(
Sep 24, 2025
)
Stop Relying On Referrals: Your Cold Outreach Needs To Be Relevant
Achieve 40%+ reply rates from LinkedIn cold outreach.
Are you tired of getting zero replies from your cold outreach?
Well, we’ve been hitting 40%+
Why? Because our outreach is relevant and specific.
I know what you’re asking…
Joe, what does “relevant” even mean?
It’s a message that directly relates to their current situation. A message that leaves your potential client thinking, “How did they know?”
People are more likely to ignore a message than ever before.
Relevance stands out in their inbox.
Unfortunately, the same conversation starter that worked 3 months ago won’t get responses now.
Problems change; your biggest problem 3 months ago isn’t the same as it is now.
Your potential clients are no different.
I will say, it is impossible that every cold DM you send on LinkedIn or any form of cold outreach will be relevant to every potential client. If it were, I’d have 90% reply rates and be world famous for discovering the B2B equivalent of fire.
But you can have an educated guess…
I’ve done this daily for years. I can look at a potential client's website, any of their public movements, or any scraped data, and have an educated guess as to what their main problems are and how I can tailor my message to be as relevant as possible.
That’s why we hit 40% reply rates.
I’ll give you some examples from my business.
We work with business service providers in traditionally masculine industries.
One of the best performing clients this year has been a project management consultancy firm specialising in the manufacturing industry.
Another example is an operations consultancy in renewables. Our customers are typically businesses along those lines.
Relevant pain points they're struggling with in H2 of 2025 are:
Long sales cycles
Reliance on referrals
Paying for overpriced networking groups and expecting to see ROI
(If you don’t know how to find relevant pain points, I’ll show you how to do that later!)
When approaching these guys, how do I make my educated guesses?
I use the info and data available to me:
A lack of content (LinkedIn, blogs, newsletter) is a clear sign that their sales cycle will be long.
They won’t be able to stay front of mind, and when you’re not front of mind, you can’t build trust efficiently, and when you can’t build trust efficiently, your sales cycle is long.
If their website shows 5+ different services and no pricing range means they’re likely relying on referrals.
You can’t have a proper lead gen system offering that many services and hiding pricing because a cold lead will click off their website within 10 seconds. Massive giveaway.
Another giveaway that a business is relying on referrals is if the scraped data from LinkedIn shows they’ve consistently engaged with marketing/lead gen content. It shows they have a problem and don’t know how to solve it.
If they’re active in LinkedIn groups, they’re almost certainly paying for overpriced networking groups.
This data can be scraped, or it can be manual, but if they’re posting in LinkedIn groups, they’re likely paying for overpriced networking; there’s a clear link there.
Do you see how I’ve used public information and data to make an educated guess on what they’re biggest pain points are?
Again, you won’t get every educated guess right; it’s not possible. But you can get damn good!
“But Joe, I don’t know the pain points my ideal clients are struggling with right now!”
Ok, there’s a chance you don’t truly know your ideal client if you’re saying that, and if that’s the case, read this article.
But if you know your customer, you can do 20 hours of manual market research in 20 minutes, assuming you use AI well.
(I can’t believe I’m giving this away for free)
Our process is:
Use NotebookLM for market research.
We like NotebookLM because you can input your own sources.
Input relevant sources.
The first 2 sources should be your website and the specific offer you’re trying to sell.
The next sources to input are ones that actively show/discuss your customers' current situation.
Think Reddit pages, social media threads, blog posts, industry podcasts, LinkedIn groups etc.
If you don’t know where to look, use ChatGPT to help you pinpoint specific platforms, trusted sources, and discussion places.
The final sources should be transcripts from recent sales meetings if you have them.
Prompts
I’ll give you one of my favourite ones for free:
“Act as my research assistant, read (specific market research) sources, and provide me a report that shows the relevant pain points (target market) professionals are currently struggling with that my (offer name) can help. Ensure your report matches the tone of my website (website name), and make sure it prioritises recent discussions and dates. Keep your report under 300 words with no generic AI-sounding answers.”
You now have a full report. If it’s not as good as you’d like, tell the AI how to improve it.
Take the report and export it into ChatGPT.
In my opinion, ChatGPT is best for outreach copy.
Upload previous successful outreach sequences that have worked in the industries you’re targeting.
Then ask it to adapt the new pain points in the same style as the previous successful outreach sequences.
You now have outreach sequences related to the current pain points your potential clients are struggling with.
