Brutally Honest Cold Email Advice From Alex Hormozi

In this article, we dive into brutally honest cold email advice from Alex Hormozi, known for his success with Gym Launch and $100 Million Leads. Drawing from a conversation with Alex-who has personally sent over a million cold emails-this piece covers actionable insights on crafting cold emails, lead generation strategies, and how to close more clients consistently.

Whether you're an agency owner, entrepreneur, or salesperson wanting to master cold emailing, this guide provides key lessons from one of the industry's best.

Find, Contact & Close Your Ideal Clients with Instantly:
https://app.instantly.ai/auth/signup (Instantly.ai is the software Alex uses for scale and automation)

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1. Patience and the Compound Effect

Alex emphasizes patience as the foundation of successful cold email campaigns:

• Progress happens one step at a time - one email, one improvement, one client at a time.
• It's like laying bricks across a bridge: once the final brick is in place, revenue starts flooding in.
• Your first campaigns-whether it's 1,000, 10,000, or even 100,000 emails-likely won't yield huge reply rates or immediate deals.
• The growth comes from the compound effect of consistent analysis, improvement, and iteration over time.
• After earning your first dollar through cold email, you can then optimize open rates, show rates, close rates, and offers to scale efficiently and build a well-oiled machine.

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2. Personalization is Make-or-Break

Why Personalization Matters

Alex points out that personalization determines whether your email gets responses or is ignored:

• He uses virtual assistants (VAs) to find tiny details that can be incorporated into emails.
• Automation tools like Instantly help streamline personalization at scale.
• The goal is for your email to feel like one-to-one communication, not a mass email or billboard.
• Emails that look like broadcasts tend to get ignored; recipients want to feel personally addressed.

Real-World Example

Alex muses:

"It's like walking into a nightclub versus a library. Even if you're the same person, you might dress differently to not stand out or feel out of place."

Practical Tips

• Use VAs or software to enrich leads and pull details.
• Invest in personalization even if you have thousands of emails to send.
• Avoid generic or billboard-style copywriting.
• The best emails look personal and targeted rather than mass-marketed.

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3. The Power of Lead Magnets

Lead magnets play a crucial role in increasing response rates and moving prospects towards sales.

What Works

• Alex saw a significant bump in responses after changing his lead magnet.
• Lead magnets should be valuable freebies that prospective clients would normally pay for.
• Examples:
  • A mini-course
  • Free trials of software or service
  • Personalized audits or reports

Operationalizing Lead Magnets

• Create a process to deliver lead magnets efficiently at scale.
• Automate or systematize what is traditionally seen as “unscalable.”
• The idea is to provide real, fast value without becoming overwhelmed.

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4. Avoid Always Selling and Asking for Calls

Alex highlights a common mistake:

• Constantly selling or asking for bookings in every email is a surefire way to get ignored.
• People care about value, not the constant sales pitch.

Better Approach

• Lead with providing value, using your lead magnet.
• Focus on building trust before asking for a call or sale.
• This approach stands out among countless cold emails your prospects receive.

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5. Pick One Lead Generation Channel and Master It

Alex advises:

• Choose one method to attract customers and become an expert at it.
• This approach works well even when scaling to seven or eight figures.
• Beware of spreading yourself too thin by dabbling in many channels simultaneously; this typically results in mediocre, scattered results.
• Once mastered, additional channels can be combined successfully (e.g., content + cold outreach or content + paid ads).

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6. Combining Content Marketing With Cold Outreach

Alex points out content marketing paired with cold outreach is an effective combo:

• Content helps prospects verify your expertise before they take a call.
• This builds trust, improving call booking and conversion rates.
• Content is slower to pay off but remains an undervalued strategy.
• Use content to warm leads that cold emails first engage.

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7. Speed to Contact - Fast Responses Win

Speed matters huge in follow-ups:

• Respond immediately when a lead replies.
• Maintain speed during conversations (the back and forth).
• Leads check emails in bursts; delays cause prospects to forget or lose interest.

How to Implement Speed to Contact

• Use tools like Instantly to send slack notifications on positive replies.
• Utilize AI inbox managers for automatic responses.
• If you lack bandwidth, assign team members or VAs dedicated to monitoring and responding quickly.

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8. Volume and Multi-Touch Follow-Ups

Alex's follow-up strategy includes:

• Sending three follow-up emails per day, repeated over five days.
• Using double dial and text campaigns alongside email to increase reply rates.
• This cadence aligns with general findings that eight touchpoints are typically needed to convert a client.

Omnichannel Approach

• Don’t rely on email alone.
• Follow up via texting, phone calls, Instagram, LinkedIn, or other relevant channels to stay top of mind.

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9. Script Adherence is Critical

Alex stresses the importance of sticking to an effective sales script:

• A well-crafted script lowers pressure on calls and increases conversions.
• Ensure your team follows the script exactly.
• Adjust or revise scripts only once you establish consistent adherence.
• Strong script discipline leads to more appointments and sales.

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10. Quality of Your Lead List is King

Great emails won’t save a bad list:

• Sending cold emails to irrelevant lists leads to low responses regardless of message quality.
• Prioritize clean, niche-specific lead lists over massive, broad ones.
• Test multiple smaller campaigns targeting specific audiences instead of one giant untargeted campaign.
• Always verify email addresses through tools like Instantly Lead Finder to reduce bounces and improve deliverability.

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What Email Software Does Alex Hormozi Use?

• Alex shares in his book $100 Million Leads and this interview that he uses Instantly.ai for automation and scaling cold email outreach across his companies.
• Check out Instantly.ai for a free one week trial linked in the description.

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Additional Resources

• For a detailed breakdown of Alex Hormozi’s $100 Million Email strategy, check out the linked video in the description.
• Join the cold email community and learn more at:
  Cold Email Masterclass
• Follow Austin Schneider (host): theaustinschneider

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Your results may vary depending on factors like business type, individual effort, market conditions, and resources.

The advice here reflects Alex Hormozi’s experience and best practices for cold email outreach and lead generation.