💜 Will Allred

LavenderLand

A show where I answer real email questions with the help of some not so real friends.

Watch at https://lavender.ai/land

Host of "Ask Allred" on LavenderLand

Lavender

Lavender helps sales teams write better emails, faster.
Get started for free at Install.TryLavender.com. 
(Available in Gmail, Outlook 365, Outreach, and SalesLoft.)

Lavender is the ultimate email assistant. As a salesperson, it provides everything you need to quickly write, high quality emails.

Lavender's coaching dashboard gives revenue teams never before had insight into what's working in each reps' inbox.

Co-Founder & COO

Sorter

Sorter’s internal AI, CATIE( Creative Algorithms for Text and Image Enhancement) blends behavioral sciences with cutting edge data science and natural language processing enabling you to easily apply an objective science to the art of communication. 

We help create better content faster.

Fueling the backend of our platforms for healthcare,  marketing, sales, and HR, CATIE analyzes and determines  what distinguishes top-performing campaigns from baseline and under-performing content within your audiences.

Sorter (sorter.com): 1:Many Communications
Lavender (trylavender.com): 1:1 Communications

TopRight

TopRight is a strategic marketing firm based in Atlanta practicing Transformational Marketing. Our work puts the customer first through TopRight’s 3S Methodology. We help companies; define a Story that motivates customers to care, buy and stay, develop a Strategy that gets the right message to the right customers at the right time, and enable the Systems needed to execute on those winning Strategies.

In my time at TopRight, I have served as support and run several internal, partnership and client projects. Below, I have outlined a few highlights from my time as a Senior Associate and the head of HR at TopRight:

I currently lead all technology-focused initiatives and projects within TopRight. This includes: 
• Helping clients assess the best possible marketing systems. This includes technology sets, the people running those systems and the processes that enable them.
• Currently managing TopRight’s technology partnerships. 
• Running day-to-day execution of our clients' digital marketing needs.

I am also on a TopRight's team of three working on the launch of a client's groundbreaking ICO and future blockchain application that is set to redefine the private equity market. My role on the project is focused on the creation of the client's whitepaper, buzz-creation (aka marketing the launch), and general support. 

As a core member of TopRight’s internal marketing team, I assist in TopRight’s inbound marketing strategy execution including campaign ideation, content creation, influencer outreach, and funnel conversion strategy and tactics.

As part of a larger initiative to improve internal processes, in addition to my role as a Senior Associate, I am serving as the HR Coordinator. This role has required:
• The creation of an employee handbook to help define and shape company culture
• Improved meeting processes
• Improved recruiting processes
• An initiative to improve team dynamics through the better analytical management of skillsets, capacity, and personality.

Senior Associate

As an Associate at TopRight, I served as support and run several internal, partnership and client projects. Below, I have outlined a few highlights from my time as an Associate at TopRight:

• Led a grassroots, multi-channel campaign for a non-profit to support free speech from ideation, through research, to creation.
• Managed the relaunch of the TopRight website. 
• Helped in the brand relaunch of a Marketing Technology Operations Company in ~30 days. Our teams are also currently leading a multi-channel, co-branded campaign.
• Helped multiple clients assess the best possible marketing systems. This included technology sets, the people running those systems and the processes that enabling them.
• Assisted a multi-billion dollar Telco in establishing a partnership alliance program for the software industry.
• Currently leading an initiative to improve internal operations and efficiencies.

Associate

In my time as an Analyst at TopRight, I served as support and run several internal, partnership and client projects. Below, I have outlined a few highlights from my time as an analyst at TopRight:

• On a team of two, my team helped rebrand a supply chain management software company. With a new brand narrative and a revised corporate sales deck, the company saw three consecutive record-breaking quarters of sales growth.
• Helped multiple clients assess the best possible marketing systems. This included technology sets, the people running those systems and the processes that enabling them.
• As a core member of TopRight’s internal marketing team, I assist in TopRight’s inbound marketing strategy execution including campaign ideation, content creation, influencer outreach, and funnel conversion strategy and tactics.

Analyst

YoVo

I was working on Yovo in the background for a while. I learned loads about entrepreneurship working on this project, but ultimately I could never get it off the ground. The idea was simple: 
- resumes are ineffective at screening 
- recruiting calls are filled with human error/bias

Using voice analytics, the plan was to help hiring mangers make smarter decisions by giving an objective look at conversations.

I was able to spin up exciting conversations in the enterprise, but eventually, I decided to focus my time and energy into Sorter.

