{"id":6951,"date":"2014-05-21T09:09:50","date_gmt":"2014-05-21T13:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theweekinimaging.com\/?p=6951"},"modified":"2014-05-21T09:09:50","modified_gmt":"2014-05-21T13:09:50","slug":"not-getting-enough-appointments-stop-talking-the-wrong-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/feature-articles\/2014\/05\/not-getting-enough-appointments-stop-talking-the-wrong-language\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Getting Enough Appointments? Stop Talking the Wrong Language!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sending<\/a>First, there is no such thing as an e-mail \u201ctemplate.\u201d\u00a0 If you send a template it may as well start with a delete button.<\/p>\n

Every e-mail needs to be customized to the person\/company.\u00a0 Do a few minutes\u2014that\u2019s less than five\u2014of research to determine the content of the e-mail.<\/p>\n

After the receiver reads your name they\u2019ll probably decided they don\u2019t know you so then the subject is paramount.\u00a0\u00a0 If your subject sounds like a general sales pitch you\u2019ll be deleted.\u00a0 Decision makers get dozens if not hundreds of solicitation emails every day and have no time to read any of them.<\/p>\n

If you get past the subject line the first sentence, and actually the first five or six words are the next determination of \u201cgo forward reading\u201d or \u201cdelete\u201d for the recipient so make sure you have a powerful opening statement.\u00a0 After the opening statement\u2014a benefit\u2014transition to an appointment quickly.\u00a0 Keep in mind the goal of the e-mail is to start a conversation.\u00a0 Never ever talk about price or saving money.\u00a0 Every single weak sales person in the country has one single benefit statement: \u201cI\u2019m going to save you money,\u201d yet there are few who believe this over used statement.\u00a0 Moreover, even if you could save them money is it material to their business?\u00a0 If they have revenue of $30 million a year and you save them $50 per month do you think that moves the needle?\u00a0 Stop talking about saving money.<\/p>\n

Here is an example, not a template, of an introductory e-mail.<\/p>\n

Subject:\u00a0 ABC Company saves 15 hours of IT support\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

(In this example ABC company would, preferably, be in their industry or related somehow, as a vendor or customer.)<\/p>\n

Working with Jim Smith at ABC we were able to give him back 15 hours per month of IT support time.\u00a0 In 40 minutes I can provide you an executive overview to determine if we can provide a similar benefit to you.\u00a0 How does your schedule look over the next two weeks for that meeting?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The first line personalizes the e-mail and references both a company and a person at that company he may know.\u00a0 I ask for 40 minutes because people block off 30 minute increments so I almost guarantee that I have an hour if I need it.\u00a0 Calendars are fluid today\u2014meetings run over and you need time between meetings to travel from one conference room to another\u2014so I give a wider option on times hoping for a time during that morning or afternoon when the senior manager\u2019s calendar isn\u2019t jammed with meetings.\u00a0 If I give the old \u201calternate choice\u201d of \u201cWednesday afternoon or Thursday morning\u201d I may hit two jammed periods.<\/p>\n

Note I didn\u2019t say my name as he knows that from the e-mail address and I didn\u2019t talk about my company because he hasn\u2019t determined that he needs what we offer.\u00a0 Don\u2019t waste your valuable time talking about things he already knows or doesn\u2019t need to know yet.\u00a0 Three, no more than four, sentences and get to the point succinctly with the goal of starting a conversation.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d send a second e-mail three days after the first and a third five days after the second if I don\u2019t get a reply. Every e-mail is customized and different; if I don\u2019t get a response to the third, I\u2019d push the fourth out three weeks or so after the third and I\u2019d look to start to contact another person in the account.\u00a0 Don\u2019t ever tell the \u201cnew\u201d contact that you\u2019ve been trying to reach the original contact as you\u2019ll be providing them with all they need not to respond to you.<\/p>\n

Good prospecting.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First, there is no such thing as an e-mail \u201ctemplate.\u201d\u00a0 If you send a template it may as well start with a delete button. Every e-mail needs to be customized to the person\/company.\u00a0 Do a few minutes\u2014that\u2019s less than five\u2014of research to determine the content of the e-mail. After the receiver reads your name they\u2019ll probably decided they don\u2019t know you so then the subject is paramount.\u00a0\u00a0 If your subject sounds like a general sales pitch you\u2019ll be deleted.\u00a0 Decision makers get dozens if not hundreds of solicitation emails every day and have no time to read any of them. If you get past the subject line the first sentence, and actually the first five or six words are the next determination of \u201cgo forward reading\u201d or \u201cdelete\u201d for the recipient so make sure you have a powerful opening statement.\u00a0 After the opening statement\u2014a benefit\u2014transition to an appointment quickly.\u00a0 Keep in mind the goal of the e-mail is to start a conversation.\u00a0 Never ever talk about price or saving money.\u00a0 Every single weak sales person in the country has one single benefit statement: \u201cI\u2019m going to save you money,\u201d yet there are few who believe this over used statement.\u00a0 Moreover, even if you could save them money is it material to their business?\u00a0 If they have revenue of $30 million a year and you save them $50 per month do you think that moves the needle?\u00a0 Stop talking about saving money. Here is an example, not a template, of an introductory e-mail. Subject:\u00a0 ABC Company saves 15 hours of IT support\u00a0\u00a0 (In this example ABC company would, preferably, be in their industry or related somehow, as a vendor or customer.) Working with Jim Smith at ABC we were able to give him back 15 hours per month of IT support time.\u00a0 In 40 minutes I can provide you an executive overview to determine if we can provide a similar benefit to you.\u00a0 How does your schedule look over the next two weeks for that meeting?\u00a0 The first line personalizes the e-mail and references both a company and a person at that company he may know.\u00a0 I ask for 40 minutes because people block off 30 minute increments so I almost guarantee that I have an hour if I need it.\u00a0 Calendars are fluid today\u2014meetings run over and you need time between meetings to travel from one conference room to another\u2014so I give a wider option on times hoping for a time during that morning or afternoon when the senior manager\u2019s calendar isn\u2019t jammed with meetings.\u00a0 If I give the old \u201calternate choice\u201d of \u201cWednesday afternoon or Thursday morning\u201d I may hit two jammed periods. Note I didn\u2019t say my name as he knows that from the e-mail address and I didn\u2019t talk about my company because he hasn\u2019t determined that he needs what we offer.\u00a0 Don\u2019t waste your valuable time talking about things he already knows or doesn\u2019t need to know yet.\u00a0 Three, no more than four, sentences and get to the point succinctly with the goal of starting a conversation. I\u2019d send a second e-mail three days after the first and a third five days after the second if I don\u2019t get a reply. Every e-mail is customized and different; if I don\u2019t get a response to the third, I\u2019d push the fourth out three weeks or so after the third and I\u2019d look to start to contact another person in the account.\u00a0 Don\u2019t ever tell the \u201cnew\u201d contact that you\u2019ve been trying to reach the original contact as you\u2019ll be providing them with all they need not to respond to you. Good prospecting.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[82],"tags":[151,339,346],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6951"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6951"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6953,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6951\/revisions\/6953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}