![\"Harry](\"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Hecht2.jpg\")
<\/a>Harry Hecht<\/p><\/div>\n
While cold calling might not be one of the most productive ways to generate sales leads, cold e-mailing isn\u2019t. Judging from my Gmail inbox it is certainly on the rise and it\u2019s time to take notice.\u00a0 I know many sales professionals that live and die by the e-mail introduction and use it effectively.\u00a0 But the question remains, how effective is e-mail at making a sales introduction?<\/p>\n
The answer, it all depends. E-mail introductions are most effective when there is some context related to the communication and has content that is worthy of the recipient\u2019s time and attention and of course, ACTION.\u00a0The absence of either will limit any opportunity for meaningful engagement. In other words, the quick delete. A sales professional understands they are just a keystroke away from the trash bin and approaches the e-mail introduction with a well thought out value proposition, carefully worded, and commitment required to earn a response from the prospect<\/p>\n
I receive a healthy amount of e-mail sales pitches and requests. I wanted to take the time to leverage a recent message that hit my inbox to illustrate how to make the most of the \u201csoft\u201d e-mail introduction.<\/p>\n
Here is the gist of the email I received:<\/p>\n
The Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cHopefully I\u2019m not catching you too off guard with my email \u2013 I work closely with a few of our mutual connections and wanted to see if we could find a time to be introduced.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not at all assuming you\u2019re in the market for the work I do but I\u2019d like to meet you nonetheless.\u00a0 That being said I\u2019d like to tell you a little about how I work, share some ideas with you, and what you do with it is up to you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n I didn\u2019t respond to the first e-mail during a busy week of travel.\u00a0 The following week I received this follow up.<\/p>\n The Follow Up<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure if you received my last email or not, sometimes I can get spammed for some reason.\u00a0I just wanted to touch base and see if we could find a time to be introduced.\u00a0 I work closely with and have met with quite a few our mutual connections.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThough I\u2019m not at all assuming you\u2019re in the market for the work I do, I\u2019d like to meet you nonetheless.\u00a0If you have some availability in the next week or so I\u2019d love to grab lunch or coffee.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Would you take this meeting?\u00a0This sales introduction had the potential to be so much better.<\/p>\n Here are four (4) keys for making more meaningful and memorable e-mail sales pitches.<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0 Leverage Referrals<\/strong>.\u00a0A satisfied client can help you strengthen the sales introduction.\u00a0 Assuming this seller actually does work with people I know, the introduction is strengthened by revealing that information.\u00a0Even better, have the \u201chappy\u201d client and \u201cmutual connection\u201d lead in making the introduction.\u00a0Don\u2019t leave it to the prospect to assume anything.<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0 Be Specific.<\/strong>\u00a0If you are asking me to invest valuable time, make sure I understand why.\u00a0Get to the point about what you\u2019ve got that I need.\u00a0I don\u2019t have time for too many nonessential lunch or coffee meetings. Neither do your customers.\u00a0In fairness, I did remove the category\/industry for the example in this post, but even with that information it wasn\u2019t specific enough.<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0 Customize.\u00a0<\/strong>This involves doing a little homework.\u00a0The ability to demonstrate understanding related to the prospective buyer\u2019s business and unique situation elevates credibility.\u00a0When that understanding includes a particularly compelling insight, point of view or position of value the introduction improves.<\/p>\n 4. Give Value First.<\/strong>\u00a0Be helpful.\u00a0Focus on the customer, not yourself.\u00a0The customer will only be interested in your product or service because it could help them solve a problem or do something better and better yet, both. So, make the introduction all about them. The more you know the easier it is to lead with value.\u00a0Give away your best ideas and examples of success, and make it easy for your best customers to share.<\/p>\n Following these four practices will help you make sales introductions that lead to increased opportunities and a full pipeline. When we shift our focus to thinking about sales meetings as an earned opportunity, our introductions typically improve as a result. In sales the law of incremental commitment applies \u2014the first commitment you have to close is someone\u2019s willingness to learn more and at the same time build a relationship and trust.<\/p>\n These four practices will also help you avoid what you had to know was coming next.