First Founder Attempt

Healthgrades

Worked with Healthgrades as an initial member of their Elective Provider Solutions team. After building out the initial pipeline for Healthgrades direct sales model. We consulted with heads of marketing for enterprise level specialty practices to help design digital marketing solutions to best utilize Healthgrades.com. 

Tweaking and building upon market insights for our products- we were able to design action oriented campaigns for practices and their physicians. The challenge was not only to create campaigns that would succeed, but to create campaign designs that would sell in a market adverse to change. Through our work we found it was important to help providers:

 1. Make practices and providers more discoverable, 
 2. Increase new patient acquisition, 
 3. Enhance practices and providers' online reputations.

These were the three things we could do most effectively for our clients. 

At Healthgrades, there is a "healthy obsession" with driving a ROI for clients. So by working in concert with our clients, we help maximize their ROI by learning from our current marketing efforts, and making the proper adjustments as needed.

In my tenure there, I was:

•a top revenue producer on my team
•able to uncover optimization strategies not only in product design, but also sales and marketing strategy for both Healthgrades and clients
•built out entirety of the direct sales pipeline
•cultivated relationships with agencies and practices

Healthgrades is backed by Vestar Capital Partners, as is the top site for rating doctors and hospitals. Truly on the cutting edge, it is where America goes to find a doctor.

Manager: Elective Provider Solutions

As a summer sales intern, I served as CEB's first interaction with HR executives. Cold calling on a territory of 100 HR executives, based in firms with annual revenues ranging from 50-750 million dollars, I was able to effectively introduce C-suite executives to CEB's valuable advisory resources. 

As an intern team, we were tasked with helping recruiting with their outreach to prospective employee's. We designed potent marketing material driving the impactful value of one's work at CEB, and the advantages of being a member of CEB's motivated workforce. 

CEB is the leading member-based advisory company. By combining the best practices of thousands of member companies with our advanced research methodologies and human capital analytics, we equip senior leaders and their teams with insight and actionable solutions to transform operations.

CEB offers comprehensive data analysis, research and advisory services that align to executive leadership roles and empower clients to focus efforts, move quickly, and address emerging and recurring business challenges with confidence.

CEB trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CEB).

HR Leadership Council

Northwestern Mutual

After working to attain my North Carolina Life, Health, and Disability Insurance, I worked with potential clients to develop financial solutions to achieve their desired long-term success. 

This is where I learned my love of sales and marketing, as I saw the impact I was able to have by effectively showing the benefits of Northwestern's Life Insurance products. Through this valuable experience, I was able to drive many never would be customers into the sales pipeline at Northwestern.

Financial Representative

Carrboro Capital

As a summer intern, I evaluated small, rapid-growth businesses in North Carolina for acquisition. I would forecast potential risks for the companies and report a pro/con analysis to my senior managers. 

Also as a summer intern, I was tasked with analyzing financial statements for potential acquisitions. My timing when joining Carrboro Capital was especially advantageous, as I witnessed the acquisition of the local retailer Southern Season.

Private Equity Summer Analyst

Kidder Properties

Working for the four employee (including myself) start up Kidder Properties, I was able to effectively work cross-functionally with a litany of responsibilities that wouldn't have otherwise been given to a person of my age and experience. 

In my first summer with Kidder, I assisted in the analysis and acquisition of approximately 50 foreclosure homes. Comparing acquisition costs and renovation costs with the projected income from renting and ultimately selling the home, I was able to produce ROI reports. After openly discussing the tangibles and intangibles of these potential assets with my supervisor and the CEO, we would come up with a judgment for the perspective home. 

In my second summer, my focus shifted to the operational side of the business helping to reduce costs and improve the overall quality of the rental properties we provided. After analyzing the past performances of different purchased assets, I would determine if budget changes needed to be made to improve the long-term quality and therefore profitability of the home. Also in my final summer with Kidder, I helped train and coach a successor to take my place.

Real Estate Acquisitions & Renovation Operations

👋 Welcome to my LinkedIn page. Struggling with email writing? 👇 See below 👇

1. Check out what we're building at Lavender: install.trylavender.com

2. Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.lavender.ai/lavender-letter

3. Since you made it this far, use promo code "LavenderLove" to 2x your free trial when you sign up for Lavender

CAREER UPDATE: I’m thrilled to announce I’m starting this week as the new VP of Marketing at Lavender 💜. I’ve admired their brand and product for awhile now, so I’m pumped to join William Ballance, 💜 Will Allred, and team on their mission to help sellers write better emails faster, utilizing AI in a way that not only increases reply rate but substantially increases pipeline. Excited for this journey!

Hey Seller, the paragraph in your cold email that reminds the prospect what their job title and responsibilities are? ... Cut it.

