You do, I do, and everyone else in the world receives what seems like a million emails each and every day. You wake up, check your email. Get to work, check your email. Take the time to delete some emails, reply to a few right away and save the rest for later. So, what makes people stop and read certain emails, rather than saving them for later only to find you forget to read them until a week’s time has passed?
7 Tips to Own Your Prospecting Email
- Get them to open your email with a catchy subject line. Without it, you may either 1) get deleted at the onset or 2) get set aside in the “read later” pile, and in turn be forgotten for good. This is your most important part of the process. Get creative, but remember to keep your subject line relevant to the topic. Message mismatch is a big no-no.
- Keep it short. Because your prospect receives hundreds, maybe even thousands of emails each day (some of those being from your competitors), you must keep your email short, sweet and directly to the point. Tell your prospect immediately who you are and how you can help them.
- Make it easy and quick. Your prospect is busy. If you think you are busy, multiply that by 10 and that’s how busy they are...or at least how busy they feel they are. Therefore, it is important that you make your request of action from them as simple as possible. Tell them exactly what you want (need) them to do and how to do it in the simplest way possible.
- Don’t sound “sales-y.” Be personable. Be real. Be YOU. Your prospect is likely to buy your product or service based upon the way you make them feel. If it seems like you are constantly pushing your product or service on them, rather than caring about them as an individual and the needs of their company, they are likely to shut down and ignore you altogether. Instead, let them know you care and are here to solve a problem they are having. Help them to see how your product or service can help solve their problem or make their life a little bit easier each and every day.
- Include a signature at the bottom of your email. And keep it consistent. Your signature should include your full name, email address, title, company you work for and phone/fax number. This will help your prospect to recognize future emails from you, as well as provide quick and easy access to your contact information should they need it.
- Do your homework ahead of time. Don’t send an email without researching the company and individual you are reaching out to first. Not only will you have a better idea of who you are performing with, but your prospect will appreciate the fact that you know and understand their business. Doing your homework ahead of time can save you a lifetime of headaches in the future and improve your overall performance throughout the entire sales prospecting process.
- Be unique and break the rules. Give your email a little something extra. For example, I recently read about a sales rep who consistently includes a humorous image at the bottom of his emails. Typically, including an image or attachment at the bottom of an email is frowned upon; however, in this case it works as a benefit for the sales rep. With the humorous image in the close of his email, he is able to grab his prospect’s attention all while highlighting the important issues he mentioned in the body of his email above it. It’s okay to break the rules every once in a while as long as you have a solid reason for doing so!
And last, but certainly not least, don’t give up. If you fail, try again.
“Remember that guy that gave up? Neither does anybody else.”– Unknown
Like I said earlier, just like you, your prospects are extremely busy. They want a reason to delete your email, so make sure you DON’T give them one. No matter how many times you fail, stick with it--eventually you may be able to connect with the person you are trying to reach.
Looking for information on how to write more killer emails? You can find additional helpful information in our blog titled Reduce Costs and Drive Revenue with Cold Emails.
