A prospecting email how-to

I get a lot of prospecting emails from people trying to get me to try their products or services. Unfortunately for the senders, such emails often go unread or fail to compel me to take action for one reason: They suck.

However, the following email recently caught my attention:

Hey, Kelley,

I’m a young entrepreneur who founded Charlie, an app that automatically preps you on people before a meeting. It syncs with your calendar and, an hour before a meeting, gives you insights into the people you are planning to meet: their passions and hobbies, their blog posts, company stats and breaking news about them or their company.

I know you write in many of your blog posts that you HAVE to prepare over and over and over before a meeting. So for the longest time I’ve been waiting for our app to be at the point where I could send it to you to get your feedback. Well, we’re finally there! I’d love to give you the app and get your feedback.

Let me know if you’d like to try it out and I’ll go ahead and send you the beta.