I was recently inspired by God to search for more clients using existing clients, rather than just reaching out to people whom I don’t know from Adam.
In other words, last week I began sending “warm emails” rather than “cold emails.” I believe a “warm email” is one that you send to someone who knows someone whom you know.
When I was trying to get work from graduate students in research universities, I sent “cold emails” to various biochemistry department chairs and graduate program directors whose names and email addresses I lifted from the department website. This sparked interest maybe 1 percent of the time. But last week, I began using PubMed to find researchers who had collaborated with each of two investigators for whom I had edited a manuscript and a grant proposal. I found their email addresses (this was the hardest part) and sent “warm emails” introducing myself and saying, “I saw on PubMed that you collaborated with Dr. X in the past. I edited ABC for him last winter,” before talking about my editorial services. Out of ten researchers, I have already had two who are interested. That’s 20 percent…much better than the return for the “cold emails.”
Never underestimate the power of PubMed and sleuthing.