This is a post that starts by talking about my abs, and ends with telling you how to get far more from your cold emails and cold calls, because you’re probably wasting a significant percentage of your outreach, leaving money on the table.

I have abs. As in, visible abs. I wouldn’t say I have a six-pack quite yet, but it’s close.

I’m telling you this not to brag (although it’s a fun side benefit). I’m telling you this because it amazes me every time I see my own stomach — I don’t quite recognize it as my own yet. It legitimately amazes me. But every single time I see it, I’m reminded that my visible stomach muscles are the result of my doing the work I’ve done since November 2024, working with a trainer to lose 51 pounds over the past six+ months.

When I signed up with the trainer, I told him I could handle whatever workouts he wanted me to do, but that he couldn’t tell me to eat salads three times a day — I’m too picky for that. He promised to work with my pickiness, and indeed, it’s clearly working.

I don’t love working out. I don’t get a runner’s high; I don’t look forward to lifting weights as much as I wish I did. In fact, I have to psych myself up each time I start the day’s strength training or HIIT workout. But I can motivate myself to do it 100% of the time, because I can see that the effort abso-friggin-lutely works and drives impressive, tangible results.

I work with clients every single week who write emails that don’t say what they want to say — because they’re worried about sounding too salesy, or coming off too pushy. Which means their emails are not just meek — they’re borderline useless.

Here are real sentences I’ve edited out of my clients’ emails to their prospects:

Just sharing this in case it’s useful!

No pressure to respond, just wanted to put this out there.

Happy to chat anytime if you’re ever interested.

These sentences — and sentences like them — are cold pitch poison. They fail to ask the prospects to do… anything! I see (and even receive!) some cold pitch drafts that just say things like “Here’s a tip to make X better, just thought I’d share” — making no mention of the fact that oh by the way, my entire business is sharing insights like these, so I encourage you to book 15 minutes with me so that I can tell you about how I work with folks just like you.

When you write emails like this, it’s not a soft pitch or a gentle pitch. It’s not “less salesy.” It’s not selling. I write a lot about how important it is not to feel that “sales” is gross or that selling is sleazy; selling is how you tell people what value you offer them in exchange for their money.

I write a lot about it because many of us need to hear this lesson. A lot.

I don’t always want to do four sets of bench presses or dumbbell squats. I don’t always want to do 15 minutes of HIIT running. But I can see the results in my abs, on the scale, and in my overall health.

You might feel uncomfortable writing sentences like this one: I’d love 15 minutes to tell you more about how I can help you do XYZ — please book me [here] or let me know a few times that work for you. But I promise you that direct sentences like that one drive a ton more results than “Just sharing this in case it’s useful.”

You’re spending capital by invading someone’s inbox. If you’re lucky enough to get them to read the email you’ve sent, don’t squander the opportunity: Tell them exactly why you’re writing, and direct them specifically on what action they should take next.

And frankly, if you want one-on-one sales advice like this that’s catered to you, book an hour with me. I get results, and my insane renewal rate proves it. Contact me here.

(By the way, because people always ask: The trainer I work with is remote, and we do everything over Zoom, text, and his app. Feel free to hit up Irslan Ali, and tell him I sent you so that I can get filthy rich off referral credits.)