Seven Ways to Grab a Buyer’s Attention in Under 10 Seconds

Attention spans may be shorter these days, but that’s not a valid reason why you can’t keep your prospects’ attention. The real problem? They don’t have the willingness to give you their time or energy. Simply put, you haven’t yet “caught” their attention. This doesn’t mean that it’s time to move on to other prospects – you’re just going to have to get a little more creative with your approach. Sales pitches, especially cold ones, only have a few precious seconds to grab attention, so make it count! Use these seven tactics to get your prospects attention in under 10 seconds!

1. Use a GIF
   

   Images and videos catch attention better than words. According to Hubspot, materials with images or videos draw 94% more attention than those without. In the sea of plain text emails that your prospect wades through each day, a more personalized message with a GIF (whether entertaining, eye-catching, or relatable) is bound to stand out and get a response. Here is a GIF our sales teams uses when a prospect has gone dark:
   
   

2. Make your subject lines more eye-catching
   

   Are your open rates lower than you want them to be? Maybe it’s time to spice up your subject lines! In fact, 35% of email recipients open emails based on the subject line alone. Get your prospect’s attention before they even read your message by getting creative with your subject lines. Don’t be afraid to add emojis when appropriate or tailor your subject line to something that will be of interest to your prospects. Some ways to spice up your subject line includes adding questions to peak curiosity, using personalization tokens, or starting with action verbs.

    

3. Reference your prospect’s LinkedIn bio
   

   As a seller, checking out a prospect’s LinkedIn profile is a vital step in prospecting. Use something that caught your eye or a similarity between you and your prospect to get their attention. This technique can also help show why this detail makes them a good fit for your offering. For example, if a person’s LinkedIn bio says “increased sales by X”, reference that accomplishment in your message. Include how your product could help their already growing sales numbers!

    

4. Provide choices
   

   If getting a response out of a prospect seems next to impossible, make the process simpler for them. Sending options of where to go next with your sales process can be helpful to busy prospects who feel like they don’t have time to respond to sales emails. Try something like:
   
   Hello Mr. Smith,
   I know you’re very busy, but I wanted to keep our conversation going. Feel free to reply with the letter that corresponds to your current feelings:
   A. Interested, let’s chat
   B. Interested, bad timing
   C. Not interested, not a good fit

   This method is good for when you’ve run out of ideas and still haven’t gotten a response. Even the busiest of people have time to reply with a single letter.

    

5. Use your email signature creatively
   

   Using creative employee signatures is something that we do at LevelEleven. Employee signatures that draw people to take action are a great addition to any email pitch. At LevelEleven, we use images from our marketing team in our email signatures to drive people to action: request a demo, read our blog, or register for our latest webinar. Important note: keep it simple so that it doesn’t overpower your message.

   

6. Be sure of how much time they have before the call starts
   

   When dealing with a busy prospect, it is important to use the time wisely. You most likely won’t be able to get everything communicated in the first call. Tailoring your message to the time allotted and your lead’s specific interests demonstrates that you respect their time. Ask at the start of the call how much time your prospect has to judge the material you will cover. Go the extra step by asking if they are still good on time if your call starts to run over.

    

7. Pique their curiosity
   

   Saying something at the beginning of the conversation that relates to the wrap-up can help seize your prospect’s interest right away. At the start of the call, say something like, “Before I forget, I have a question for you after our demo. Can you remind me at the end of our call?”. This also acts as a measure as to the level of your prospect’s engagement. If they remind you about your question, it’s a cue they are more interested.

   Hungry for more ways to catch your prospect’s attention? Check out our post, The Art of Re-engaging Your Prospects After the Holidays and much more in our resource section!