Frameworks for inspiration / reference.

30 Minutes to President's Club

^ worth a read!

The Perfect Outbound Sequence Template (by 30MPC)

1: Sequence Structure Overview

| Theme | Step | Day | Task |
--|
| 1st Big Problem | 1 | 1 | 📧 Email: Biggest Problem |
| (Personalized 1st Email + Subject Line) | 2 | 1 | 🐦 LinkedIn: Connection Request |
| | 3 | 3 | 📞 Cold Call: Leave 1st VM |
| | 4 | 3 | 📧 Email: Bubble-up |
| | 5 | 5 | 🐦 LinkedIn: Message (Context Only) |
| | 6 | 7 | 📞 Cold Call: Leave 2nd VM |
| | 7 | 7 | 📧 Email: Make it real |
| | 8 | 7 | 🐦 LinkedIn: Message (Bubble Up) |
| 2nd Big Problem | 9 | 11 | 📞 Cold Call: No VM |
| (New Subject Line + Phase Out LinkedIn) | 10 | 11 | 📧 Email: 2nd Biggest Problem |
| | 11 | 15 | 📞 Cold Call: No VM |
| | 12 | 15 | 📧 Email: Right Person? |
| Get The Truth | 13 | 19 | 📧 Email: Pushaway (not interested?) |
| (New Subject Line + Phase Out Calls) | 14 | 23 | 📧 Email: Pushaway (reach back out?) |

Sequence Mix: 7 emails, 4 calls, 3 LinkedIn

Before we dive into the emails, take a look at the sequence structure above.

There are 5 core principles that make this a great sequence:

1. 10-14 touches over 30 days: It takes time to break into a good account. Thoughtful outreach over a month lets you surface multiple problems, demonstrate persistence, and take multiple shots at connecting over email/phone/linkedin in case you don’t catch ‘em the first time.

2. Use multi-channel to stuff in more touches and double your email replies: Sending 14 emails on 1 channel is obnoxious. But spreading those across channels "buys you" more touchpoints and doubles your email reply rate by drawing attention back to your emails (Gong data referenced in our book).

3. Sell one thing at a time: Don't sell everything in one email. That leads to long emails that get deleted. Start with the biggest problem to draw out the first batch of replies. Then move to the next. Then if neither worked, just try to get a response.

4. Change themes and subject lines to grab attention: Bubble-up emails should always reply to the previous email in the thread. But every time you change themes, change the subject line to catch their attention again.

5. Abide by the law of diminishing returns: I phase out LinkedIn by the 2nd theme and cold calling by the 3rd theme to redirect those efforts on fresh prospects who are more likely to pick up.

2: Email Templates: The 1st Big Problem

Your first email is your best, personalized email. It follows the 3x3 email structure of personalization attached to a problem → one-sentence-solution → interest-based CTA.

So use bubble-ups to give that strong opening email 2 more chances to be seen. Avoid over-selling in the bubble-ups. Make it clear that you’re calling them, then point back to the 1st email with a simple “any thoughts?” and you’ll be shocked when the bubble up gets just as many replies as the first one.

The last bubble up makes it real for the folks on the edge of replying. Instead of just asking “any thoughts” again (aka, being annoying), make it real with a case study or demo video for the folks who are right there, but just need something a bit more tangible. Again, keep it short. The resource augments the 1st email.

Email 1: Personalized Problem Email

Subject Line: Whitney's ENT AE search

Hey Whitney,

I saw that your team has 27 job postings including that new enterprise AE role – with more candidates than ever before, the hard part isn’t getting people to apply. It’s figuring out which of the 1000 applicants is actually worth a phone screen.

Covey Scout takes your ideal candidate profile and screens thousands of profiles to uncover the top 5% applicants within an hour – helping companies like Doordash focus on evaluating the best candidates, not screening resumes.

Open to seeing what this would look like for {{companyName}}?

Personalization + 1st Problem (inbound sourcing)
1st Solution (always stays the same)
Interest-based CTA

Email 2: Bubble Up

Subject Line: Reply to previous email

Hey Jane, just tried you over the phone.

Any thoughts?

Allude to multichannel
Point to the 1st email

Email 3: Make it real

Subject Line: Reply to previous email

Left you a VM. Here's a 1-minute video where we screen 1000 resumes in a click.

