A few weeks ago, I coached a rep who couldn’t crack replies.
Good product. Good pitch. But their sequence was tanking, 0.2% reply rate.
Every follow-up was threaded to the first cold email.
Same chain. Same subject line. Just a new “bump” every few days.
They were taught to “stay in the thread to show consistency.”
But here’s what actually happens: The moment they ignore your first
email… they ignore the whole chain.
Threading is the sales version of yelling “Hey, remember me?” five
times from across the room. It’s noise. Not value.
Same persona. Same product. But every follow-up felt like a brand new
thought.
Different subject lines. Different angles. Different formats.
It didn’t feel like “persistence.”
It felt like insight after insight.
Like five smart people had five different reasons to reach out.
Reply rate jumped from 0.4% to 3.8%. And it wasn’t just opens.
They booked 4 meetings that week.
Here’s what those follow-ups looked like (idea-wise):
A fresh reason tied to something new: a hire, a launch, a
shift.
Example: “You just hired 3 AEs → Are you scaling onboarding?”
Drop a bold stat or pattern from your customer base or market
research.
Example: “We analyzed 200 onboarding flows. Here’s what most get wrong.”
Audit their site, content, or product. Highlight one missed
opportunity.
Example: “Your chatbot flow’s missing a key conversion step. Want the fix?”
✅ Following up is great.
❌ Threading every bump? Lazy.
Break the pattern.
Make every touch feel like a new reason to care.
That’s how you get replies, not reminders.
Give it a try and lemme know how it works. BE DIFFERENT!
Alan "Modern Seller" Ruchtein.
Over 11 Modules with 100s of frameworks, tactics, strategy, examples,
templates, videos and processes to help you source more leads, book more
meetings, and close more deals than ever before (While earning more
commission).
These are the exact systems I've used over the last +15 years to become a top
seller at hyper-growth companies!
