B2B sales prospecting: email copywriting made easy
For some reason, everything salespeople know about successful prospecting and relationship building seems to go out the window when they sit down to write an introductory email.
Don’t ask me why: it just happens.
Instead of writing a short, snappy introduction that will generate leads and enquiries they reach for the latest marketing collateral, starch their collar and start coming across all jargon-laden, long-winded and excessively formal.
• Pithiness gets exchanged for verbosity.
• Personality gets lost in pomposity.
• Everyday words fly out the window as tricksy vocab bum rushes the stage.
It’s as if there is an almost mystical belief in a correlation between the more you say/the better the response and the longer the words/the more your prospects will be impressed.
Here’s my five-point plan for more effective sales prospecting copywriting:
1. Say less.
2. Hit just one or two pain points.
3. Sound like you are in a rush and avoid spit and polish.
4. Keep it informal and person to person.
5. Leave an air of intrigue.
In this post, I’m going to breakdown the fundamentals of effective sales prospecting copywriting.
And in future posts, I’ll give you some examples of real-life sales prospecting mails that have achieved lead rates in double figures. Forget boosting your rate from 1.15% to 1.37% – these beasts post between 11.5% and 13.7%.
The good news is that the secret to successful lead generation is simple.
Do not try so hard.
If you can write a mail that sounds like how you talk you are on the right track.
Do not pick up that latest corporate brochure or pore over those technical specifications. You are not about to get all comprehensive and preachy. And you are not about to cram in as many impressive stats as you can lay your hands on.
Instead, you are about to make the fastest, informal elevator pitch you have ever made.
There are just three floors to the top so make that pitch like there was no tomorrow. Before you close the doors and start your rapid ascent here’s all you need to secure your lead before the doors open again.
*DING*
B2B email prospecting ground rules
It’s a simple fact but so many of us forget it.
Your prospect is not a job role or a function. Nor are they an opportunity.
They are, first and foremost, a person.
Just like you.
They will respond much more readily to messages that are written person to person (rather than person to prospect).
- Keep your messages simple and conversational.
- Drop the sales spiel and the marketing make-over.
- You are looking to set up a conversation – and no-one would want to chat to someone who speaks like this…
“Dear Sir,
With challenges facing the *|INDUSTRY NAME|* space ever-increasing to reduce costs and grow revenue, I wanted to highlight how InGEN can help you boost profitability by 67%.
InGen’s recently released technology-driven integrated performance enhancement solution uses patented smart™ data management to provide an unparalleled opportunity for *|INSERT COMPANY NAME|* to achieve…”
Sorry, but this will not knock their socks off.
It’s more likely to knock them out cold and have them hitting delete faster than you can say ‘technology-driven integrated performance enhancement solution’.
Here are the ground rules that will help you make sure your B2B prospecting email inflicts collateral damage on your prospect’s hosiery (and more importantly have them reaching for the phone after they’ve doused their socks in water).
1. Forget features and benefits
Instead just outline the end result without worrying too much about the mechanics and steps involved – there’s plenty of time for these and you are better leaving an air of ‘tell me more’.
2. Only ever apply a light smattering of social proof
Delete that list of big-name clients: instead, pick just one that is in the same sector and of a similar size to your prospect’s company and offer to share how they have achieved X, Y and Z using your offering, perhaps over a phone call on Wednesday?
3. Drop the marketing language and jargon
Tell it in plain English using simple, uncomplicated sentences.
No-one wants to spend time unraveling clause-rich constructions – and jargon does not make you look like a thought leader but like a pompous prig that you’d run a mile from if they tried to initiate a conversation.
4. Avoid obvious data insertions
Data insertions are a fantastic way to target mails at scale – but they’re a real turn-off if they’re noticeable.
Make sure you are using informalised data and always reality check samples of your mails before hitting send.
For example, does ‘Having worked closely with the *|INDUSTRY|* sector’ actually spit out as ‘Having worked closely with the ‘Freight Handling & Logistical Solution Provider Industry’ sector’?
Poorly thought through data insertion is the easiest way to prevent your prospecting email feeling like a person to person message.
5. Save the discounts and special offers
For an engagement email there’s no need to start desperately discounting.
You need to sell your proposition not start skimming off its price.
P.S. Postscripts are a marketing trick – not something a person writing to a person would use. If you haven’t said it in the body of your mail it doesn’t need saying.
6. PDF attachments and web links are not on the guest list
Another assumption that we tend to make is that the more info we can throw at a prospect the more they will feel like getting in touch.
So, what about that air of ‘tell me more’?
And more to the point let’s put it starkly. Would you rather your prospect clicked on a link, downloaded a PDF or got on the phone to you?
Attachments and web links just distract your prospects from your main aim: to get in contact to find out more. (And I have the stats to prove this if you want to see them.)*
*If you thought it might be nice to see these stats you’ll see why I suggest not placing the link to them in the mail. (I’m on 07984 132756 if you fancy a chat!)
So, there you have it.
Six simple ways to make your B2B prospecting emails stronger, more direct and more likely to succeed.
In my next posts, I’ll start reviewing some real-live examples of prospecting and sharing what worked and what flopped in them.
If you can hang on from pressing send on your next prospecting campaign until then, I think we can boost your lead rates.
But, if you can’t, hey I’m happy to help.
For B2B prospecting copy that gets responses give me a shout.
You have nothing to lose but new business!