I received this cold email recently from a “National Accounts Executive.”
Colleen,
I’m not sure where you are in the buying process, but if I haven’t given you a demo of our sales automation software yet, I would like to do that.
A personalized demonstration of our software takes between 20-30 minutes and can be done over the web. I’m happy to work around your availability over the next week or so. Please just reply to this email and I’ll touch base to schedule something.
How many mistakes can you spot?
1.”I’m not sure where you are in the buying process”
Who says I’m in the buying process at all? I never requested this email in the first place! For the sake of argument let’s suppose a request was in fact made for information from individual. A much better way to start this email is to focus on what they do know about their customer instead of admitting they know nothing.
Always communicate what you know about the buyer first. This demonstrates knowledge and competence. The more you’re able to show that you’ve done your research and that you genuinely care about the prospect, the more likely you are to succeed.
2. “If I haven’t given you a demo of our sales automation software yet, I would like to do that.”
Any decent CRM tool should be able to tell this account executive whether or not a prospect has received a demo or not. Once again he presents himself as poorly organized or uninformed.
Ensure you track which of your clients have previously used your products or have received a demo in the past. It takes a little bit of organization but doing so demonstrates to your client that you’re paying attention to them.
3. “ A personalized demonstration of our software takes between 20-30 minutes and can be done over the web.”
While he is finally attempting to provide some value for his prospects, he is not explaining how his “personalized demonstration” would be any benefit to his buyers. Not to mention 20-30 minutes isn’t a short amount of time for a busy professional and providing information over the web isn’t exactly cutting-edge in 2014.
While I am being particularly tough on this cold email, it’s important to note that organization, information about your buyer, and high value are essential keys you must demonstrate to your prospect in order to generate success. ← Click To Tweet
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How do you ensure that you are always informed about a prospect before approaching them?