Perfecting Your Sales Emailing Strategy - A How-To Guide

Best Career Advice: Learn how to sell. Yes, you! You're selling. No matter what career you're planning, there's no smarter move than learning how to sell because each of us are selling every second of every day.

I recently sat down with a friend who's a website programmer and explained the selling concept. It was difficult for her to grasp how she's selling herself even while listening to Spotify/Pandora and coding websites. But in truth and in theory, she's selling while building websites - We're all selling ourselves, services, beliefs and etc. daily.

Take the example of the web programmer again, once her websites or updates are ready for the customers review, she has to email the customer that update and information. In fact, most people are emailing constantly on a regular basis. But do you know how to write a sales email properly and effectively?

Take these great suggestions from us and apply them to each of your emails moving forward:

TIP: First time e-mails: to potential customers must be short and make it easy to move to the next step.
TIP: Sales e-mails: these are the type you send to prospects to gauge if they're interested in conversing. Without a relationship with the recipients, you don't have the right to put much demand on their attention.
Common Error: Sales e-mails are way too complicated.

What Doesn't Work and Why (example courtesy of: inc.com): 

Almost every sales e-mail reads as follows: (Note: I've numbered each section to make it easier to critique; the numbers wouldn't be in the actually e-mail, of course.)

1. Subject: Acme
2. Hi [prospect name]! Hope you are well.
3. Acme is the industry leader...[a paragraph about how wonderful Acme is.]
4. Acme has the following products and services... [a bulleted "spray and pray" list.]
5. Acme has served the following customers... [some big companies.]
6. I would like to set up a 20 minute phone call to discuss how we can help you.
7. If you need any further information, don't hesitate to call me at [number] or browse our website [website.]
8. Sincerely, [sender's name and contact info]

To understand why this type of letter doesn't get a response, let's look at it from the perspective of the potential customer:

1. The subject line means nothing to me, so I probably won't open it.
2. I don't know you, so the greeting rings false and the concern for my health is bogus.
3. Why should I care about your company?
4. What does any of this have to do with me?
5. I'm an SMB; if you work with large enterprises then you're probably going to treat me like small potatoes.
6. Are you kidding me? Like I have 20 minutes in my crazy schedule to hear some silly sales pitch.
7. Apparently, you think I'm so stupid that I can't find your phone number and website under your signature. Also, you apparently live in some cuckoo land where I'm desperate to have a conversation with somebody who has already wasted three minutes of my time with this confusing e-mail.
8. A final lie, since there's nothing sincere about anything in this e-mail.

Did you really expect a response from that? It's okay, we've all been there. Now let's cover a method that actually works and can be applied easily for success!

Your New Method:

1. Subject: [something relevant to the prospect]
2. Dear [Mr.|Ms. prospect's last name]:
3. I'm contacting you because I may be able to [potential benefit to the prospect.]
4. Companies like yours ([list]) hire us to do [something quantifiable that leads to that potential benefit.]
5. Reply to this e-mail and I'll e-mail you some details so that you can quickly evaluate whether it's worth your time to pursue this.
6. [sender's name and contact info]

Do you know why this structure works? It's because:

1. The subject line engages the recipient to open the e-mail. Examples of "something relevant" would be a mutual contact, a recent change in the prospect's business, a factoid about a prospect's competitor, etc.
2. While many industries and companies are informal, when you're contacting somebody for the first time, it's best to err on the side of formality. Nobody is ever insulted by formality.
3. Get to the point quickly. The "point" is "what's in it for me." So tell the prospect.
4. This is your sales message, but stated from the customer's perspective. The customers in the list should be of similar size and shape to the prospect. If you don't have this list, just use "Our customers hire us to."
5. It's unrealistic to expect an initial e-mail to convince a prospect to commit time to meeting to you. Instead, you make the "next step" something trivial that indicates the prospect's receptiveness.
6. The prospect is smart enough to figure out how to call you or access your website if required.

Example
Subject: Inventory Cost Overruns
Dear Mrs. York:
I'm contacting you because I might be able to help you reduce your inventory costs.
Our customers hire us to restructure their supply chain to ensure just-in-time component delivery. This typically reduces their inventory storage expense by 40 to 50 percent.
Reply to this e-mail and I'll e-mail you some details so you can quickly evaluate whether it would be worth your time to look into this.
Michael Johsen, Triton
1-xxx-xxx-xxxx
www.tritonemail.com

What Happens Then
If you get an interest, then research that prospect in detail - Utilize LinkedIn or other social sites to help prepare and educate yourself on the company, person and their products.. Craft a follow-up e-mail that describes what you're offering in a way that's likely to match what that individual prospect may need."Like" Us On Facebook