If sales professionals communicated in their personal life the way they do when trying to get a first appointment with a prospect they would be a lonely bunch. Can you imagine walking up to somebody and saying, “Hi, I’m Tom Callinan and I live in a house in Bryn Mawr? The house was built 16 years ago by a local builder. I’m a good guy and I think you and I can have a relationship. Want to sit down and talk for 30 minutes.” You’re laughing at me at this point, correct (Or more accurately, I hope, you’re laughing at this scenario)? Your head would be swiveling around as you looked for an exit from this very uncomfortable conversation.
Not possible you say? Well how about this “Hi, I’m Tom Callinan and I work for ABC Document Guru, Inc. in Anywhere, USA. I’ve been in the industry for 12 years and ABC Document Guru, Inc. is a locally owned company serving companies in the Anywhere area. We are able to save companies up to 30 percent on their printing and I’d like to show you how. Can you meet me next week?” Isn’t that effectively the same message, adapted for the context that you were laughing at in the first paragraph?
If you are a business owner or VP of sales, go ask your sales team members to send you five examples of what they are sending out to prospects. I bet the above is one of the better communications you’ll read. Believe me, I read a lot of e-mails that reps send out and sans a very small percentage they are horrible. Not bad, horrible. But I don’t think it’s their fault as it is systemic in the industry. Somehow, somewhere, some really bad communicator set this model in motion and it has permeated the industry. It is time to stop.
How do you get a decision maker’s attention? Quickly, as their propensity is to delete your message; they get a lot of messages and they don’t have time to read your sales pitch. It starts with the subject line of the e-mail. Think about how you read your e-mails: Name first and you make an assessment of whether you know the sender or the sender’s company. If you do you glance at the subject and then into the body of the e-mail. If you don’t know the person or the company the subject become more important. Make sure your subject line doesn’t scream “I’m a sales person” or your e-mail will be deleted.
After you’ve gotten the subject down use personalization: That doesn’t mean “Dear Tom,” but rather you use business personalization. I’ll give you an example of a subject and personalized opening.
Subject: Great article
Jim: I read your article on employee development in the Philadelphia Business Journal: Your use of individual development plans shows a real commitment to your employees.
In order to write the above subject and opening I had to conduct a little research on the firm and on the person I wanted to reach out to. I also had to read the article, or at least enough of it to find a juicy tidbit to quote. You have a couple of sentences to get the readers attention and this opening accomplishes that goal: What you say—I didn’t mention copiers, MPS, saving money, solutions or anything else I was selling so what good is this e-mail? I want to sell something! Me too, and that’s where the transition and benefit or referral comes into play. Let’s now take that e-mail to the next step in the initial contact stage
Subject: Great article
Jim: I read your article on employee development in the Philadelphia Business Journal: Your use of individual development plans shows a real commitment to your employees.
Bill Smith at Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe told us that by implementing our MPS program his IT team freed-up 23 hours per month to work on projects that generated revenue for the firm. The team feels better about their daily work and Bill was able to implement the program without any investment.
In the transition paragraph, which is only two sentences, I gave him enough information to peak his interest. I also tied it back to his commitment to employees so that it isn’t a new or random thought. I am not trying to “sell him” in the e-mail I simply want to get him to either reply or to grant me an appointment. Therefore, we need to ask for the appointment so let’s finish the e-mail.
In 40 minutes I can provide you an executive overview of how we were able to accomplish this with Bill and the Dewey, Cheatum and Howe IT team. Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon of next week works for me or you can provide me with times that better fit your schedule.
I look forward to hearing from you.
I would try different approaches when asking for the appointment. I may tell him I’ll call at a specific time and day to get the appointment or I may provide two days and times with a “Let me know which works better” ending. You have to mix it up e-mail to e-mail.
Is it bad if Jim replies something to the effect: Tom—thanks for the communications, but we have a few large projects we are working at the moment and don’t have time to discuss at this time. Heck no, I’d reply, “Jim—I understand the timing isn’t always good and certainly don’t want to take your time away from what you’re working on. Does it make sense to follow-up in six to eight weeks or do you need a little more time?”
I didn’t get the appointment, but I did get a response and I can now begin to build a relationship with Jim. I am not a “90-day wonder” that spends so much time trying to close business this month that I don’t set-up my future. Jim will be a sale in the future and I am worlds ahead of the sales pack that sends e-mails that simply get deleted.