❌ "As a Success leader, your role is to..."
❌ "Congrats on five years leading HR..."

You're talking at people.
They're shutting down.
You're losing pipeline.
& burning TAM.

Also... this just looks like automated spam
🚧 Mental Spam Filter 🚧

Talk *with* them
Not *at* them

Warm, inviting tones.

✅ "Coming into Success with a background in sales, I'm guessing..."
✅ "Given your 5 year's doing this, curious if you're seeing this as well"

The difference is subtle.
But, think about it this way.

What email do you want to recieve?

I 💜 you sellers... but I also see you 👀 

ex. We just pulled a team's data that uses SalesLoft.

"Manual steps" had a suspiciously low reply rate

Isn't personalization supposed to be 10x?

Yeeeeaaaaah

if they *actually* personalized

18x more replies

In the words of Rasheed Wallace
"Data Don't Lie"

Fun side effect of tracking time spent per email... we catch the fakers

Promise we're on your team.

If you do the work... it'll work.

Here are some of my *FAVORITE* things to see in cold emails

1) Personal personalization (such a warm touch)
2) Numerical expression of the value I'll get (2x more __ = 😍 )
3) Multiple questions to get me thinking
4) Seeing my first name in the subject line (so personal... I always open 😉 )
5) Additional context on what your company sells (why else would I respond?)
6) Long paragraphs. (Gotta squeeze it into a phone view right?)
7) Complex industry terms that show me you GET my world 
8) Follow up that remind me that I've yet to reply (so thoughtful)
9) Emails about things that don't relate to my department (gives me fun stuff to talk about with the engineers!)
10) Apologizing for persistence (so thoughtful)
11) Wishing me well... (such sweethearts)

... oh wait

April fools 😜 

Trinity Nguyen💎  killed it on stage yesterday at GTM Partners in SLC

We've been mutual customers for some time. 

When your daily active user count is bigger than anyone in the spaces install base - you better believe UserGems is a top source of pipeline. 

Big 💜 for the 💎

Yesterday - she shared the impact embracing Lavender has had on her team

1) Reply rates up to 28% in Outreach sequences. (Compared to 5% without)

2) A team that has embraced what our email score means

3) a lift in pipeline contribution of 23% 

4) a tool to help with people management. Ex. Diagnosing a ramp challenge recognizing writing time on replies was taking too long

Outbound is a big deal at Usergems. It's over 50% of pipeline.

So cool to see her share her experiences & the little role we play in the pipeline machine that she has built.

Days like this one make me so grateful to be on this journey.

Thank you, Trinity!

❌"Congrats on the new job"

Corny personalization... Or is it?

Well... When you realize that your product is 2.5x more likely to get bought in a new exec's first 90 days - YOU BETTER SAY SOMETHING! (source: UserGems 💎 )

Everyone says congrats

It's noise - not personalization.

So what do I say?

Here's 3 ideas for you:

1) Use different signals to write your personalization & then put a nice congrats in a PS. 

Personalized emails w a PS get 30%+ more replies 😉 (source: 💜 Lavender duh)

Ex. (Using a past close lost reason)
---

Trinity - your crew had evaluated us in Q3. Seemed like the focus was setting up a dialer. Imagine that's in place. 

We've got some killer new personalization features rolling out - think it will fit great with what I learned about your SDR's workflows.

Open to finding some time a in a couple weeks? Imagine your schedule is filled with onboarding fun.

Ps. Congrats on joining the team!
---

2) Name drop the predecessor

Key here is leaning into what you know others in industry are prioritizing. (again if you have past opp - lean into what was their priority then)

---

Trinity - as you take over Sara's work, I imagine one of the 1st wins you want to put on the board is getting the sellers more pipeline.

Hearing this all the time. (especially w/ folks focused on "efficiency")

We can give you a clearer view of why email works. Want to find time to check it out?

---

3. The Give aka The No Ask

S/O to Jen Allen-Knuth for surfacing this one to me. Everyone is coming in hot when you land a new role.

Probably because you'll likely spend 70% of their budget in the first 100 days (source: 💎UG... again)

Stand out by being different. Take a look at their background. The industry they're in. How can you help them? 

Sounds corny but if you want to be a "challenger" seller... You better be able to.

Ex.
---

Trinity - imagine coming into UserGems from a semi- different industry has felt a bit like taking a drink from a fire hose. (What new job doesn't feel that way)

I've seen a few folks in your space really revamp their thinking on outbound. Thought this video would give you a good sense for how folks around you are approaching it.

