In this YouTube Q&A, sales coach Ryan Dohrn answers a listener question from Barry in Chicago about running out of email outreach ideas. Ryan explains that fresh ideas come from thorough prospect research—monitoring a prospect’s LinkedIn activity, company Facebook, Twitter/X feeds, press releases, and alumni or group connections. He emphasizes his "3-and-3" framework: a three‑word subject line, a maximum of three sentences, and three core email components (social proof, relevance/value, and a clear ask). The ask should be for a brief 10‑15‑minute call to quickly assess fit. Ryan also recommends setting up Google Alerts for customers to stay updated on relevant news. The video closes with a reminder to submit more questions, contact information (ryan@ryandohrn.com, ryandohrn.com), and an invitation for speaking engagements.
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What's going on, friends and fans? Ryan Dohrn here, your friendly neighborhood sales coach. We're answering your listener questions sent in to ryan@ryandohrn.com, and keep those questions coming. Love to answer 'em. We get probably, I don't know, 40, 60 questions every single month, and we do our best to answer those that we feel are most applicable to everybody out there, but we'll try to get to all of 'em as they get sent in. All right, first question comes from Barry in Chicago, my adopted hometown of Chicago. Look, Chicago blue here, Chicago Cubs blue. All right. Barry asked this question, Ryan, I'm running out of new ideas for emails. Any new ideas would be greatly appreciated. So Barry, for me, I don't run out of new ideas for emails because the emails that I'm sending contain relevant information to the customers that I'm reaching out to based upon their company Facebook page, maybe things that they're sharing on their LinkedIn profile. From my perspective, I don't feel like I'm coming up with the new ideas. I feel like the emails that I'm sending are going to be relevant to them, the client or the prospect, based on what it is that they are doing. So let me just give you a couple of examples. Let's just say that on LinkedIn, I've got Company ABC that has a new product that they're launching. The email is potentially going to be about that. I'm a big fan of receiving press releases. Okay, so if I see that they've got a new product they've launched, a new service, somebody that needs to be congratulated, you know, things like that, whatever's applicable to that particular person, I'm gonna reference those things. I might go to the company Facebook page or the company Twitter, X, whatever it's called, feed, and I'm gonna look at that and I'm gonna come up with things that are relevant either to the company or even better to the person that's there. Looking at their LinkedIn profile, do you have a college alumni collection, a connection? Are you in some of the same groups online? Those types of things. Now, for me, it's exceedingly important to kind of follow the 3-and-3 format that I've shared with you. 3 words in the subject line, 3 sentences max, but also 3 pieces to each email that I'm sending. First sentence is going to be social proof, mentioning others that you've worked with. Second sentence is kind of your value proposition or your point of relevancy from LinkedIn or Facebook or Twitter, a press release, whatever. And then that third sentence then is always going to be your ask. And if you follow my training principles, what I always do is ask for like 10 or 15 minutes, because after 10 or 15 minutes, Barry, I can kind of know if I've got a winner on my hands or if I've got a connection on my hands. So for me, I'm only asking for 10 or 15 minutes, and then I'll take it longer and deeper if I need to do that. So again, Barry, it's not as much about what you want to write or I want to write ideas about that. As I'm trying to find things that are relevant to the person that I'm reaching out to. So I'm just a big fan of research. I set up Google alerts for all my customers to find those points of relevancy. So Barry from Chicago, get out there and sell some more, make us all proud. Okay, don't forget, friends, keep your questions coming. ryan@ryandohrn.com. If sales was easy, everybody'd be doing it, right? And it's not easy. It's a tough job, but it's very rewarding. It's going to feed your family for a lifetime. If I can be of help to you, reach out to me over at ryandohrn.com. Love to come motivate your sales team or speak at your national sales conference. All right, ryandohrn.com for more information. We'll see you next week. More listener questions to come.
