A couple days ago I wrote a post on using email profitably. Today I received an email with the following opening line:
“Hello,
I have found your CV in Resume Database but was unable to reach you by the phone”
There are so many things wrong with this email opening…..let’s start with the top 5
1)No customization. Hello who? Without customization this email instantly sounds like spam
2) My resume in not in any database…in fact I don’t even have a resume
3) No one has tried to reach my by phone. Casey answers all the calls in the office and there have been no missed calls on any of my numbers. I am an easy person to reach.
4) “Resume Database” sounds like a made up service. Specific enough sounding enough to maybe be legitimate but vague enough to not be able to look up in a directory.
5) The first word of the body of the email is “I” This shows the recipient that the email is all about the sender…not about the prospect. Starting your emails with “I” is selfish
I fear that as the economy worsens more and more sales people will turn to email en mass to do their cold prospecting because it seems cheap and easy. Be warned! Cheap and easy are not always the most effective or profitable. Email can be used profitably if you follow some rules and abide by a few best practices. Over the next few weeks we will dive into email topics in more detail. If you have any positive or negative experiences using emails, if you have examples, or questions post them here and I will address them all!
Cheers Colleen