*Link*

Obviously - we help with some of the things mentioned. No rush on getting back to me. Here to chat pipeline once you have your footing.

----


PS. UserGems is our top source of pipeline. When your daily active user count is higher than anyone else's install base - you better believe those job change signals are 🔥

Use them wisely

What's working for your when you reach out to folks changing roles?

PPS. I have a fourth play... I'll save that for another post... This is quickly becoming a blog 😂 💜

If your team cold emails into IT / ENG, you shouldn't bother cold emailing them on Monday or Friday.

Despite email send volumes being relatively stable across the week, replies are 23% more likely to happen on a Tues, Wed, or Thursday.

So good news!

If yesterday (Mon) didn't go well, today the odds are in your favor.

Ps. How'd I pull that?

I filtered Lavender's best practice data set by those persona with a title that was director, vp or c suite.

As a "buyer", I don't want to meet with you. As a "seller" that means you need to get comfortable conversing over email.

The # 1 data point for why sellers see 50% less success than they should is stupid simple.

Let's say you write a killer cold email.

They reply:

"sounds interesting. How does it {do certain thing}?"

💥 Dopamine hits  🎉
Your brain: "OMG THEY REPLIED"
You start mentally counting the commission as you think,
"We NAIL that use case!"

You type out the answer.
A few paragraphs later you hit send.

🦗🦗🦗🦗
They don't reply
🦗🦗🦗🦗

What happened?

Well... you gave them what they wanted.

You didn't leave a teaser that there's more to it.

You didn't set them up to get curious about the nuance.

How do you do this?

You ask questions.

You're not an LLM. 
You're a sales rep. 

That means you *don't just answer prompts* - you dig deeper to carve out the nuance. 

You SEARCH for intention.

Sellers don't ask questions.

(like at all)

If they did - they'd see 50% more conversations stay alive.

Half of your 👻 spooky ghosts 👻... just don't have a reason to reply.

So when they ask you questions:

Answer them
But ASK QUESTIONS BACK

because there's always a layer of nuance to the question that you are failing to carve out.

Email is dead. 
Let's send more.
That'll fix it. 🙄 

^in a sea of spam bots. Happy Lavender 💜 is focused on understanding *why* email works first > do more faster.

"How many of you have been pitched AI this year?"
*everyone raises hand*

"How many of you have actually bought AI and successfully implemented it?"
*hands go down*

Had the chance to run a really interesting workshop at SalesLove yesterday.

- Tensions with Legal
- Confusion on process for bringing AI into the org
- Lack of clarity on what is noise vs. helpful tech
- Insane levels of excitement about bringing AI into the org

People *want* to see the promise of AI in their orgs.

But with anything *new* - org transformation is hard.

My advice (from the convos yesterday)?
- Get legal and sec involved early
understand if you're wasting time (sorry sellers)

- Seek to understand if there are "AI Task teams"

- Don't just "automate" something because "AI"...
you have to have a clean slate of data and be working off of something that already works in order to scale that effectively.

- Focus on an initiative first, tie back to a task, then focus on a workflow
you're not going to overhaul your AI stack overnight

If all you read was LinkedIn, you'd think everyone's tech stack was crazy AI sophisticated. We're early in this wave.

Can't wait for the next SalesLove in Chicago!

You can call your sales reps whatever you like 

"Marketing consultant"
"Payment specialist"
"Ops Guru"

If their sales emails suck - your "buyer" is still going to read *SALES* and hit delete.

So you want LivePerson ($LPSN) CMO Ruth Zive to reply to your email?

Here's 5 data points from 37,960 cold emails to Software CMOs

1) 1 Word Subject Lines

We should always strive to keep it short, but this persona likes it the shortest.

1 word.

My advice? Just use the topic you're emailing about. Ex. "Email"

2) Don't ask questions

Yup. Cutting the "?" = 150% more replies

Definitely don't ask 2 questions.

My advice? Use a conditional statement. (IF --> Then)

ex. Curious if this sounds right.
ex. If that's off let me know
ex. If I'm on track, let's find time to chat

3) Mobile Optimization doesn't seem to matter

Yup - mobile optimization is the norm with this group. The big blocks of text likely stand out against the pattern.

= performance w/ this persona

My advice? Play around with formatting. Try merging paragraphs in shorter emails to make them look like texts. Toy around with it in longer emails to make it all fit into a mobile screen.

4) It needs to be short (but don't discount the long ones)

Most emails to this persona are ~75-125 words.

Cut some fluff. 50 words = 141% more replies

BUT it looks like you can go long w/ this persona as well. Assuming you're digging deep on research and explaining the context - you *can* have success around 175 words (but success falls off quickly if you go much longer)

The 175 word zip code still sees ~67% more replies than the average.

