I’ve never met an enterprise exec who takes meetings from cold emails...
UNLESS:
✅ 1) You're a category leading brand
Doesn't get acknowledged much. But it absolutely helps.
You work with a peer? I recognize your brand? I've used this solution before?
Massively increases your odds.
At the least, they'll forward the email to the right department leader to get their take.
✅ 2) You've spoken with people on their team
The 'old groundswell. This works extremely well.
But the kicker? It's a sh*t ton of work to speak with people on their team.
My motto:
Put in the work before reaching out to a senior exec.
- Learn more about internal projects
- Get the specific names of those projects
- Get permission to name-drop people you've spoken to
- Get intel on who might own specific projects
- Learn about problem areas
This will require you to speak with a few ICs/managers. Build rapport. Talk about how you can help them. Get the lay of the land.
Then get in touch with department heads. These are folks with more influence. They're an introduction away from a more senior leader.
When you start speaking with department heads, that's the time to email the senior stakeholder. But don't ask for anything.
Let them know you're having conversations. Get an email thread going. Keep them in the loop.
Then, do one of the following:
1) Get an introduction through the department head (this is multi-threading)
2) Go direct
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Enterprise meetings require enterprise effort.
In the enterprise world—a cold email with zero insights from actual people in the company is just lazy.