Well, I am a great fan of emails. After the invention of wheels, I consider email application as the greatest invention. Even after whatsapp, messenger, skype etc, email still holds its place in this era of instant communication.
But do we really know how to write an email?
That sparks interest in the reader’s mind to know more about you, your company, your products etc.
I received an interesting email today from someone trying to sell me something. This was her second email. The first email from her was received by me on the 19th of last month. I am not letting you know who that is. That’s not important.
In the first email she had said that my company [with name] has been shortlisted as the “most powerful company in XYZ domain” and will be featured in their magazine and she had stated the benefits of getting published in their magazine. Then she had asked me to revert so that she can share the quote. Wow! From “Cold Call” stage to “Quotation” stage in a snap. I wish I can do that as well. Not really.
I replied to her then, asking her to remove my email id from her mailing list since it didn’t interest me. Neither did I subscribe to anything nor did I express interest on any of their services.
After a month, today I received the second email in spite of me asking her to remove my email Id. What’s more. This time it was more stronger in language.
Excerpts [if the language is not right, please excuse me, it is published here exactly as I received]:
In the rare opportunities, I have to work on client acquisition, I have not had much success reconnecting with you. It might just be that you don’t have any interest in talking with me — and that’s okay. I just need to know whether or not to keep trying.
So, to make this nice and easy for you, you can reply with a simple keystroke. Just reply with either A, B, C, D, or E and I’ll know what to do, but please do reply so that I can stop emailing you if you’re not interested.
A. Stop emailing me with attempts to connect but continue to send invites for future opportunities.
B. Don’t send me anything, remove me from your list. We don’t currently and won’t ever need your opportunity.
C. I want to talk, we need some help, but the timing isn’t right. Keep trying.
D. I would like to schedule a time to talk. We need some help. Please send your calendar link.
E. I forgot who you are. What’s this about?
The funny part is this: “to make this nice and easy for you…..”. In fact she wants me to make it easy for her. You can’t do prospecting over cold email and also automate it. It is so naive, unprofessional, bossy, accusing, all rolled into one.
Instead, the sender should have used a professional email marketing tool with “unsubscribe” buttons and sent an intro email with few lines and asking for permission to continue writing without any demands. Forget business.
Clients are not waiting in queue with the cheque to handover to you. Stop dreaming.
Write well.
Spark interest.
Serve without any expectation.
Build trust.
Pick up the phone and ask for an appointment.
Meet.
See if they have any problems that you can solve.
Add value.
Propose.
Negotiate.
Close.
Deliver.
Retain.
Where is this sales person right now, in this process? She hasn’t even started yet. But thanks to her for teaching us how not to write emails.
Happy Selling !!