Monday, July 21, 2014

Sales eMails

My advice on sales emails is don't send them.  Here Inc magazine advises how to create winning emails, but that is like lipstick on a pig.
Most sales emails have a response rate of around 1 percent.  In other words, if you send out an email to 100 potential customers, only 1 out of a hundred will get back to you.  This post explains how to write sales emails that get much higher response rates.
I rather doubt spam (unsolicited email) gets a 1 in 100 response rate,  more like 1 in 10,000...   if that.  But it misses the point.  You have X amount of people you should be doing business with.  And if not, you should be finding out from them why not, it is their feedback that matters.  Those few people you can discover by a bit of research.   And as important as they are, they warrant a letter, not an email.

The email the article advises is very good...
Subject: The Atlanta ConferenceJohn,   You can reduce no-shows up to 50% by keeping attendees informed and involved with our mobile app.   If you like, I can send you a brief overview of how the app works.Jane SmithAccount Manager, XYZ Inc.213-555-1212www.xyz.com
but it should be a letter...

Having been the before the internet, I still have the vestiges of how business was done.  Having tested all of the promises of the internet, I know which ones are bogus claims and which one are genuine.    The bottom line is the internet has collected the yellow pages, business catalog, D&B, telephone and document delivery into one electronic platform.  That in itself is huge.  But people act as if it does more, like "improve access and quality."  It does neither of those things.

For an excellent "old school" view that is applicable to today you cannot beat Ogilvy on Advertising.  he'll school you well, 60 years later (MadMen is based on Ogilvy.)  And ogilvy has some advice you do not hear today, and that is in your closing don't say
If you like, I can send you a brief overview of how the app works.
say
I'll call you Tuesday at 4pm to give you a brief overview of how the app works.
What happens often enough is his people call you first, or you drive on to the drop dead email...  what you never do is leave the ball in the other's court.

To recover small business in USA, we'll need ot recover some of these older patterns and practices.  Here is Ogilvy on Advertising...



Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.


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