In this YouTube presentation, Nicolas Cole shares a practical framework for cold outreach that shifts the focus from selling to educating prospects about a problem. He argues that the most effective outreach tactics are those the practitioner enjoys and can sustain. Cole identifies the core purpose of any outreach—whether via DM, email, phone, or Loom—to make the prospect aware of a problem, which can be either a hidden issue they don’t know they have (e.g., inefficient email capture) or a known issue they are constrained from solving (e.g., lack of time, resources, or expertise). He illustrates these two problem types with concrete examples, then contrasts two direct‑message scripts: a generic pitch that mentions a problem and offers a solution, and a more compelling “heads‑up” DM that simply points out a broken email form, creating urgency and emotional relevance without mentioning a service. Cole emphasizes that the goal of the first few messages is not to sell but to trigger an emotional response to the problem, prompting the prospect to acknowledge the issue and reveal constraints, which then opens a natural pathway to introduce a solution. He wraps up by promoting his Premium Ghostwriting Blueprint and his book, positioning ghostwriting as a lucrative avenue for writers.
Chapters
there are so many different ways of doing outreach well. And the longer that you play the game and the more that you stay in the market, the more you will get exposed to lots of different ways of going about it. And so the answer isn't really like, which one is best? The answer is try lots of different things. And the thing I always try and pay attention to is, and what is the approach that I tend to enjoy the most? What's the approach that I tend to feel the best about? Because I could give everyone here a tactic or a technique that is maybe really effective, but for whatever reason, like, you hate it, right? So like, that is— that's something to solve for as well. You will always be most successful doing the thing that you find a way to enjoy the most. Just my high-level framework. So With outreach, even though there are lots of different approaches, all roads lead back to the same fundamental thing. Okay? It doesn't matter if it's a DM, an email, you get them on the phone. It doesn't matter if you do free work. It doesn't matter if it's in a Loom. It doesn't matter. None of it matters unless it accomplishes one specific thing, which is it educates the person on a problem. And either that takes on two forms. Either that's a problem they didn't know they had and now they're aware of it, right? Or it's a problem they know they have, they just haven't gotten around to solving it. And the reason they haven't gotten around to solving it is because they are in some way either constrained by a resource— I don't have the time, I don't have the right person, I don't have the person who has the expertise to do that— right? Or they are constrained by the fact that it goes back to education. They're constrained because they don't know or think that it's a priority because they aren't sufficiently educated on it. So I just want to give, give everyone here like two examples of this. Okay. So two types of problems. Can everyone see my, my screen okay? All good? Okay. So first problem is a problem they don't know they have. And the second is a problem they know they have, but are constrained in some way from solving it. And this could be time, resource, money, skill set, or even just priority. Okay. What is an example of a problem they don't know they have? Okay. The one that we point out over and over and over and over and over again inside PGA is the vast majority of companies either aren't or don't have a way of collecting emails, or they are collecting emails in a really inefficient way. Which usually looks like, you know, newsletter with no offer, maybe a free demo, maybe a contact page, etc., right? So if you're a— let's pretend that you're talking to an ad agency. The ad agency is really successful. Ad agency is doing $5 or $10 million a year. It's a great mid-market ad agency, but you go to their website and the only way for them to know who you are is for you to fill out a contact form. They don't have a newsletter, they don't have a free opt-in, they don't have an educational email course, etc., right? That's a great example of a business that has a problem that they don't even know that they have. Now, then maybe you DM them and you're like, hey, I don't know if you know, but like right now every person who's going to your website, unless they fill out this contact form that has no context or info on it, it's literally just like type in and send us a message, right? Unless someone does that, and the likelihood of them doing that is probably sub 1%, you have no way of knowing who was on your website and how you can follow up with them. And they might say to you on the, you know, on a call or in a DM or via email, they might say to you, Well, I actually know that that's a problem, but unfortunately our internal content writer or whoever just quit 6 months ago and I haven't been able to replace them. So now you should go, oh, this— it's actually a different version of this problem, right? They know they have the problem. They just don't have— they're constrained from solving it. Okay. So I say all of this because when you