Cold Emailing Workshop: Prospecting Training with Jason Beraud

The cold emailing workshop led by Jason Beraud has become a reference for salespeople and entrepreneurs seeking concrete answers. No abstract theory: Jason corrects real emails live on camera. This guide summarizes the key lessons from this workshop — structure, spacing, spamwords, psychology — so you can apply them today.

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1. The number one problem: your emails are too long

From the very first minutes, Jason Beraud hammers home the same point. Emails are too long. Too promotional. Too focused on the sender.

Jean-Philippe, who sells an innovative material ("micarta") to jewelers and cutlers, had written a lengthy explanation about his product. Jason interrupts him: "You're introducing yourself a bit too much. You have an almost promotional approach when the goal of the cold email is to make contact to get a meeting."

A cold email is not a brochure. It’s a hand extended. The difference is fundamental.

The golden rule: 4 to 5 lines maximum. Not one more. The sole objective is to obtain an exchange, not to explain everything.

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2. Start from the client, not the product

Jason applies a systematic method: before writing a single line, he digs into the real problems of the prospect.

For Jean-Philippe, the question is not "What is micarta?" but "Why would a cutler buy from you instead of China?" The answer: because he wants to tell a story to his customers. A local, differentiating product that enhances his creations.

This problem — and not the product — should open the email.

Jason reformulates it this way:

"I help cutlers in the XYZ region create knives with micarta material from Nîmes made from repurposed material. On average, cutlers observe that their customers appreciate this trend and increase their sales by 4-5% towards a new clientele."

Compare this with the original: a paragraph about the product, its features, its origin. Jason's result is half as long and ten times more impactful.

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3. The PSB structure: Problem – Solution – Benefit

For Christophe, a business strategy consultant targeting SME/ETI executives, Jason applies the same framework. Three blocks, in this order:

1. Problem: what the prospect is experiencing (marketing/sales misalignment, stagnant margins)
2. Solution: what you are doing concretely ("I help executives realign their teams")
3. Benefit: the quantified result ("up to +10% margin")

Christophe's email rewritten by Jason:

"Hello Jean-Marc,

I help SME and ETI executives realign their marketing and sales teams to increase their margin by up to +10%.

I have already helped 34 companies restructure.

With company X, we validated an offer and a market that generated +23% revenue and +23% margin.

Are you open to the idea of restructuring to achieve your 2024 goals?"

Four blocks. Zero fluff. One call to action.

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4. The Fibonacci sequence applied to follow-ups

This is one of Jason Beraud's best-kept secrets in this cold emailing workshop. The spacing of follow-ups should not be uniform.

Most people send an email every 3 days. Jason uses the Fibonacci sequence:

Email	Delay before the next one
Email 1	Wait 2 days
Email 2	Wait 3 days
Email 3	Wait 5 days
Email 4	Wait 8 days
Email 5	Wait 13 days
Email 6	—

The logic is simple. The more you follow up, the more you risk annoying the prospect. So the more you space it out. The geometric progression respects the prospect while maintaining a regular presence.

"The more you send, the more likely you are to get a response. But the more you send, the more you can annoy people," summarizes Jason.

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5. The spamwords that sabotage your campaigns

Christophe had included the phrase "free discovery meeting" in his sequence. Jason immediately jumps in.

"Free" is a spamword. To be banned for life.

Spam filters detect these words and send your email directly to the junk folder — even before the prospect has seen it. No matter the quality of your sequence.

Jason goes further: even "offered" can be problematic. And commercially, nothing is free. "Offered" has a perceived value. "Free" has none.

List of words to absolutely avoid in a cold email:

• Free
• Promotion / Discount
• Urgent / Last chance
• Click here
• Special offer / Limited offer
• Congratulations

An email that doesn’t arrive in the inbox is useless. Deliverability comes before everything else.

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6. The power of precise numbers

A detail that comes up in every correction from Jason: vague numbers kill credibility.

"About thirty companies" → no one believes you. "34 companies" → everyone believes you.

"About +20% revenue" → artistic blur. "+23% revenue" → real, lived, documented result.

Precision signals experience. It shows that you have really done the work, that you have measured the results. A round number looks like an estimate. A precise number looks like a fact.

Jason insists: "Always include a precise number. It’s not 30, it’s not about thirty."

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7. Multiply your angles of attack

Jason reveals a strategy that few prospectors use: testing multiple angles on the same target.

