Reading time: 2 minutes
I had lunch yesterday with a friend. He took a week’s vacation and came back to over 800 emails!
Can you imagine what he did? He deleted as many emails as possible in as little time as possible.
The brutal fact is – email is the #1 preferred method of communication for most B2B customers. Every salesperson knows this already. They are attempting to email the same people you are.
Maybe you’ve noticed? Getting through the clutter and getting a positive reply is a big freaking challenge.
When you write emails that get read, land appointments, create new opportunities, get a reply when the buyer has gone cold and create urgency when there isn’t any… you will enjoy more success than you ever imagined possible! It’s not as hard to do as you might imagine.
First, let’s fix those bad habits you’ve developed and replace them with better ones.
- Do your homework before writing. What is their position? What problems, issues, targets, goals or hassles do they face? What is their company dealing with or challenged by? Any industry challenges or troubling trends you can help with?
- Write a Subject Line that creates interest in 50 characters max. Examples: Quick Question About (X); Jim Rupp suggested I contact you; Possible answer for your (X); You asked me to (X); The quote you wanted; Do I have a green light? *I’ll discuss the power of using metaphors in another post – check back or sign up for my newsletter and I’ll notify you.
- Use your first sentence to (a) state the action you want the customer to take and/or (b) state your reason for writing. Examples: I’d like you to approve a brief meeting to… I’m writing to get your okay for… Jim Rupp recommended that you and I should (X)… You mentioned the problem with (X) and we have a possible fix. I’d like your okay to (X).
- Make good use of what will go in your customer’s “preview pane” (first few words or all of your first sentence). This is viewable in many email programs and writing an irrelevant, rambling or sales-pitchy first sentence is death by delete click.
- Keep sentences brief — 14 words or less is a good rule of thumb.
- Don’t make your email about you make it about them. Don’t try to sell your product or your company in an email. It’s about them, their needs and cares.
- Remember your email is not read until it passes two tests…
- Test #1: Less than 3 seconds is spent to scan your From Line, Subject Line and the Preview Pane; and then they will decide to Open, Delete, Forward or Save.
- Test #2: If your customer does Click/Open, approximately 8 seconds will be used to determine if they want to Read more then, Delete, Forward, or Save your email to act on later.
- Keep your email length between 100 to 120 words. Your email should be: Concise – Clear – Compelling. If it’s not short enough they won’t read it. If it’s not clear enough they will delete it. If it’s not persuasive enough they’ll forward it to someone else – or trash it.
Try the tips that make sense to you, and drop me a line to let me know how they work. Want to read more on emails?