Open to trying it out on one of your job postings?

Make it real.
Sell the test drive.

3: Email Templates: The 2nd Big Problem

If that 1st problem didn’t land, try your next biggest problem.

Change the subject line and switch to the 2nd problem.

Most sequence tools allow you to personalize future emails upfront, so reuse the personalization trigger in the first email and attach it to your 2nd problem if possible.

If this email doesn’t work, draw out some replies by asking if they’re the right person.

If they are, they’ll often reply (and also include whether or not they were interested in your last messages). If they aren’t, you’ll save time and be able to move onto others.

Some folks recommend bubbling up the 2nd problem email twice like you did with the 1st, but I find that prospects will notice the pattern and often get annoyed (and unsubscribe at this point).

My goal is to minimize unsubscribes and instead ask for help – I’m giving them an “out” of the cold emails if they’re not the right person.

Email 4: Your Next Best Problem

Subject Line: Enterprise AE sourcing

Hey Whitney,

Sometimes that Enterprise AE won’t come to you because you know the best reps often aren’t looking – but it takes an army of sourcers to crawl LinkedIn and send cold emails to find your next President's Club rep.

Your sourcers could 4x their output with Covey's Outbound AI Sourcer, which surfaces ideal candidates and pre-drafts the initial outreach without losing the human nuance.

Open to trying it out for one of your roles?

Reuse the personalization for the 2nd problem (outbound sourcing)
One-sentence solution
Interest-based CTA

Email 5: First Pushaway

Subject Line: Reply to previous email

Hey Whitney – I’d hate to bother you if this doesn’t all on your plate.

Is there someone else on the team you think I should reach out to?

Pushaway
Wrong person?

4: Email Templates: Get The Truth

Break-up emails are controversial, but they work.

Why? Because there are often people who are on the fringe of replying, but they keep saying “I’ll handle this at some other point.” The break-up email creates a sense of loss aversion by letting them know that this will be their last reminder.

My approach to a break-up is to give them a

reason

to tell me they’re not interested.

In other words, I’m telling them “if you don’t want me to email you anymore… just say it!” The 1st email in this theme simply asks for a yes or no, the 2nd email draws extra replies by letting them know that you’ll be reaching back out in 30 days (so if they don’t want to hear from us again, just let us know).

Avoid unprofessional breakup emails

. There are obnoxious cheeky emails like the 1-2-3 email that says “are you [1] interested [2] not interested or [3] stuck under a rock!?” – these not only get you the wrong types of replies, they tend to lower your professional status. If there’s an email from an angry prospect that got forwarded to me as a VP of Sales, it usually looked like this.

Email 6: Pushaway (Not Interested?)

Subject Line: Reach back out?

Hey Whitney – I shared a few ways that we’d help with your team’s candidate sourcing, but I’d hate to keep reaching out if we weren’t a fit.

Mind giving me the thumbs-up or thumbs-down?

Cite the previous emails
Interest-based CTA

Email 7: First Pushaway (Reach Back Out?)

Subject Line: Reply to previous email

Hey Whitney, I’ll assume this isn’t a fit for now. In case you’d ever like to consider us, I’m including a few resources below:

• One Sentence Summary: We remove the grunt work of sourcing candidates by screening thousands of inbound resumes and millions of outbound candidates without losing the human-level nuance.
• One Minute Demo Video: Covey screening 1000 candidates in 60 seconds.
• Case Study: How we helped Doordash source 10x the candidates.

I usually reconnect with folks every 30 days or so to see if anything has changed.

Mind letting me know if I shouldn’t reach back out?

Acknowledge the breakup
Leave brief resources behind
Tell them you’re coming back in 30 days to draw out the last replies

5: LinkedIn Templates

The purpose of LinkedIn prospecting is to drive up your email replies. The key benefit of LinkedIn is that it allows you to put a real face to your name and draw attention back to the email.

I know some people book meetings on LinkedIn, but in my experience coaching over 100 SDRs (and prospecting myself) – I rarely see prospects agree to a meeting inside of the LinkedIn DM itself.

Therefore, your LinkedIn touches should “tie” to your emails:

1. Send a blank connection request: Most people accept blank requests so don’t waste time personalizing yours. Connection messages can trigger “sales alarms” and often decrease the chances of an acceptance.

