On a daily basis, sales people crank out messages that are
scripted well but lack relevance to a prospect. Barbara Giamanco is a sales and
digital media strategist, she cites interesting facts about sales emails. She
says that the standard email format when comes to sales provides no value to
the potential buyer. A weak sales pipeline is a concern organizations however,
the answer is not always to simply do more, but rather to fine tune and improve
the messages that companies are sending. As Barbara says, measuring the number
of messages sent should not be the only metric, rather, organizations should
also measure the number of messages that result in sales activity. It’s hard
for an email to stand out to employee, but just how many emails does someone receive
on a daily basis. According to Barbara, about 121 and almost 66% of them are
ignored and not opened. It is obvious that people are buried in emails and when
they do not see that the message will provide something of value to them, they
are not going to waste their time in a sales meeting. Sales messages must
contain information that is relevant to the buyer if there is any hope for a
meeting.
Barbara gives a great example of time wasting message: “For
example, I get pitched almost every single day by one lead generation company
after another. Without exception, the messages are awful. What these messages
tell me is that these are companies (and people) I would never hire to
represent me. Here is the latest one:
"Hi Barbara, Could I get a few minutes of your time to
discuss about our lead generation service? We might be able to offer a
different perspective on how our unique approach can get you in front of the
prospective clients you are trying to reach. Are you the best person to speak
with regarding this? If yes, do you have any availability today or Monday next
week for a quick discovery call? Please let me know the best number to reach
you."
Messages like this one are devoid of any relevance to the
prospect. Furthermore, as Barbara explains:
- “Do
not start by asking if you can get a few minutes of someone's time. You
haven't given them any reason to say yes. Notice that the first sentence
in the email also doesn't make sense grammatically, which does turn people
off.
- Instead
of saying "we might be able to offer a different perspective,"
tell me what that different perspective is and why it would be important
to me.
- Not
the best idea to say that you have a "unique approach to getting me
in front of prospective clients" when you are not using a unique
approach yourself. Since the approach wasn't disclosed and since the
salesperson is sending me sales spam, I can only conclude that their lead
generation tactics are like so many others - generic, ineffective and
outdated. I wouldn't hire them to represent me.
- When
someone asks if "I'm the best person to speak to," it makes me
nuts. I realize that in much larger companies finding the right decision
maker can be tougher. But with the plethora of business intelligence
tools, it isn't as hard as it used to be. In this case, though, I'm a
small business owner. It is very easy to determine that I'm the right
person. All you have to do is look at my website or LinkedIn profile.
- Asking
for someone's time on the same day you send the email and thinking they
will say yes is pretty unrealistic. The seller does ask about time next
Monday but doesn't suggest any time blocks.
- Why
would I give up my time for a "discovery call". What that says
to me is that the salesperson did no research, knows absolutely nothing
about me, and wants me to spend time educating her about lead generation
needs I might have. You might be asking, why is that a problem? In a word
- time. It isn't the buyer's job to educate you. You need to self-educate
before prospecting for business. I realize that you won't be able to
figure out all you need to know to determine if your solution could be a
fit for someone. But I think with the internet, social networks, and
business intelligence platforms, you can take a big step in the right
direction.”
Use these tips to improve your sales ratios and enjoy more
success in your career.
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