The result? 20 hours of manual market research and sequence writing done in 20 minutes.
Then test!
DM 50 people and see how many bites you get. If reply rates are poor (below 20%) try some new sequences.
Why does this approach work?
It shows competence.
Everyone in their inbox has sent a few paragraphs of generic text, while you have shown that you understand their current situation and that you’re competent in their industry.
Even if your problem diagnosis is wrong, they still respect you because you’re better than everything else in their inbox.
The finishing touch:
Have a lead magnet related to each pain point.
Look at the other articles on my website, I’ve got articles about sales cycles, breaking out of the referral trap, and optimising your offer for lead generation.
Literally all of the major pain points I solve.
So when a potential client answers some variation of “yes, you’re right.” I send them the lead magnet (article) and let that build the classic sales rapport work before I pitch the meeting.
After all, there are two types of potential customers:
People who are currently suffering from the problem you solve
(I call this a target-rich environment)
People who aren’t experiencing that problem heavily right now/have more pressing issues.
(The goal here with this customer is to touch base and make sure you’re front of mind.)
The relevant cold message into a lead magnet approach will almost always convert the target-rich customer (if you follow up well).
Then if they’re the second type of customer, you’ll have provided value and you’ll be front of mind if/when they need your solution.
If you don’t know where to start when it comes to writing outreach sequences, drop me a DM on LinkedIn and I’ll send you a few that are currently performing.
This approach is working right now.
If you want to stop relying on referrals and hit your end-of-year revenue goals, there’s still time.
Book into my calendar below.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the read,
Speak soon,
-Joe
More articles
(
Sep 24, 2025
)
Stop Relying On Referrals: Your Cold Outreach Needs To Be Relevant
Achieve 40%+ reply rates from LinkedIn cold outreach.
Are you tired of getting zero replies from your cold outreach?
Well, we’ve been hitting 40%+
Why? Because our outreach is relevant and specific.
I know what you’re asking…
Joe, what does “relevant” even mean?
It’s a message that directly relates to their current situation. A message that leaves your potential client thinking, “How did they know?”
People are more likely to ignore a message than ever before.
Relevance stands out in their inbox.
Unfortunately, the same conversation starter that worked 3 months ago won’t get responses now.
Problems change; your biggest problem 3 months ago isn’t the same as it is now.
Your potential clients are no different.
I will say, it is impossible that every cold DM you send on LinkedIn or any form of cold outreach will be relevant to every potential client. If it were, I’d have 90% reply rates and be world famous for discovering the B2B equivalent of fire.
But you can have an educated guess…
I’ve done this daily for years. I can look at a potential client's website, any of their public movements, or any scraped data, and have an educated guess as to what their main problems are and how I can tailor my message to be as relevant as possible.
That’s why we hit 40% reply rates.
I’ll give you some examples from my business.
We work with business service providers in traditionally masculine industries.
One of the best performing clients this year has been a project management consultancy firm specialising in the manufacturing industry.
Another example is an operations consultancy in renewables. Our customers are typically businesses along those lines.
Relevant pain points they're struggling with in H2 of 2025 are:
Long sales cycles
Reliance on referrals
Paying for overpriced networking groups and expecting to see ROI
(If you don’t know how to find relevant pain points, I’ll show you how to do that later!)
When approaching these guys, how do I make my educated guesses?
I use the info and data available to me:
A lack of content (LinkedIn, blogs, newsletter) is a clear sign that their sales cycle will be long.
They won’t be able to stay front of mind, and when you’re not front of mind, you can’t build trust efficiently, and when you can’t build trust efficiently, your sales cycle is long.
If their website shows 5+ different services and no pricing range means they’re likely relying on referrals.
You can’t have a proper lead gen system offering that many services and hiding pricing because a cold lead will click off their website within 10 seconds. Massive giveaway.
Another giveaway that a business is relying on referrals is if the scraped data from LinkedIn shows they’ve consistently engaged with marketing/lead gen content. It shows they have a problem and don’t know how to solve it.
If they’re active in LinkedIn groups, they’re almost certainly paying for overpriced networking groups.
This data can be scraped, or it can be manual, but if they’re posting in LinkedIn groups, they’re likely paying for overpriced networking; there’s a clear link there.
Do you see how I’ve used public information and data to make an educated guess on what they’re biggest pain points are?
Again, you won’t get every educated guess right; it’s not possible. But you can get damn good!
“But Joe, I don’t know the pain points my ideal clients are struggling with right now!”
