I spoke with an insurance broker yesterday who is using email in his marketing. He was about to send an email to prospects he had spoken to who had asked him to “send some information”. He wanted my feedback about the email he had composed.
He started reading to me but I stopped him after the first sentence because it sounded like he was selling something, which of course he was.
He had cold called local businesses, seeking to make appointments to show his wares. I told him that when someone tells you to send some information, it usually means they don’t want to see what you have to offer, they want to get rid of you and this, they believe, is a polite way to do that. I suggested he consider a policy of not sending information (in this context).
A better alternative is to “drop by” the business and introduce yourself to the owner. It turns out that this is his usual method of operation.
And then I put on my metaphor hat and described the posture anyone in sales should adopt, and that includes lawyers. We sell too, you know.
I said, “You don’t want to be seen as the “sales person” who comes into the store or office through the front door and sits in the waiting room waiting for an audience with the decision maker. You want to position yourself as a colleague, a fellow business owner, who comes in the back door and doesn’t have to wait because he and the owner are on a first name basis.”
Anyway, when he read his email to me, I stopped him because it was just like every other sales letter business people receive every day and it’s not going to be read or do anything to help him get an appointment.
I told him that if you look and sound like a sales person, your email will get put in the “B” pile, with all the bills and spam and advertising messages, to be read later, or more probably, not at all. You want to be in the “A” pile, which is comprised of email from people you know. The “A” pile gets read.
“If you want to send information via email,” I said, “I would write one or two lines and say something like, ‘here’s the info I promised, Joe,” and provide a link to it on your website”. In other words, keep it short and sweet, like you do when you send information to a friend or business acquaintance.”
That will stand out more than anything you could say in a sales letter.
In order to close more business, you have to get more people looking at what you have to offer. In order to do that, you have to stand out from the crowd. The best way to do that is to go in the back door.
