Okay, who likes to be lied to? Raise your hands. You in the back – put your hand down. You look stupid.
I see salespeople and marketers who lie every day to their customers and still expect to sell to them. In fact, they begin their relationships with a lie and still expect to sell to them.
That’s stupid.
When you use a tactic like beginning a cold email with “Re:,” to attempt to fool your prospect into thinking you had a dialogue with them, not only will they delete the email – they’ll delete any chance of buying from you.
Why? Because you are a LIAR. And – I know this is shocking – people don’t like to buy from liars.
So, what is a salesperson to do when it comes to cold email prospecting? Well, there are a few pointers I can offer you.
First – understand that return rates for emails are low. The rule of thumb for direct mail used to be a 1% to 2% response rate. I think that would be a high rate for email prospecting; if you’re going to send out prospecting emails, be prepared to send a lot of them.
Second – rather than lying in your subject line for attention, think clickbait. In a business sense, your prospecting should be problem solution oriented. What problems can you solve for them, and how can you communicate that in as concise and impactful a way as possible?
Third – your email itself should also be concise and impactful. Get your message across with as little fluff as possible. You want to make good use of your client’s time, so give them the meat of the matter in something that only takes them a few seconds to read.
Fourth – no attachments. Attachments are the kiss of death; they get your email sent to the spam folder.
Fifth – everything should be brand consistent. I don’t just mean your company’s brand, but also your personal brand. That’s why deception is bad; unless you are a liar by nature, lying in an email just to get attention is the wrong path.
There’s more to prospecting, of course, but those are topics for the future.
Don’t sell stupid. If no customer has ever said they like it, don’t do it.
#saleshack: Work with me.