Ok, there’s a chance you don’t truly know your ideal client if you’re saying that, and if that’s the case, read this article.
But if you know your customer, you can do 20 hours of manual market research in 20 minutes, assuming you use AI well.
(I can’t believe I’m giving this away for free)
Our process is:
Use NotebookLM for market research.
We like NotebookLM because you can input your own sources.
Input relevant sources.
The first 2 sources should be your website and the specific offer you’re trying to sell.
The next sources to input are ones that actively show/discuss your customers' current situation.
Think Reddit pages, social media threads, blog posts, industry podcasts, LinkedIn groups etc.
If you don’t know where to look, use ChatGPT to help you pinpoint specific platforms, trusted sources, and discussion places.
The final sources should be transcripts from recent sales meetings if you have them.
Prompts
I’ll give you one of my favourite ones for free:
“Act as my research assistant, read (specific market research) sources, and provide me a report that shows the relevant pain points (target market) professionals are currently struggling with that my (offer name) can help. Ensure your report matches the tone of my website (website name), and make sure it prioritises recent discussions and dates. Keep your report under 300 words with no generic AI-sounding answers.”
You now have a full report. If it’s not as good as you’d like, tell the AI how to improve it.
Take the report and export it into ChatGPT.
In my opinion, ChatGPT is best for outreach copy.
Upload previous successful outreach sequences that have worked in the industries you’re targeting.
Then ask it to adapt the new pain points in the same style as the previous successful outreach sequences.
You now have outreach sequences related to the current pain points your potential clients are struggling with.
The result? 20 hours of manual market research and sequence writing done in 20 minutes.
Then test!
DM 50 people and see how many bites you get. If reply rates are poor (below 20%) try some new sequences.
Why does this approach work?
It shows competence.
Everyone in their inbox has sent a few paragraphs of generic text, while you have shown that you understand their current situation and that you’re competent in their industry.
Even if your problem diagnosis is wrong, they still respect you because you’re better than everything else in their inbox.
The finishing touch:
Have a lead magnet related to each pain point.
Look at the other articles on my website, I’ve got articles about sales cycles, breaking out of the referral trap, and optimising your offer for lead generation.
Literally all of the major pain points I solve.
So when a potential client answers some variation of “yes, you’re right.” I send them the lead magnet (article) and let that build the classic sales rapport work before I pitch the meeting.
After all, there are two types of potential customers:
People who are currently suffering from the problem you solve
(I call this a target-rich environment)
People who aren’t experiencing that problem heavily right now/have more pressing issues.
(The goal here with this customer is to touch base and make sure you’re front of mind.)
The relevant cold message into a lead magnet approach will almost always convert the target-rich customer (if you follow up well).
Then if they’re the second type of customer, you’ll have provided value and you’ll be front of mind if/when they need your solution.
If you don’t know where to start when it comes to writing outreach sequences, drop me a DM on LinkedIn and I’ll send you a few that are currently performing.
This approach is working right now.
If you want to stop relying on referrals and hit your end-of-year revenue goals, there’s still time.
Book into my calendar below.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the read,
Speak soon,
-Joe
More articles
(
Sep 24, 2025
)
Stop Relying On Referrals: Your Cold Outreach Needs To Be Relevant
Achieve 40%+ reply rates from LinkedIn cold outreach.
Are you tired of getting zero replies from your cold outreach?
Well, we’ve been hitting 40%+
Why? Because our outreach is relevant and specific.
I know what you’re asking…
Joe, what does “relevant” even mean?
It’s a message that directly relates to their current situation. A message that leaves your potential client thinking, “How did they know?”
People are more likely to ignore a message than ever before.
Relevance stands out in their inbox.
Unfortunately, the same conversation starter that worked 3 months ago won’t get responses now.
Problems change; your biggest problem 3 months ago isn’t the same as it is now.
Your potential clients are no different.
I will say, it is impossible that every cold DM you send on LinkedIn or any form of cold outreach will be relevant to every potential client. If it were, I’d have 90% reply rates and be world famous for discovering the B2B equivalent of fire.
But you can have an educated guess…
I’ve done this daily for years. I can look at a potential client's website, any of their public movements, or any scraped data, and have an educated guess as to what their main problems are and how I can tailor my message to be as relevant as possible.
That’s why we hit 40% reply rates.
I’ll give you some examples from my business.
We work with business service providers in traditionally masculine industries.
One of the best performing clients this year has been a project management consultancy firm specialising in the manufacturing industry.
