Don't Tell or Demand -- Ask (politely)
/Lately, I've been receiving a lot of sales related e-mails telling me, the prospect, what to do. One company directs me as follows:
Learn about the potential benefits a smart mobile strategy can offer your business by clicking here...or by calling me today at...
Another lets me know when to contact them:
An appointment for 10:45am has been set up for you to learn about the latest in digital...
As a sales manager, I wonder about the success rate of these e-blasts. How many prospects actually respond? What percentage of readers delete the message before reading it? Has this company calculated a conversion rate for closed sales?
I advise sales reps to:
- Let the prospect know you have some knowledge of their business
- Briefly describe your product / service
- Explain how it might be able to help them save / improve / decrease / increase
- Respectfully ask for some of their valued time
Other than being surprised and aghast at the audacity of these organizations, I'm simply deleting the emails. As a company, they aren't bothering to tell me how their product / service might help me and my business.
It doesn't make good business sense to me.
