Most email outreach sucks because it is written with the unconscious belief that the recipient has limitless free time and is desperate to talk to someone.
A VC gets two thousand requests to connect each year and will only say yes 20% of the time. Four out of every five requests get rejected.
You're busy building your startup and you probably feel like you need an extra eight hours to get everything done. It's the same for any prospect you are reaching out to. They are busy as hell and looking for things to take of their plate.
Whoever you are messaging will have to say "no" to something in order to say "yes" to talking with you.
Have you given them a strong reason to say yes? Have you made it impossible for them to say no?
Great outreach promises immediate value. The recipient believes they will find benefit from that initial phone call.
HINT:
* Learning about your company or product is NOT valuable.
* Hearing something new and meaningful about their industry, or job, or a trend... that's valuable.
So when you reread that message, ask yourself, "am I promising anything here beyond taking up 30 minutes of their time?"
If the answer is "no," delete the message and try again.