"Writing “Quick Question” in a subject line got you an >80% opening rate.
Until 2023.
Because the channel of the email itself is becoming “more US-style”.
More people using the same now old tricks & templates.
More executives getting more bland emails, daily.
What got you 20% reply rates now gives you 5%.
Cold email is getting expensive & inefficient.
Cold calls still work.
But there is a human problem here.
Cold calling is not unlike cold showers, burpees, or getting up every day at 5am.
It is simple, but not easy.
Nobody defaults to it.
It is hard now, easy later.
And most people hate hard things. They “commit” to be successful.
But what they mean is they opt to be comfortable if possible.
And it is still possible for German-speaking sales reps.
Because there’s still more demand than supply here.
Because sales as a job have a bad rep in DACH.
But that’s a topic for another day…
“Many salespeople in DACH prefer a cold shower to a cold call”, a sales trainer told me.
And he was referring to seasoned sales professionals with years of experience.
With skillsets unlike the “Junior SDRs” many B2B SaaS founders were hired.
And then expecting them to figure out message-market-fit, cold calling.
Making 20-100 cold calls a day is not only mentally hard.
It is also set up for failure without a proven approach.
Which most B2B SaaS Startups I know lack.
Because the founders did not validate it.
And then train & coach their reps for it.
And then do it with them, consistently.
And keep reps accountable to it.
That’s why cold calling dies.
Before it started."