Writing a good sales email can be difficult. You know your offerings are great. You know you would be able to help your prospects with their businesses and that once they give you a try they’ll be happy. But how to convey all of the information you want your prospect to consider in an email that’s short enough that someone who doesn’t know anything about you will take the time to read through it?
Luckily there are some simple steps to follow to master this art of sales communications.
1) Use strategic formatting
No matter how much time you spend on making sure your message is perfect, a large number of your prospects are going to skim it at a glance and only decide to read it all or respond if something catches their eye and inspires them to do so.
Insert paragraph breaks every couple of lines, utilize bullets for lists, use bold and italics to emphasize important points that will stand out to your prospect and your call to action, and include a prominent signature to emphasize that these emails are from an individual who is easy to contact directly.
2) Use the prospect’s first name
This is a basic rule of all effective communication, whether written or verbal, sales-related or not. Not only does using a person’s first name emphasize again that you are reaching out directly to this person in a deliberate manner, it also is the first step in the establishment of trust, which is key to any sales process.
It is, of course, possible to go too far. Don’t insert their name into the end of every sentence, but do make sure that it’s in the introduction and closing.
3) Avoid adverbs and non-assertive language
Adverbs are words that describe verbs (i.e. very, quickly). Adverbs tend to oversimplify your otherwise compelling point. Instead of saying “We are very, very good at what we do,” try “We are a leader in our market because we excel at what we do.”
In the same vein, staying assertive and confident throughout your communication is key to an effective email. Using sentences like “I actually just wanted to see if you might be open to a call,” is much less effective than wording the sentence “I am reaching out to see when you might have a few minutes to discuss how we can help.”
Use the confidence you have in your own brand. Avoid sounding like you’re asking for a favor by asking for some of the prospects’ time, and instead give them a reason why they should be interested in speaking with you. Your goal is to further discuss why you might be a fit to work together for mutual benefit, not to convince the prospect to give you some time to pitch them on something they don’t want to hear about.
4) What’s in it for them?
Along the lines of giving a good reason the prospect would like to speak with you, you want to provide a concise and compelling value proposition. Wording that emphasizes the success your company has had, especially if it’s specific to the prospect you’re currently targeting, is very powerful.
5) Keep it short
Many people in the business world don’t even read entire emails from their colleagues if they’re too long. When they get an email from someone they don’t currently work with and aren’t familiar with, that concept applies to an exaggerated degree. The best way to combat that is to keep it short enough that the prospect doesn’t feel like it’s too big of a risk to spend some of their time reading through it.
This point is, however, one of the biggest challenges for most sales people. There is, of course, a lot of information you want to convey to your prospects. But don’t worry, you can still include that information in your communications, but instead of including it in the body of your email, link to an external piece of collateral like a brochure or a white paper. Give your prospect the freedom to choose whether they would like to learn more or not, and save some of your enthusiasm and desire to tell all about your offerings for the phone call once they respond.
Your prospects will also respect the fact that you have respect for their time and your response rates will increase as a result. Courtesy begets courtesy.
Writing effective communications to your target market is always a challenge. That’s why we at LeadSeek specialize in crafting customized messaging for our clients and making sure that their message reaches the right people at the right time, turning prospect data into increased revenue.
Drop us a line and let’s talk about how we can do the same for you!