With so many prospectors using email, it can be difficult to make your message stand out and get the attention it deserves. Because of the flurry of emails arriving in someone’s inbox, it can be easy to blend in and never have your email successfully opened. How you write your sales prospecting email has a large impact on how likely you are to receive a reply.
A study done by Woodpecker showed that email personalization alone can increase your email reply rates by 100%. This is why salespeople must carefully craft their emails, and why we’ve decided to put together a guide to show you how to write a great sales email that will increase your chances of an open, a reply or a booked appointment!
Subject Line
Make sure your subject line is clear, personalized and creative. A creative or new subject line will suggest that your message is different than other prospect emails, raising the likelihood that someone will open it due to curiosity.
Pinpoint what is unique about your message and use that information in the subject line to help create interest in your email, but do not try to trick your reader into opening the message. Keep the subject line relevant to your message and keep its meaning clear. You may even want to consider using the person’s name or company name to personalize your subject line and increase the chances of an open. More times than not, a person will appreciate the time you invested in research before reaching out.
Make the email personal. Before you even begin writing, spend time researching your prospect and uncovering their pain points. Use resources such as their company website, personal LinkedIn profile (or Linkedin Navigator), and even Googling their name and company to gather information you can use in your prospecting email.
- Intro: Now that the prospect has (hopefully) been intrigued by your subject line and opened the email, you have the real chance to draw them in. Clarify who you are and why you’re getting in touch.
- Body: You must show your value and what you can do for your prospect in the body of the email. For example, take one of the pain points you uncovered and provide them with a specific solution you can provide for that challenge. You could even direct them towards an e-book or a blog post in your email that you think is relevant to their situation. If the content contains information that proves valuable to the prospect, you will establish yourself as an expert, which will help you earn their trust. It also shows that you cared enough to look into the prospect and learn about them, which many will notice and appreciate.
- Closing: Close the email with a “call to action” that emphasizes how you want to help them, such as a quick meeting and make sure to give the prospect multiple ways of reaching you. This alone will increase your chances of a response. A great option to ensure that your prospect can effortlessly book a meeting are scheduling tools such as Calendly. A scheduling tool allows prospects to view your schedule and automatically book a meeting on your calendar without emailing back and forth.
Now let’s put it all together! Here is an example of a good prospecting email that contains all of the attributes listed above.
Hi John,
I’m Angie Pashaj from Sales Tech Start. I was looking at your LinkedIn and noticed that you recently took a trip to LA and had the chance to conduct an interview. Is that for a book you’re writing? If so, congratulations! That is awesome. Looked like a fun trip and a well spent day.
As a sales leader as well as an author, it seems like you have multiple priorities and you are probably being pulled in many directions. I think LevelEleven can drive performance and productivity for your sales team so you still have time for your other priorities.
Do you have 10 minutes this week for a brief discussion on how you’re currently getting your salespeople focused, motivated, and accountable? You can book time on my calendar here.
Cheers!
Angie
Now that you have the base for a good sales email, you can use this as a template to insert other company names, research, and even products into the proper place. With a little practice and some trial and error, you will begin to land more meetings and qualify more and more sales prospects before you know it!
