Sales Prospecting Perspectives

Effective Email Strategy

  

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In today's internet, blackberry, and wireless driven society, the most effective, and in many instances, only way to grab a prospect's attention is via email.
 
In my previous blog, I discussed the importance of your window of opportunity when you get someone live on the phone.  A cold caller's time is typically 10-15% live communication.  It is just as important to ensure the 85-90% of "non-live" messaging is effective. Today, we are all faced with information overload. In response, we have become experts at being our own personal spam filters - constantly hitting the delete button.  Here is how to separate yourself from the crowd with effective email communication:

Subject Line:  This could be the most important part of your email as it determines if the prospect will even open your message.  DO NOT use spam words or sales and marketing jargon.  A referral is your best friend and should always be present in the subject line.
 
Make the Connection:  After leaving your voicemail, send your follow-up email within the next 5 mins.  In your voicemail, always refer to your email and visa versa.  Let's face it, we don't have time to free write every email, it is important to avoid any evidence of a template while personalizing your message as much as possible.
 
Problem and Solution:  Always tie the message to their business needs.  Sometimes, prospects need to be reminded of their day to day headaches. Illustrate an industry pain and how your product/service has helped others to solve them.  As in your live communication, same holds true to email, do not information dump!
 
It's all Visual:  Keep the message short.  Most likely, they will decide to read it after the first couple sentences.  The prospect must be able to read it at a glance.  Use bullet points and sentence breaks.  Test your email and send it to yourself first.
 
Always End with an Action Step:  Great, you gave them some info.  Now, tell them to get back to you!  Let them know, if they don't respond, you will reconnect in a couple days.
 
As always, revamping and refreshing your message is crucial.  In my next blog, I will discuss the importance of refreshing your team's techniques by consistently bringing new ideas to the table.