I don't know whether to laugh or cry. 

Recently, I received an email from a Sales Development Rep for an appointment setting services company. I deleted it the first time I got it but then got a follow up, as shown below.

Hello Kevin,

Came across Loop Commerce which researching high performing tech companies in recent years.

<Company Name> can get you 30+ highly qualified meetings per month with heads of small business owners who need help with business growth and success.

We do this by building out an entire sales team for you that does your outbound with AI-powered cold email, cold calling, and Linkedin.

Purely pay per meeting so there's no risk involved for you.

Interested?

Interested???

Um, no, not interested - and here's why:

1. I no longer work for Loop Commerce. I left that company in November of 2022, now almost THREE YEARS AGO. Furthermore...

2. Loop Commerce no longer exists. It shut down in December of 2022. Try finding loopcommerce.com. It doesn't exist because THE COMPANY DOESN'T EXIST. I guess that's not really a "high performing tech company" now is it? Lastly...

3. A quick check of my LinkedIn profile shows that a) I currently am a volunteer at SCORE b) I previously worked for a company called Concentrix. All of this happened since I left Loop Commerce in 2022. Heck, your email even says YOU USE LINKEDIN. Really???

Do Your Homework!

(OK, first, let's assume this isn't the stupidest AI bot yet created. If so, please fire the bot developer.) 

How lazy can you get? Worse yet, you want me to pay you for setting appointments for a product I might be selling? You can't even figure out who I am? How could I count on you to set quality appointments for my business?

Short answer: Even if I was in the market for your services, I can find a better company.

How I Responded

After the second email, I wrote back to the aforementioned sales development rep with a kinder, gentler version of 1, 2 and 3 above. I figure it fell on deaf ears but hoped (naively most likely) that maybe it would cause her to think.

And, no, I didn't get a response.

Nurture Your Leads

Moreover, the larger issue is "cold calling" or "cold emailing" generally doesn't work. You're counting on someone needing your product at the exact moment you reach out. Not very likely. Rather, start by nurturing your leads. Send them something useful and of value. It could be a blog, an article or research paper. Get them to become aware of you and position your business as adding value. Then, they'll be more likely to think of you when they need your services.