误撞。为什么这么说呢？首先，潜在客户根本不认识你；其次，即使邮件发出，也有可能被当作垃圾邮件过滤掉，或者一直未读。开发信沟通是一项艰难的工作，也许有时能成功，但很多时候还是会以失败告终。你能做的就是让自己再多一点希望，提高自身开发信沟通的成功率。当然，这并不简单，想要提高成功率需要进行大量的训练，并且绝大多数服务商都需要彻底地重新思考他们给潜在客户发邮件的方式。

Focus Your Efforts

集中精力

  

You don't want to address prospects with a generic message about your company. Instead, use sales targeting principles whereby you define a target market, the best entry points into each market (so-called "client personas"), and then prioritize the leads most likely to buy. This enables you to form groups of sales targets with similarities in needs and interests.

给潜在客户发邮件，当然不能只介绍自己的公司，而是应该运用销售目标原则，定义目标市场及各市场的最佳切入点（即所谓的"用户画像"），然后按购买服务的可能性对客户进行优先排序，这样一来，我们就能根据喜好与需求将目标客户进行分组。

This process includes gathering at a minimum:

在此过程中，我们至少需要收集以下信息：

  

The needs and wants of these personas. If you formulate them well, they will clarify the value you can bring and the benefits prospects want to see. No matter what, don't list that they need to translate – you can't show value on that concept alone. Dig deeper. Why do they translate – what are their business objectives? Why would they want to change their translation approach?

客户的需求与购买欲。如果分组恰当，我们就能明确自己能提供的价值和客户预期的收益。但不管怎样，切勿只考虑你们能提供用户产品或服务，仅此一项还不足以体现我们的价值所在，要更加深入地思考：客户为何需要你们的服务？客户的业务目标是什么？客户为何要改变自己当前的业务方法？

  

A list of three to five common issues they encounter. Think about elements they must find aggravating in their job. One common worry when you do this is that if you choose pains that are too specific and they are not those the client faces, then you lose your chance to capture their interest. So, make sure you identify the right challenges. You need to understand the client persona's problems inside and out.

列出三到五个他们会遇到的常见问题，指出他们在工作中必定会出现的那些让人恼火的部分。进行这项工作时，一定要注意，如果你指出的问题过于具体，但又并非客户的痛点，那他们就会失去兴趣。因此，要确保提出的问题确实是客户当前面临的挑战。我们一定要彻底弄清楚客户面临的问题。

  

Decide on What Aspects of "You" to Emphasize

突出自己能够吸引客户的特质。

  

  

The next step of the preparation phase consists of determining how you can best address the issues common to the client persona you are targeting. Each persona in each market may end up with a slightly different version of your answers.

接下来，我们要确定一个最佳方案，来解决目标客户所面临的常见问题。对于不同市场的不同客户，我们给出的解决方案也应当有所不同。

  

The relevant offering to address the client persona's needs. Which services and technology will you focus on selling? Pick one core service to sell – not the full range of your capabilities otherwise you will have a hard time distilling how to position it. If you find a mismatch between what clients truly want and what you offer, beef up your offering.

满足客户需求的相关产品。应重点销售哪些服务与技术？我们要着重推销一项核心业务，而非全部业务，否则很难进行精准定位。如果提供的产品与客户的真实需求不匹配，则需要对产品进行改进。

  

Features of your offering. Think beyond quality and customer service. What will clients get when they buy from you? Consider features from the client's perspective and try to be concrete in your answers. Do you have a special client onboarding team, custom technology, or less common certifications?

产品特点。抛开质量与客户服务，我们需要思考，如果客户选择了我们，客户能够得到什么？要从客户的角度思考产品特点，并且回答要具体。你是否有特殊客户引导团队？是否拥有定制技术？是否取得不常见的资格认证？

  

Your differentiation. What is different about your offering for these target clients compared to those of other LSPs pursuing the same prospects? If you have a strong offering but don't know what to say about it, you probably need to further define your client personas to truly understand what makes them tick.

独特之处。同其他竞争者相比，我们为客户提供的产品有何不同？如果空有好的产品但却不知道如何推销，那你可能需要更深入地分析客户、真正理解客户的真实需求。

  

Plan the Email Approach

规划邮件内容

  

Most service providers use cold emailing to present what they do, describing offerings and features. Prospects can then self-select whether they see the LSP as a fit and can reach out for more info or a quote. Selling this way is terribly difficult, plus these emails are particularly aggravating for their recipients – they are seen as time wasters.

多数服务商都会在开发信中介绍自己的业务范围、服务产品及产品特点，让潜在客户自己判断服务商与项目是否契合、是否需要进一步详谈或咨询报价。这种被动的销售方式成功率很低，更别说对客户而言开发信只是浪费时间的烦人广告罢了。

  

Instead, change your approach:

因此，可以改用如下方式：

  

Stop thinking about your emails as a way to sell your services. Instead, treat them as a pathway to the next step in the process, which in this case, should be to engage in a conversation to better understand the prospect.

不要再把电子邮件当作销售手段，而要将其视为一种过渡手段，帮助工作过渡到下一步，在这里就是过渡到与客户进一步沟通，帮助我们更好地了解客户。

  

Focus on one core element per email. Don't include everything you think you need to tell the client. Your cold email should not contain everything there is to know about your company. But you have more than one thing to say, right? That's totally fine. Instead of one long email, divide content over multiple emails.

每篇邮件要有一个核心主题，切勿把所有想说的话一次性灌输给客户，也不要把公司的所有信息都塞在一封开发信里。当然，面对潜在客户你会有很多想说的，这完全没有问题。但是，切勿把这些全写在一封邮件里，我们不妨多发几封邮件给客户。

  

Space out emails in your series. Wait a week or two between emails and limit your series to half a dozen. Be regular but don't be a pest. Then restart a new email series later if you are sure the prospect is worth another round.

要留出空档时间。两封邮件之间应间隔一周左右的时间，并且尽量把邮件数量控制在六封以内。频繁出现可以加深印象，但不要惹人厌。之后，如果你觉得这个客户值得付出，那就再写几封邮件跟进。

  

Write about the client – not you. Refrain from talking about what you do too early in your email series. If you want to catch the prospects' attention, you need to talk about them – the goals they may try to achieve and the pain points they encounter.

邮件内容应当与客户相关，而不是介绍自己。在这一系列邮件之中，不要太早提及自己的业务。要想引起客户注意，就要多谈谈他们，谈谈他们的业务目标以及实现目标的过程中所遇到的痛点。

  

Integrate emails to sequences of steps. Never just email or just call. Blend different approaches into your sales strategy and plan for alternate paths if prospects don't bite on the first attempt.

我们要将邮件沟通整合在一系列的步骤之中，切勿为了沟通而沟通。要在销售策略里融会贯通各种销售方法，在客户不感兴趣时要有能拿得出的备选方案。

本文作者：Hélène Pielmeier，语言服务公司总监，专注于语言服务管理、战略管理、销售与营销战略与执行、项目管理、供应商管理、质量流程管理等。 本文由上海源语兼职实习生丰潇翻译，内容稍有改编，仅作了解信息使用。