Hey there,

Last week, I shared how my $2,475 invoice turned into a $1.9M client. It's a great outcome but it would've been impossible if I never spoke to that potential client in the first place.

It's an obvious statement, but the actual steps to do it? Not so obvious… especially if you're focused on high-value clients.

Now, in the age of AI, it's only gotten harder – inboxes are flooded with even more soulless spammy emails. Oof.

You never get a second-chance to make a great first impression and in today's email, I've got:

• A high-trust email template
• Why and how to make it authentically your own

That said, it's just as important to know what NOT to do, so you don't accidentally burn your future revenue and reputation, so let's start there.

2 Reasons Why Potential Clients Ignore Emails
​(and Why You Opened This One)

Trust is invisible…

And yet you, me, and our clients can feel it evaporate from our body the second we see those emails in our inbox. You know the kind I'm talking about.

The ones where something just feels…off.

Sometimes it's weird buzzwords and sometimes it's the obvious copy-paste that's as personal as a parking ticket.

To understand the "why", you could run a quick 'Amazon search' on "cold email" but then you'd have enough material to fill a bookshelf.

Time is valuable so I'll share 2 client outreach principles I've distilled from sending over 1 million emails:
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1 – Relevance

Relevance is the #1 reason you opened this email. Within a professional context, it is deliberately useful for achieving a specific goal that matters to you right now (starting and growing an AI consultancy).

It's the same for…

1. Every email that you will open today
2. The email that started my $1.9M client relationship
3. Emails you'll send to start relationships with your AI consulting clients

…and it's also true for the emails that none of us will open.

Irrelevant emails get ignored. Period.

2 – Relationship

(Quality of) Relationship is the #2 reason we open emails.

We don't need a masterclass on this – just notice your own behavior. Whether it's your smartphone or laptop, there's a little something we do 99.99999% of the time before opening an email.

We do it either (a) just before reading the subject line or (b) just after reading the subject line.

We ask ourselves…"who sent this to me?"

Then, we look at the sender.

Then, depending on the strength of the relationship, we'll then ignore other emails to read that one first (if it's an important relationship).

––

Relevance x Relationship = Why We Open, Read, & Respond To Emails

Every. Single. Time.

It's why you opened this email.

And it's also why the 1-2 punch email strategy works for starting high-value client relationships.
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The 1-2 Punch Email Strategy: Build Trust From Day 1

Every great client relationship begins with a spark of trust. And trust doesn’t come from boasting about your skills or dropping AI jargon. It comes through focusing on both relevance and the relationship.

In the context of client outreach, you can do this with the 1-2 Punch strategy—a 2-part email sequence that leads with curiosity, delivering value, and makes it easy to say yes.

Here's an example of "Email 1" that we teach and help our students customize inside The AI Consultancy Project.

Here, we increase relevance directly (and relationship indirectly) with a Goldilocks 'not too hot, not too cold, but just right' level of specific in 5 areas:

• Location: Colorado (which is where I live, and can also be added to my email signature)
• Industry/Role: Private practice doctors is a 'niche within a niche'.
• Project/Task: I gave two specific functions that are important but time/energy consumptive
• Case Study/Testimonial: the first name implies a relationship-driven approach while "Mile High Optics" is credible and relevant.
• Valuable Presentation Topic: the "AI-for-doctors" webinar has zero jargon or fluff – it's as direct and obvious as it can be, which works for this kind of client..

There are variations on this as well – here's another one:

There are a few other subtleties I want to point out here:

• None of this is salesy – it's relevance & relationship-driven, which builds trust from day one.
• None of this is inauthentic – it's all real, personal, and intentional.
• None of this requires posting 15 billion times a day on social media.

…Can Using Email Get You 40X More Clients?

As someone that built a $2M/year consultancy without posting on social media, I can tell you that the effectiveness of email outreach is not theoretical.

It works.

In fact, a study by McKinsey & Co found that email marketing acquired 40X more customers than Facebook and Twitter combined.

That said, I can't responsibly make the claim that email will get you 40X more clients. I am pretty confident that it will be significantly more effective than other strategies.

It's powerful stuff, and "getting good at email" even if you're "not a writer" is just a small part of what we cover inside The AI Consultancy Project.

Inside the program, you don't just get templates, tools, and training – you'll understand the deeper principles that make them work:

- How to craft messages that build trust from day one
​- When (and how) to follow up without being pushy
​- The exact framework for turning conversations into client relationships
​- More…

More importantly, you'll get personalized feedback to customize your outreach strategy. Not just from myself, but our team of experienced consultants who've collectively generated millions in client revenue.

We live, breathe, and have fun with this – to join 1,000+ others who are working creating more freedom from home, review the 4 layers of helpful support inside The AI Consultancy Project.

Enrollment is open until Friday at 11:59 PM Pacific Time – inside, you'll meet fellow students from around the world who're excited about the future they're building. And, I'll look forward to seeing everyone one of you at our next live training.

Make this your best year yet,

– Rob Howard
Founder, Innovating with AI
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PS – Have questions? Shoot me a text or WhatsApp message. I reply to every single one. Just use +1 (888) 210-2282 (it goes directly to my iPhone – no AI or anything. Just me, and maybe one of my dogs if we're on a walk