Did you know that the most damaging and common mistake made in prospecting is when salespeople begin selling their product or service too early? The goal of prospecting efforts should not be built around the theory of influencing your prospects to buy from you, but rather they should be designed to convince your prospect to simply talk with you.
When you switch your tone from “why you should buy” to “why we should talk,” you will notice a substantial difference in the number of people who may hit “reply” rather than “delete.”
Establishing a Personal Connection via Email
Advances in technology and data analytics have added tremendous value to the sales process. However, at the end of the day, the best salespeople still have to establish a personal connection.
Because of the volume of emails prospects now receive on a daily basis, there is no longer a fear or guilt associated with ignoring this all-too-familiar email: “Hi, this is so and so with x company. We sell x and our clients have seen x fantastic results. Please call me so we can discuss.” Delete.
If your email is ignored, what do you do next? Send another email? And another… and another. Sending a higher quantity of emails is likely not getting you better results.
Selling today is not just a numbers game. Effective selling requires a consultative sales process focused on personalization, while still being efficient.
How do you do just that?
Start by creating these four types of prospecting emails, each with a focus on value and making that personal connection, to help you close deals faster.
🚀Related: Ignite Sales with a Virtual Sales Process
4 Types of Prospecting Emails
1. Nurture Emails
A nurture email is your primary tool for focusing on organizational value, as well as to help you familiarize the prospect with your company. This type of email should be used strictly as an opportunity to share your teaching point-of-view, challenge your prospects thinking and demonstrate your full attention and understanding to their world. Focus on value over the product or service you are selling.
Make sure to do your homework first by checking out their social channels, especially LinkedIn, and website articles. What news have they posted on their website? What articles have they shared on their social channels? Use that to make a connection. Here are a few examples:
Hi [Insert Name],
Your latest share on LinkedIn about [Insert News Reference] got me thinking.
I found this article on [Name of Article] that may be beneficial as you folks progress.
Here’s the link to read it: [URL]
Hope you find it helpful,
[Your Name]
Hi [Insert Name],
Because I work so much with [targeted industry], I constantly follow industry news. Recently I noticed on your website that you’ve [company action taken].
Usually when that happens, [business issue] becomes a priority. That’s why I thought you might be interested in finding out how we helped [similar companies] get going quickly in their new direction – without any of the typical glitches.
If you’d like to learn more, let’s set up a quick call. How does [day, time] look on your calendar?
Regards,
[Your Name]
Personalization Tip: Add your prospect’s name in the preview text of the email and make the subject line enticing. The first step is getting them to open the email! Also, make sure your LinkedIn profile is up-to-date and optimized to its full potential as they are likely to check you out there. Learn how to create an outstanding LinkedIn profile here.
2. Follow-Up Emails
If your first email sent is overlooked, don’t get discouraged. This email, which is typically sent after you’ve received no response to your previous emails, should provide the same focus on value as your previous emails. Why? Because it is your best opportunity to continue to build your brand message. Try A/B testing your follow-up emails, in order to determine what your users click on and view. And always remember to give them value (not crap!) in their follow up email.
Personalization Tip: Use a personal video in your follow-emails to immediately put a face to a name and to help start the conversation. The video doesn’t need to be professionally shot and produced. It should be very conversational; shoot it from your desk so it’s as authentic as if you were picking up the phone to have a conversation. Work the word "video" into the subject line to entice the open rate.
3. Why You, Why You Now (WYWYN) Emails
Okay, this is one of my favorite emails, partially because of the awesome name, of course! If you read our blog, you know that we continuously stress offering value to your customers. And rightfully so; if your customers don’t find value in what you have to offer, they will find someone who can give them what they are looking for (and you’ve in turn lost the sale!).
In your WYWYN emails you need to (1) Tell them why you are the person and company they should talk to and (2) Let them know why they should talk to you now. Be especially clear in your communication; you can even try pairing it with your “teaching point of view.”
Personalization Tip: More video! Don’t just tell them -- show them. Start off with another personal video from you and share a product demo or other company video showing value. In fact, HubSpot reports video has been shown to triple response rates and increase the number of meetings booked by 500%.
New to video? Start by hiring a marketing and sales agency that does video to map out what videos and video tools you need, to shoot a couple of in-house videos and train your sales team on how to incorporate videos in the sales process.
4. The “Break-Up” Email.
Even the best prospecting emails can be ignored. The last thing you want to do in sales is to spend time chasing leads that will not turn. So how do you finalize your “conversation?”
Make it memorable. Your whole goal of this email is to elicit some type of emotional response that will get the prospect to respond, one way or the other. Here’s an example:
Subject Line: Digital Marketing No Longer a Priority?
Hello [insert contact name],
I am trying to gauge if growing sales by enhancing your digital marketing strategy is a priority.
Typically when I haven’t heard back from someone, it means they are either really busy or aren’t interested at this time. If you aren’t interested, please let me know and I will close your file.
If you are still interested, what do you recommend as a next step?
Thanks for your help,
[Your Name]
Personalization Tip: Before sending any emails, ask yourself this question, “If I were receiving this email, would I find it worthwhile to review and would I want to take action?” If the answer is yes, send it! If the answer is no, go back to the drawing board and begin again, keeping the prospect (not your product or service) as your No. 1 focus.
Final Tip
Make sure to include a link to your website within each email to help drive traffic back to the site and to engage those who are interested but not yet be ready to connect.
By beginning to incorporate these four emails into your prospecting pipeline, you will soon become a master at these emails and start to see an increase in overall leads and phone calls.