Another example is an operations consultancy in renewables. Our customers are typically businesses along those lines.
Relevant pain points they're struggling with in H2 of 2025 are:
Long sales cycles
Reliance on referrals
Paying for overpriced networking groups and expecting to see ROI
(If you don’t know how to find relevant pain points, I’ll show you how to do that later!)
When approaching these guys, how do I make my educated guesses?
I use the info and data available to me:
A lack of content (LinkedIn, blogs, newsletter) is a clear sign that their sales cycle will be long.
They won’t be able to stay front of mind, and when you’re not front of mind, you can’t build trust efficiently, and when you can’t build trust efficiently, your sales cycle is long.
If their website shows 5+ different services and no pricing range means they’re likely relying on referrals.
You can’t have a proper lead gen system offering that many services and hiding pricing because a cold lead will click off their website within 10 seconds. Massive giveaway.
Another giveaway that a business is relying on referrals is if the scraped data from LinkedIn shows they’ve consistently engaged with marketing/lead gen content. It shows they have a problem and don’t know how to solve it.
If they’re active in LinkedIn groups, they’re almost certainly paying for overpriced networking groups.
This data can be scraped, or it can be manual, but if they’re posting in LinkedIn groups, they’re likely paying for overpriced networking; there’s a clear link there.
Do you see how I’ve used public information and data to make an educated guess on what they’re biggest pain points are?
Again, you won’t get every educated guess right; it’s not possible. But you can get damn good!
“But Joe, I don’t know the pain points my ideal clients are struggling with right now!”
Ok, there’s a chance you don’t truly know your ideal client if you’re saying that, and if that’s the case, read this article.
But if you know your customer, you can do 20 hours of manual market research in 20 minutes, assuming you use AI well.
(I can’t believe I’m giving this away for free)
Our process is:
Use NotebookLM for market research.
We like NotebookLM because you can input your own sources.
Input relevant sources.
The first 2 sources should be your website and the specific offer you’re trying to sell.
The next sources to input are ones that actively show/discuss your customers' current situation.
Think Reddit pages, social media threads, blog posts, industry podcasts, LinkedIn groups etc.
If you don’t know where to look, use ChatGPT to help you pinpoint specific platforms, trusted sources, and discussion places.
The final sources should be transcripts from recent sales meetings if you have them.
Prompts
I’ll give you one of my favourite ones for free:
“Act as my research assistant, read (specific market research) sources, and provide me a report that shows the relevant pain points (target market) professionals are currently struggling with that my (offer name) can help. Ensure your report matches the tone of my website (website name), and make sure it prioritises recent discussions and dates. Keep your report under 300 words with no generic AI-sounding answers.”
You now have a full report. If it’s not as good as you’d like, tell the AI how to improve it.
Take the report and export it into ChatGPT.
In my opinion, ChatGPT is best for outreach copy.
Upload previous successful outreach sequences that have worked in the industries you’re targeting.
Then ask it to adapt the new pain points in the same style as the previous successful outreach sequences.
You now have outreach sequences related to the current pain points your potential clients are struggling with.
The result? 20 hours of manual market research and sequence writing done in 20 minutes.
Then test!
DM 50 people and see how many bites you get. If reply rates are poor (below 20%) try some new sequences.
Why does this approach work?
It shows competence.
Everyone in their inbox has sent a few paragraphs of generic text, while you have shown that you understand their current situation and that you’re competent in their industry.
Even if your problem diagnosis is wrong, they still respect you because you’re better than everything else in their inbox.
The finishing touch:
Have a lead magnet related to each pain point.
Look at the other articles on my website, I’ve got articles about sales cycles, breaking out of the referral trap, and optimising your offer for lead generation.
Literally all of the major pain points I solve.
So when a potential client answers some variation of “yes, you’re right.” I send them the lead magnet (article) and let that build the classic sales rapport work before I pitch the meeting.
After all, there are two types of potential customers:
People who are currently suffering from the problem you solve
(I call this a target-rich environment)
People who aren’t experiencing that problem heavily right now/have more pressing issues.
(The goal here with this customer is to touch base and make sure you’re front of mind.)
The relevant cold message into a lead magnet approach will almost always convert the target-rich customer (if you follow up well).
Then if they’re the second type of customer, you’ll have provided value and you’ll be front of mind if/when they need your solution.
If you don’t know where to start when it comes to writing outreach sequences, drop me a DM on LinkedIn and I’ll send you a few that are currently performing.