

The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Write Prospecting Emails That Actually Get Replies



One of the biggest reasons that emails are ignored is because they are not relevant to the person reading them. There isn’t any technology that can overcome that issue, but your preparation can help break through and make real connections with your prospects.     

Here are six ways to prepare your email message so that you get more responses and improve your sales results

1. Know the "WHY"

You are asking a busy prospect to commit time to you.  It's crucial that salespeople take time to understand the needs of a category of business because relevance is necessary to improve your chances of gaining a commitment from the prospect. Search engines, trade association websites or magazines, or any other business category news platform can deliver the key insights you need to justify the "why."

2. Share the "WHY"

Give them the “why” by sharing the insight you find. Once you have information that you believe your prospect would like to discuss, show them why it is beneficial for them to talk to you. Do you have experience with this information or related information? Highlight it. Prove it if you can. This is an excellent opportunity to provide a link to a success story, relevant capabilities videos, or a referral. Doing this will help build the prospect's confidence in you, justifying the time they use to respond or give to you following the initial communication.

3. Include Data

Always include data. This is critical to back up your history and insights. Prospects don’t have time to seriously look at every organization that wishes to do business with them. Data will take you a longer way in a shorter amount of time. What numbers do you have that prove how you have impacted revenue, eliminated expense, or saved productivity with your expertise? Numbers matter. Include Data.

4. Have a Personality

Show your personality and have a sense of humor (if that's you). Making a customer smile is a trust builder and makes you stand out from the 150 boring emails they are committed to reading before and after yours. If this does not fit your skillset, it’s okay to borrow some humor from someone else. Use a cartoon or gif if it relates to your message. 

5. Plan Ahead

Dedicate some of your prospecting time strictly to the quality of your messaging. Schedule a timeline of when you plan to contact your prospect via email, following up with phone calls. Contact them seven times in ten business days. Frequency is important. Don't give up.

6. Break Up

On the seventh attempt, tell them this is the last time you are going to contact them. It’s the break-up email. Humor is very important here. This email has the highest response rate if you have been relevant all along. 

With dedicated research and a strategic communications plan, salespeople can use the most popular form of business communication (email) in their prospecting efforts... SUCCESSFULLY! Don't skip these steps that will help craft prospecting emails that actually get responses.

Don't give up -- get your prospects to say yes to a meeting. Download the free guide.

Topics: email sales strategy sales performance Sales sales process prospecting