Glossary
Cold outreach
Cold outreach is contacting someone you have no prior relationship with — the opposite of a warm introduction.
Cold outreach is reaching out to a stranger by email, LinkedIn, or DM without an existing connection or referral. It can work with strong specificity and a clear reason-to-reply, but response rates are low compared with warm intros because there's no transferred trust.
Turning cold to warm — finding a mutual connection to bridge the gap — usually beats sending more cold messages.
Why it matters
Cold outreach is often necessary, but it's the least efficient path. Knowing when you have a warm route instead can multiply your hit rate.
Before you send anything cold, Wend checks whether you have a warmer path through someone you already know.