5 Tips for writing the perfect Sales email

Did you know that an employee spends, on average, a quarter of their time managing their email? So email is THE communication channel par excellence, particularly for sales people. But an email can very easily be boring, inefficient or impersonal. This can further diminish its power of conviction. So what can we do to be sure that we’re sending the perfect sales email, one that is able to capture its recipient’s full attention?

1- Be brief and concise!

Wherever possible, avoid sending an email that is too long, one that makes the recipient scroll down to get to the end. Given the number of emails that they receive every day, there’s a very good chance that they won’t take the time to read it or indeed that they’ll just delete it directly. The key therefore is to write a short and simple email that goes straight to the point. It should be possible to read the entire contents in the open window, without having to scroll down. Also ensure that it is easy to read on a smartphone screen. In fact, these days, the majority of emails and sales email are read on a mobile.

2- Don’t forget the ‘Call to Action’!

If you send an email to leads, then you’re clearly expecting a reaction from them. Ask yourself a few questions when you’re writing the message: why are you sending this sales email? What result are you expecting?

For example, if you’re hoping to get an appointment, then suggest a choice of dates and times to your contact, providing some useful information such as the estimated length of the meeting. For example “I’d like to meet you to show you in more detail how your competitors use our solution to increase their turnover. Would you be available next Tuesday from 10.00 am to 11.00 am?”

If you are expecting a reply to a sales proposal that you’re sending, fix a deadline date for responding. For example: “Please find attached a proposal containing all the details we discussed today. The terms of this proposal are valid until Friday. I look forward to hearing from you…”

 

3- Make the most of new technologies

There is now a whole host of technologies that can help sales people make their email communication more efficient. Email trackers, for example, can enable a sales person to determine the effectiveness of their email, as well as the reactions of their potential clients. There are a great number of these, whether free or paid-for, such as Sidekick and GetNotify.

For example, you have emailed a proposal to a lead. With the email tracker, you will know if your email has been opened by the recipient and what kind of action this led to. Did they open it several times? Did they forward it to colleagues? And so on…

Without an email tracker, you cannot know what activity has been generated by the sales emails that you send. An email tracker can also tell you the best time of the day to send an sales email or make a phone call. In fact, people tend to check their email at fixed points in the day. If someone takes a few minutes to look at their emails, then there’s a good chance that they are in their office and also have a few minutes to talk to you on the phone.

4- Personalise your emails

When you send an email to a lead, they need to be able to see information that is complementary to that already featuring on your company’s website. So do not copy and paste from the “Services” or “Products” page of your website. Instead, try to concentrate on their needs, on the specific issues that your products or services are able to address. First and foremost, talk to them about them. Show them that you’re interested in them. Show them that you know them and that you can help them.

Mention one or two statistics from the results that your clients obtained after buying your product or service. In principle, this will be more effective in retaining the attention of your recipient than a long, unoriginal essay on the benefits of your offering.

By trying to personalise the contents of your email as much as possible, you will increase your chances of building a relationship with your leads.

5- Leave the office!

The sales process very often consists of two stages: 1- an sales email, 2- a phone call. A sales person has to use email to generate interest from their lead, to organise an appointment or send a quote. Email is not a sales channel in itself. The selling happens during an in-person meeting or over the phone.

The goal of the initial contact via email is to get the lead to accept a phone call from you or agree to a face-to-face meeting. Only on this occasion will you be able to go further in the exchange and develop your sales pitches on your products and services.

Discover an excerpt from the white paper: “How sales intelligence is transforming B2B sales”