This is the cold email plan we'd run for an account-based marketing (ABM) agency that serves one industry. Some of these agencies only run the ads and some run the whole program with content and events and direct mail. Both aim everything at the same short list of companies.
Your market is every company in your industry with a known list of target accounts and a long sales cycle. They sell to buying committees of several people and need all of them to know the name.
These are the signals worth looking for.
Their customers are big names and their case studies talk about long projects.
A job post for an account-based marketing manager or a field marketing manager means they believe in the approach and need help running it.
An events page with dinners and roundtables for executives. They already invest in meeting target accounts in person.
Several open roles for enterprise account executives means a longer target account list is coming.
Crunchbase shows the round. Growth money usually comes with targets for bigger accounts.
The head of marketing owns account-based programs. The head of sales has to agree on the accounts so bring them in early.
A one page plan for one company on their wish list. The buying committee and the message for each person and the touches over 60 days across ads and content and events and direct mail.
It works because it makes a vague strategy concrete on an account they care about.
Walk through it on a 20 minute call. Their sales team will know things about that account that no research turns up and the play gets better once they add them. The next step is running it for 20 accounts.
Fifty accounts that match their best customers split into tiers with the top tier getting the most personal treatment. Apollo or ZoomInfo builds it from their customer logos.
It works because it is the list their sales team would build if it had the time.
Go through it on a call with the head of sales in the room. Sales has to agree on the accounts or the program fails and the program runs on this list.
A 60 day pilot on ten accounts at a fixed fee. Direct mail and event costs are theirs. Report engagement account by account at the end.
It works because the sales team sees which of their own targets engaged. The full program is the next step.
It starts with a 20 minute call with sales and marketing to agree the ten accounts. Start within two weeks of that call.
This one suits agencies that only run the ads. Take the 20 accounts their sales team cares about most and run ads to just those companies for 30 days. They pay the platform for the ad spend. You set it up and manage it free.
It works because their sales team can check the engagement account by account. The full account list is the retainer.
It starts with a 20 minute call to get the list and agree the message. Launch within two weeks of that call.
Each segment gets its own email because a specific email gets more replies than a general one. Split each segment by sub-industry too so the examples in the email fit the reader.
Keep each email under 100 words with one reason for writing and one line of proof and one offer and one question. The proof lines are examples of the kind of result to use. Swap in real results of your own before anything goes out.
Lead with the job post and the program that person would run. Offer the dream account play.
Hi {{first_name}},
Saw {{company}} is hiring a {{job_title}}.
We run account-based programs for {{industry}} companies. Mapped out the first play we'd run so you can see it before you hire.
The same play opened meetings at 6 of a client's 10 dream accounts in its first 60 days.
Want me to walk you through it?
{{sender_first_name}}
Lead with the new reps and the accounts they'll be chasing. Offer the tiered list.
Hi {{first_name}},
Saw {{company}} is hiring {{open_roles}} enterprise account executives. They'll need warm accounts to call from day one.
Built a list of 50 accounts that look like your best customers and split them into tiers.
New reps at a client we ran this for booked their first meetings in week two instead of month two.
Want me to walk you through the list?
{{sender_first_name}}
Lead with their next event and the accounts they want in the room. Offer the free ads.
Hi {{first_name}},
Saw {{company}} is hosting {{event_name}} on {{event_date}}.
Happy to run ads to your top 20 target accounts free for 30 days before it so the right people know the name when the invite lands. You'd only pay the platform.
For a client's last dinner series this filled 14 of 20 seats with target accounts.
Interested?
{{sender_first_name}}
Lead with the round and the accounts it is meant to win. Ask for a call directly.
Hi {{first_name}},
Congrats on the {{round_type}}. Growth money usually comes with targets for bigger accounts.
We run account-based programs for {{industry}} companies. Ads and content and events and direct mail aimed at the accounts your sales team wants. One client added four enterprise logos in the two quarters after its raise.
Worth 15 minutes to see what a program would look like?
{{sender_first_name}}
Send two follow ups in the same thread three to five days apart.
Each reply should end in a booked meeting that actually happens. The lead magnet and the offer get delivered on that call and never go out as a file to read later.
The replies below cover the three ways people say yes.
They asked for the play. The call adds what their sales team knows.
Hi {{first_name}},
Happy to. Your sales team will know things about that account that no research turns up so the play gets better with them on the call. Twenty minutes is enough.
Does Tuesday at 10am or Wednesday at 2pm work?
{{sender_first_name}}
They want the free ads. The call gets the list and agrees the message.
Hi {{first_name}},
Great. I need 20 minutes with you to get the list of 20 accounts and agree the message. The ads go live within two weeks of that call.
Does Thursday at 11am or Friday at 3pm work?
{{sender_first_name}}
They said yes to a call. Tell them what they'll leave with so they show up.
Hi {{first_name}},
Perfect. I'll bring ten accounts that look like your best customers and the first play I'd run on them. You'll leave with a program you could start next month.
Does Monday at 1pm or Tuesday at 9am work?
{{sender_first_name}}
Results aren't guaranteed and nobody honest can promise a number before the first emails go out. A few things decide how a campaign does.
The first few weeks show how the market responds. The list and the copy and the offer get sharper from there.
We build and run this campaign for one agency per industry.
This page is a starting point and a strategy we'd happily test ourselves. Working together gives us more context on your agency. That context lets us add better strategies and build better lists and offers and automations for you.
Thirty minutes on your market and how we'd reach it.