Sent 15 cold messages on LinkedIn. 3 responded. 1 became my second client. $1,500 in my account 8 days later. Here's the exact message. THE PROBLEM WITH MOST COLD MESSAGES: "Hi! I build AI automation solutions that can transform your business. Would love to chat!" Generic. Salesy. Instant delete. THE MESSAGE THAT WORKED: "Hi [Name] - saw your post about spending hours on invoice processing. I actually just automated this exact workflow for a similar company. Curious if you'd be open to seeing how it works? No pitch, just showing what's possible. 10 minutes on Zoom?" Sent to 15 operations managers who posted about manual document work. 3 responded within 24 hours. WHY THIS WORKED: Specific pain reference - mentioned their actual problem Social proof - "just automated this for similar company" Low commitment ask - "10 minutes, no pitch" Show don't tell - "see how it works" beats explanations THE 3 RESPONSES: "Yeah actually, this is killing us. When can you show me?" "Interesting. What's the cost?" "We tried automation before, didn't work. What makes yours different?" Booked calls with all 3. Closed 1. Other 2 weren't ready but asked to stay in touch. THE CALL STRUCTURE: Minute 1-3: Asked about their current process Minute 4-7: Showed live demo of working automation Minute 8-10: Walked through implementation timeline Client signed same day. $1,500 setup + $250/month. WHERE TO FIND TARGETS: LinkedIn search: "[industry] operations manager" Filter posts by "past week" Look for complaints about manual work, data entry, document processing Found mine searching: "invoice" "manual" "time consuming" 15 relevant posts in 30 minutes. THE DEMO THAT CLOSED: Had working invoice automation ready. Used Make.com plus PDF Vector parsing. Showed email arriving, data extracted, posted to spreadsheet. Real-time. "This exact workflow could be processing your invoices by next week." Seeing it work beat any explanation. REJECTION HANDLING: Most said "not ready right now." I replied: "No problem. Mind if I check back in 30 days?"

Sent my first proposal. Client said "looks great!" Then ghosted. Changed ONE thing. Now 8/10 proposals close. THE MISTAKE I sent the proposal and waited. No follow-up plan. No urgency. No clear next steps. Client got busy. Proposal got buried. Deal died. MY WINNING PROPOSAL STRUCTURE SECTION 1: Problem Statement (in THEIR words) "You're currently spending 12 hours monthly manually entering invoice data. This takes time away from growing your business and creates error risk." Use exact phrases from discovery call. SECTION 2: Solution Overview (high-level) "We'll build an automated workflow that reads invoice emails, extracts all data, validates accuracy, and posts directly to QuickBooks. You'll only review exceptions." Not technical. Focus on outcome. SECTION 3: Timeline & Deliverables Week 1: Workflow build and testing Week 2: Client review and adjustments Week 3: Go-live and training Be specific. No vague "2-3 weeks." SECTION 4: Investment Setup: $1,200 (one-time) Monthly maintenance: $200 Tool costs included in maintenance Payment structure: 50% ($600) deposit to start 50% ($600) on delivery SECTION 5: Next Steps "Reply to this email to confirm. I'll send invoice for deposit. We'll start building next Monday." Crystal clear. No confusion. THE FOLLOW-UP SEQUENCE Send proposal: Friday 6pm Follow-up email: Monday 2pm ("Just checking if you had questions") Follow-up call: Wednesday ("Want to walk through anything?") Final follow-up: Friday ("This timeline still work for you?") Most closes happen on follow-up 2 or 3. Not the initial send. HANDLING "I NEED TO THINK ABOUT IT" Them: "I need to think about it." Me: "Absolutely. What specifically do you need to think through? The timeline? The investment? How it would work with your team?" Get specific. Address the real concern. Often it's just: "I need to talk to my business partner." That's fine. "When are you two meeting? I can send some additional info that might help the conversation."