My advice? If you have a lot to personalize with - Lean in! If not - cut words aggressively.

5) It's GOT to be simple

While you can get away with 1 long sentence, taking an email from a 10th grade reading level to a 7th grade reading level = 115% more replies

My advice? Write like you'd talk... the jargon and buzzwords don't get marketers excited. Then trim down the long sentences to make it easier to read.

Oh...

While your email probably starts with "Hi"... maybe think about starting with "Hey"... or anything else. "Hi" isn't helping you (or hurting you). 

Just don't use Hello or Dear 😉 

Want to hear it from Ruth herself? 

She breaks it down around the 18 minute mark in this latest episode of HuddleUp!

- She nails the importance of relevance
- The best time of day to outbound to executives (morning & evening = no meetings)
- the reality that there's an element of luck

She covers so much on this episode! 

- How owning the SDR function makes her a better marketer
- How SDRs plug into the larger marketing engine
- "SDRing herself" to find mentorship from Mark Zuckerberg's sister
- What stands out to her in cold outbound
- & so much more

Check it out on LavenderLand 👇 

https://lnkd.in/egsSrp8d

Wait... Jen Allen-Knuth didn't close 7 figure deals because of "AI"?

As you evaluate tech - realize top performers don't *need* a fancy tech stack. All they really need is for you to get out of their way.

Efficiency is a fancy word for "lazy". Tech should reduce friction to thoughtfulness > enhancing lazy behavior.

PS. Jen's Twitter avatar is better than yours

A company value here at Lavender 💜: "Create Magic Moments"

Ashleigh Bergh Duggan ✨ - you nailed it.

Yeah... the product is good enough to be self-service

BUT that doesn't mean our CS team can't be a competitive differentiator 😎 

Sometimes I wonder if/when salespeople will realize that a *LOT* of the modern selling play book was written in the mid 2010's by HubSpot. 

Because "inbound" became so big - everything seems to be a variation of their tactical advice that I was reading back in 2016

My biggest take away? 

Your job is to help guide them to a decision

TONS to be excited about in NYC this week (aka the weather is *finally* nice)

This Wednesday I'll be hosting an interactive workshop on AI at SalesLove w/ our friends at Salesloft

I plan on making sure folks leave with an expanded idea of "AI" beyond LinkedIn clickbait about the 4 best ChatGPT prompts for getting ignored as SPAM 🤣 

Can't wait to see my Lofter friends. If you're in town or stopping through the event hit me up - would love to say hey

PS. On top of SalesLove - we've got Morgan's AMP Up event on Tuesday. Our angel investor Alex Lieberman will be there too. 

Our crew is ALSO rocking it at AudiencePlus's GoldenHour on Wednesday. 

& I hear Apollo.io is getting some folks together. 

Love seeing the sales community coming together for some awesome weather in NYC!

Hit me up if you're in town.

If you've ever overthought your subject line, here's some advice:

Don't.

Write your email.

Pick 1-3 words that summarize it.

Look at it and ask - does this look like something a marketer would send?
aka
Does this look like it will attract attention?

If yes?
Delete it and start over

Pick 1-3 words that look like an internal email (something the recipient would get from a coworker)

Something boring.

Hit send

Need an Example?

Let's say Jeff Rosset is trying to hound Jen Allen-Knuth about her slides for Sales Assembly Remix next week.

❌ Struggling to Finish those Slides?
✅ Slide Update

If you need help - drop an email in the comments and I'll give you a subject

Victoria... This story is wild!

Feel like this the epitome of "if you can make it here (NYC) then you can make it anywhere"

So many life lessons packed into y'all's first episode of "Huddle Up"
(+ Delilah Singer)

If you're early in your career

If you're breaking into tech sales

If you want to hear from some incredible women who are sharing the path they took to leadership in a publicly traded company

I 💜 the grit
&
You're gonna love episode 1

https://lnkd.in/dk5Vyw6U

Cofounder @ Lavender | Write better sales emails faster with our in-inbox coach.

Most sellers prospecting would elevate 10x if they understood Clayton Christensen's "Jobs to be Done" theory. Let me explain.

Most sellers think "signal-based" prospecting is the next greatest thing.

It's effective for finding relevancy, but the problem is that most sellers struggle to connect the dots.

Why does it matter?

What's the deeper picture?

Put yourself in *their shoes*

Once you see what they're trying to achieve - it becomes much easier to place your product or service into *their* narrative.

That's when cold email *creates* demand > capturing existing demand.

Taplio

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