<\/p>\n The Response<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThanks for the note. I just don\u2019t have the time and I\u2019m not interested. Please stop e-mailing me<\/em>\u2026<\/i>Sent from my iPhone.\u201d<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While cold calling might not be one of the most productive ways to generate sales leads, cold e-mailing isn\u2019t. Judging from my Gmail inbox it is certainly on the rise and it\u2019s time to take notice.\u00a0 I know many sales professionals that live and die by the e-mail introduction and use it effectively.\u00a0 But the question remains, how effective is e-mail at making a sales introduction? The answer, it all depends. E-mail introductions are most effective when there is some context related to the communication and has content that is worthy of the recipient\u2019s time and attention and of course, ACTION.\u00a0The absence of either will limit any opportunity for meaningful engagement. In other words, the quick delete. A sales professional understands they are just a keystroke away from the trash bin and approaches the e-mail introduction with a well thought out value proposition, carefully worded, and commitment required to earn a response from the prospect I receive a healthy amount of e-mail sales pitches and requests. I wanted to take the time to leverage a recent message that hit my inbox to illustrate how to make the most of the \u201csoft\u201d e-mail introduction. Here is the gist of the email I received: The Introduction \u201cHopefully I\u2019m not catching you too off guard with my email \u2013 I work closely with a few of our mutual connections and wanted to see if we could find a time to be introduced. \u201cI\u2019m not at all assuming you\u2019re in the market for the work I do but I\u2019d like to meet you nonetheless.\u00a0 That being said I\u2019d like to tell you a little about how I work, share some ideas with you, and what you do with it is up to you.\u201d I didn\u2019t respond to the first e-mail during a busy week of travel.\u00a0 The following week I received this follow up. The Follow Up \u201cI\u2019m not sure if you received my last email or not, sometimes I can get spammed for some reason.\u00a0I just wanted to touch base and see if we could find a time to be introduced.\u00a0 I work closely with and have met with quite a few our mutual connections. \u201cThough I\u2019m not at all assuming you\u2019re in the market for the work I do, I\u2019d like to meet you nonetheless.\u00a0If you have some availability in the next week or so I\u2019d love to grab lunch or coffee.\u201d\u00a0 Would you take this meeting?\u00a0This sales introduction had the potential to be so much better. Here are four (4) keys for making more meaningful and memorable e-mail sales pitches. 1.\u00a0 Leverage Referrals.\u00a0A satisfied client can help you strengthen the sales introduction.\u00a0 Assuming this seller actually does work with people I know, the introduction is strengthened by revealing that information.\u00a0Even better, have the \u201chappy\u201d client and \u201cmutual connection\u201d lead in making the introduction.\u00a0Don\u2019t leave it to the prospect to assume anything. 2.\u00a0 Be Specific.\u00a0If you are asking me to invest valuable time, make sure I understand why.\u00a0Get to the point about what you\u2019ve got that I need.\u00a0I don\u2019t have time for too many nonessential lunch or coffee meetings. Neither do your customers.\u00a0In fairness, I did remove the category\/industry for the example in this post, but even with that information it wasn\u2019t specific enough. 3.\u00a0 Customize.\u00a0This involves doing a little homework.\u00a0The ability to demonstrate understanding related to the prospective buyer\u2019s business and unique situation elevates credibility.\u00a0When that understanding includes a particularly compelling insight, point of view or position of value the introduction improves. 4. Give Value First.\u00a0Be helpful.\u00a0Focus on the customer, not yourself.\u00a0The customer will only be interested in your product or service because it could help them solve a problem or do something better and better yet, both. So, make the introduction all about them. The more you know the easier it is to lead with value.\u00a0Give away your best ideas and examples of success, and make it easy for your best customers to share. Following these four practices will help you make sales introductions that lead to increased opportunities and a full pipeline. When we shift our focus to thinking about sales meetings as an earned opportunity, our introductions typically improve as a result. In sales the law of incremental commitment applies \u2014the first commitment you have to close is someone\u2019s willingness to learn more and at the same time build a relationship and trust. These four practices will also help you avoid what you had to know was coming next. The Response \u201cThanks for the note. I just don\u2019t have the time and I\u2019m not interested. Please stop e-mailing me\u2026Sent from my iPhone.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[82,87],"tags":[202],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4459"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4459"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4569,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4459\/revisions\/4569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}