For Christophe, he identifies four distinct value propositions:

• Sales performance: redo processes to sell more
• Market performance: better identify your target market
• Time savings: reorganize teams for efficiency
• Go-to-market: conquer new markets

Each angle generates a different email. Jason recommends testing 2 to 3 angles on cohorts of 100 to 150 emails each, then measuring response rates.

"You just do 100-150 emails, send them, and see which one responds best."

This empirical approach replaces assumptions with real data. You don’t choose your favorite angle — you choose the one your prospects prefer.

Jason summarizes the three main families of universal angles:

1. Make money: increase revenue, margins, sales
2. Save time: automate, delegate, simplify
3. Enhance ego: "what you do is good, it can be even better"

These three levers apply to almost all sectors.

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8. Never mention price in the first email

The question of pricing often comes up too early. Jason cuts straight to the point: "No pricing, no discounts, no nonsense."

The first email has one goal: to obtain an exchange. Not to sell. Not to convince. Just to open a conversation.

Mentioning a price before establishing value positions you on the cost ground rather than the results ground. The prospect immediately compares with the competition. You lose before you even start.

The rule: the price comes after the prospect has expressed interest. Never before.

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9. The last email: poke the ego to trigger a response

The fifth or sixth email in a sequence plays on a different psychology. Jason proposes this model:

"Hello [First Name],

I haven’t heard back from you...

Are you not interested? Don’t you have time to respond? Are you not the right person?

If you’re not the right person, let me know who to call on your behalf.

If you’re short on time, here’s my calendar: [link]"

This email works for two reasons. First, it gives the prospect an honorable way out (not the right person, not the right time). Second, it slightly pokes the ego: not responding becomes an active choice, not a passive oversight.

"The goal is to try to poke a little at their ego," explains Jason.

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10. AI as an assistant, not as a writer

Jean-Philippe admits to using ChatGPT to write his emails. Jason reacts immediately: "You didn’t do your homework!"

Generic AI produces generic emails. It doesn’t know your tone, your clients, your actual results. It generates plausible text — not effective text.

Jason recommends a different approach: create a personalized GPT trained on your own writing style, your client cases, your angles. The AI then becomes an accelerator, not a substitute.

"These are exceptional tools, but they are not there to replace you. They are there as an extension of your brain."

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Build your prospect lists to apply these techniques

All these techniques are useless without a list of qualified prospects. To target jewelers, cutlers, SME executives, or any local sector, reliable data is needed.

IBLead indexes over 50M companies from Google Maps in 37 countries. You filter by city, postal code, category, Google rating, number of reviews, technologies used on the website. You export in CSV in seconds — the database is updated weekly, and the export is instant.

For 10,000 targeted contacts, the cost is €44 — or €0.004 per contact. You then import the CSV into your sending tool (Lemlist, Instantly, or others) and apply Jason's Fibonacci method.

free credits — 200 credits included

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The 7 rules of cold emailing according to Jason Beraud

1. Conciseness: 4-5 lines maximum per email
2. Client first: problem before solution
3. Precise numbers: 34 companies, not "about thirty"
4. No spamwords: "free" is banned for life
5. Fibonacci: 2-3-5-8-13 days spacing between follow-ups
6. Multiple angles: test 2-3 value propositions on 100-150 emails each
7. Consultative posture: "I help" rather than "I sell"

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FAQ — Cold emailing and prospecting training

Is cold emailing still effective in 2025?

Yes. Jason Beraud cites open rates of 60% and response rates of 5 to 10% with the right techniques. The key: conciseness, real personalization, and well-spaced sequences.

How many emails should be sent in a sequence?

Jason recommends 5 to 6 emails per sequence, spaced according to the Fibonacci sequence (2-3-5-8-13 days). Fewer follow-ups = less chance of getting a response. Too close together = annoyance and unsubscribes.

What words should absolutely be avoided in a cold email?

"Free", "promotion", "discount", "urgent", "limited offer", "click here". These spamwords trigger email filters and send your email straight to junk.

Should pricing be mentioned in the first email?

No. The first email has one goal: to obtain an exchange. The price comes after the prospect has expressed interest. Mentioning it too early puts you on the cost ground, not the value ground.

How to test your angles of attack?

Create 2 to 3 versions of your email with different value propositions. Send each version to a cohort of 100 to 150 prospects. Measure response rates after 2 weeks. Keep the angle that performs best.

Is B2B cold emailing legal in France?

Yes, under certain conditions. The sender must be clearly identified, each email must contain an unsubscribe link, and targeting must remain professional. GDPR applies, but B2B cold emailing remains a legal and common practice.