2. Send a context-only first message: Make the InMail only about them and leave the pitch for the 1st email they just received. (PS: Send a DM if they accepted to avoid burning an InMail credit.)

3. Send a bubble-up: Look familiar? Yep, it’s just like the 2nd email.

4. (Optional) Send a video: Look familiar? Yep, it’s just like the 3rd email. Make it real.

Julia Carter

Email 1: new thread

1. Trigger
2. Pain statement / question
3. Solution idea (not about you)
4. Soft Ask
   l

Email 2: (thread)

1. Asking if they tried something that you solve for
2. Examples
3. Soft ask

Email 3: (thread)

same as above (other example)

Email 4: new thread

1. Trigger / context
2. Problem statement
3. Solution to solve problem
4. Example
5. Soft ask

Email 5: (thread)

1. Offering some sort of service for them / favour
2. Soft ask

Email 6: (thread)

1. Hail Mary Examples
2. Fire Stats
3. Soft ask

Devesh Tilokani

Step 1: Video + message - Day 1

{{Prospect first name}} - Not sure how often you receive videos like this. I recorded one to introduce myself. {{Link of the video}}

Step 2: Bump message - Day 3

Any feedback on the video, {{Prospect first name}}?
PS: I promise I’m an actual human and not a robot.

{{Insert the robot photo}}

Step 3: Pain point Number 1 - Day 6

{{First name}} - typically when I speak with {{Buyer personas}}, they say {{Pain point #1}} is a challenge. Have you seen something like this?

Step 4: Pain point Number 2 - Day 9

{{First name}} - typically when I speak with {{Buyer personas}}, they say {{Pain point #2}} is a challenge. Have you seen something like this?

Step 5: Pain point Number 3 - Day 12

{{First name}} - typically when I speak with {{Buyer personas}}, they say {{Pain point #3}} is a challenge. Have you seen something like this?
PS: happy to send a 1-min explainer video, if you think that might be useful.

Step 6: Last message + 1-min explainer video - Day 15

{{First name}} - either my outreach was actually terrible or you are {{Insert something they are spending a lot of time on}}. I'll try to catch you maybe later. Here’s the 1-min explainer video I mentioned: {{Insert link}}.

Jed Mahrle

Email #1:

Hey {{first-name}} - [mention the buying trigger we found].

[Make a hypothesis about a problem they’re experiencing because of that trigger].

If it sounds relevant, I think I found a way we can help with this.

Mind if I share more info?

---

The key to this first email is being intentionally vague about how we solve the problem.

First, we “show them we know them” in the first line.

Then, we nail the problem they’re likely experiencing in the second line.

Finally, in the third line/CTA, we create curiosity with the goal of getting them to respond to find out how we solve this problem.

Email #2: same thread

For more context, {{first-name}} - it involves [your solution for solving the problem].

Here’s a visual to explain how it works:

[Insert a screenshot of what your product does to solve this problem]

Think this could help?

---

In the second email, we're explaining how we solve the problem with a visual. This gives the sequence synergy and flow.

Email #3: same thread

{{first-name}} - If [problem] is top of mind given [buying trigger], I thought this could help: [insert helpful resource].

Happy to share more resources on this if you’d like.

---

In the third email, we share a helpful resource with no CTA. The goal is to help them solve part of the problem for free with a helpful resource.

Ideally, this resource comes from a 3rd party (i.e. not from our company so that we don’t come off as biased).

By giving first, we build trust so that hopefully, they’ll come back to learn how we can help them solve the whole problem.

One week later we repeat this thread in a new email chain - but we focus on a new problem.

Nick Abraham

The proven cold email sequence that never stops working:

(bookmark this for later) pic.twitter.com/rThNDiH6rn

— Nick Abraham (@NickAbraham12) October 9, 2023

Christian Plascencia

Email 1: Intro

• offer
• case study
• CTA

Email 2:

intro > case study > value CTA

Email 3:

intro > pain point > solution CTA

Email 4:

intro > value CTA > PS: case study

Lemlist

Access best-performing outreach templates from 400+ million emails sent by 37,000+ outbound experts:

Stats

Response rate averages, from Instantly founders:

Step	% of replies
1	69.19
2	17.42
3	7.09
4	2.38