are doing any sort of outreach, Okay, what you are trying to do in, in whatever form it takes is you are trying to educate the person on a problem they don't know they have. And how do you do that? You do that by tangibly pointing out what's wrong. This is like doing your homework, right? Or you educate them on a problem they might or probably know they have. They're just constrained in some way. In which case, how do you educate them? Well, you have to educate them on how they are constrained. Right? Does that make sense, Vishal? Yes, it does. At a tactical level, what would a good DM look like? Cole. Okay. So, this is— it's a great follow-up question. All right. It is— it's one of those things that I think, especially when it comes to landing clients, people think that there's there's some component here that is like the magical variable, you know? And I, like, I just pound the table over and over and over again. The only variable that matters is that the other person now is emotionally connected to a problem. Okay, so let's, let's show— let me show the difference between 2 DMs. Okay. DM number 1. Hey, I noticed your website is getting a lot of traffic, but you don't have a great way of collecting emails. I have a really unique mechanism for companies collecting the emails of potential leads. Want me to send over some info. Okay. It's not a bad DM. It's like, hey, I went to your site. You have a lot of traffic, but you have this problem. I know how to solve it. Do you want some info? Right. That's not bad. And that, that is executing all of the fundamental things, right? Like, again, just to point out for everyone what's going on, you're like, I did my homework. I see that you have this thing. I noticed this problem. I have a unique way of solving it. Would you like me to tell you more about it? Right. It's not bad. But what would be so much more compelling is— and this is where, like, especially when you're, when you're playing with, with true cold, like, DMs and emails, like, like ice cold leads, right? The more advanced way of thinking about this is going, how do I point out a problem as fast as possible, as urgent as possible, as emotional as possible? Okay, so now let's compare to the second DM, which is, hey, just wanted to give you a heads up. I went to your website and tried to type in my email, but the email form isn't working. If you're a business owner and someone goes, hey, I just want to let you know, like, this thing on your site is broken. Like, do you, do you even know that I have anything to pitch here? I've given no indication that I have anything to sell the person. I've given no indication that I have any other interest other than I just want you to know that you have this problem. And for everyone here, as a business owner, I would say probably 15 minutes of every single one of my mornings is spent going through my inbox, getting random emails from people being like, "Hey, just wanted to let you know I went through this funnel and the thank you page didn't redirect correctly." I'm like, "Oh, okay, I gotta go fix that." You know, "Hey, I typed in my email here and I was supposed to get the email but it never got sent, like error, error," you know? And a lot of times it's not even people trying to sell me anything. It's just people being like, "Hey, I was trying to go through your ecosystem and I just want to let you know, like, something broke," right? So you can take that same approach when you're reaching out to people where the goal— this is, I think, what gets lost about outreach. The goal is not actually to sell your service in the first 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 messages. That's not the goal. It doesn't even matter if they know you have a service. The only goal is I have made the other person aware of a problem and I have made them aware of the problem to the point where then they go, "I need to fix that," right? 'Cause play this DM out. What happens? Here's what happens from here. Client goes, "Oh wow, thanks. Just confirming, you mean our newsletter opt-in on our website?" And you DM, and this is you, and you go, "Yeah, here's a screenshot. I just typed in my email." and nothing happened. And then client goes, oh yeah, I should probably do something about that. We stopped running our newsletter months ago, haha. And then you go, ah, got it. Well, just a heads up, I mean, as a potential customer, I feel like It would be pretty great to have a way of capturing emails. Do you happen, or is starting your newsletter back up again a priority? And the client is, actually, it is. I've just had a really hard time finding a good writer. Like, no part of this conversation has anything to do with your service. And this happens all the time, you know? And so, like, this is the goal. The goal is like, it's such a different way of thinking. It's like, take the thing that you're trying to sell and throw it out the window. It doesn't matter. You shouldn't even be thinking about talking about your service. It's literally just, how do I make this person aware of a problem? And then as I make them aware of the problem, they will tell me, like, why haven't you done anything about it? And then when they tell you the answer, right, when they tell you that, then all of a sudden you go, now I know what to speak to. 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