Create Sales Emails That Count
posted on 4.07.2014By: Kyle O’Brien, P1 Learning Trainer
When you email a prospect, are you using an automated, “one-email-fits-all” approach? Do you try to keep them short or do you make it a novel? How much are you talking about your company’s strengths and less about what your prospect does? There are plenty of questions to ask yourself when crafting that perfect sales email. Here are a few reminders to help you craft the right one.
Avoid Subject Line Disasters
If your prospect is someone that’s used to receiving hundreds of solicited emails a day, the last thing you want is to emulate everyone else’s style. Using the same, “Just a few minutes of your time…” subject line as 50 other emails is the wrong approach. Chances are that approach will land your message in the “Trash” or even worse, the “Spam” folder.
Check You’re Your Grammar
Your sales email might have some intriguing questions, fantastic hooks, heck you could even have a full needs analysis mapped out. But if you have sloppy grammar or poor punctuation throughout, it becomes an eyesore on the readers. They won’t take you seriously. They’ll judge you, the quality of your product, and the business based on how substandard your email is. They won’t focus on how you’ll help their company because you’ve peppered the email with too many misspellings.
It’s imperative that you proofread every sales email you send, especially if it’s an automated email that goes out to a massive audience! And be extra careful when typing out an email on a smartphone. Most smartphones have autocorrect features that will change your words (and possibly the message) as you power through. Same goes for tablets. In fact, whatever platform you use to send your message, just review everything at least twice.
Get to The Point
Don’t spend the first few sentences talking about your company’s history (or theirs). If you’re trying to offer something, or trying to feel the person out, get to it in the first few sentences. Again, if the prospect is used to seeing 50-100 solicited emails a day, how much time do they have to read every email from cover to cover? They don’t. And if you don’t pick their brain immediately, the email is a lost cause.
Timing Is Everything
Are you sending emails out during the peak readership hours of the day? There’s a difference between email opens on Monday at 8AM than Tuesday at the same time. Same rule applies for the lunch hour on Wednesday versus Thursday or Friday.
There are plenty of email software tools out there that monitor opens, clicks and whether the reader shared that email with others. Might I recommend “Signals” from Hubspot. If you can, sign up for a free trial of that software, then test to see when your emails are getting opened the most, save that information, and use it for future prospecting.
It’s better to time your delivery than it is to send three of the same follow-up emails.
You’re Not First Preference… Yet
You’re probably catching your prospect off guard. After all you’re sending them a sales email not an invitation to the annual holiday party. I like to address it emails by saying, “I hope I’m not being too much of a pest. Sometimes we have to play that fine line of pest and persistence”. Then go into your short email message. This little tip just might increase your open percentage.
Final Thoughts
Your sales emails play a vital role in the prospect funnel. That’s why you must never overlook the minutiae of what makes them work in your favor. Know your audience, personalize every email if you can, keep grammar fouls at bay, get to your point quickly, and realize that you’re not first preference. If you can will yourself to craft better emails, you might just open your prospect’s eyes more to your message.
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Contact TAB’s Teresa McAnally or call (512) 322-9944.
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