Time to read: 3 minutes. To get response from a sales email make sure your message does NOT ask for the meeting. When making first contact with a prospect using email or LinkedIn’s InMail be warned: Asking for what you want, right away, will fail.

Here’s what I’ve learned works from years of helping clients get better response.

Attract the potential buyer to ask YOU for the meeting, demo or face-to-face. Get invited to discuss a challenge, fear or goal your prospect has.

This cold email prospecting strategy works best. But it takes provocation.

Avoid the most common mistakes

It’s obvious. So obvious. But are you doing it?

Is your email different?

Is it provocative? Does it spark curiosity in a way that is hyper-focused on the buyer?

You’ll fail to get response unless your first touch email is:

• under ten sentences
• focused exclusively on the buyer (not referencing yourself, nor current clients, nor benefits)
• not asking for a meeting
• without Web links or PDF attachments

Is your first message structured… copy-written… to earn permission for a discussion?

This is what we learn how to do in my InMail / email Writing Clinics.

The 3 reasons you’re not getting response

Most cold sales email templates fail to break-the-ice and earn replies because they:

1. Have subject lines that telegraph what’s inside. (never get opened)
2. Contain messages focusing on the seller. (often pretending to be personalized)
3. Ask for a meeting + share a Web link or PDF. (distracting them from replying)

In 95% of cases I see, buyers aren’t responding because the email sender is asking for a meeting. If you’re selling a complex B2B product or service, practicing Challenger selling or if closing takes months beware: Do not ask for the meeting in your first touch.

Everything (bad) flows from this flawed objective.

Instead, think in terms of provoking a short discussion … that might (if needed) lead to a meeting.

Next, conduct the conversation (via email) in a way that creates an urge in good prospects… to ask you for the appointment.

Poor prospects will fall away. They will self qualify/disqualify themselves.

All because of how you structured words… how well you copywrite.

Write subject lines that create tension

Focus your subject lines on creating tension. Yes, tension.

Tension creates curiosity.

The job of your subject line is to create curiosity about what’s inside the message. Nothing more.

Don’t be cute. This always causes trouble. And be careful about using first names in subject lines. This is often a signal of “fake personalization.” Some buyers are VERY savvy to mail merged spam!

Make your subject line:

• Familiar sounding yet also vague (don’t be too specific)
• Provocative … a little bit wierd … yet credible
• As short as possible (2-4 words is best)

Never, ever trick with your subject lines. I warn against using, “help please?” or “question about ___ [company name].” This risks irritating your prospect. A plea for help could be interpreted as a needy customer. Be careful.

Also, never ever ask for what you want in the subject line. (e.g. can we talk?) Never ask a yes/no question.

A responsive sales email template

Think about it this way. Is your current sales email helping the other person build some anxiety? Are you helping them develop a desire to know more details?

This helps them want another encounter with you. This is how to get response from a sales email!

Here is a quick example from a student I helped recently. Compare this cold email template to yours. Notice, also, how the template is more like a formula… where facts are inserted. You must do homework on the prospect!

Good morning Andy,
Congratulations on your expansion. 200 new jobs in Leeds will be a boost to the local community and [target company name].

Reliability of your new contact center is a major factor you will be considering, yes? It was for ABC Insurance. Their new 500 seat contact center has over 99.99% up-time through utilizing the cloud and geo-resilient data centers.

How much would even 1 hour per month downtime cost [target company]? Are you interested in how ABC Insurance did it? Would a short message exchange make sense? Let me know your decision, Andy?

Kind regards,
Samuel

To get the other person talking you’ve got to provoke an “interesting enough” thought.

A reason to hit reply and talk about themselves. Right away. No hesitation.

Provoking that reaction is best done using a system. A template. An effective, repeatable process.

Success often boils down to your ability to give prospects an irresistible reason to talk. This is what we learn how to do in my InMail / email Writing Clinics.

I hope to see you online soon! Good luck and let me know what you think? What has your experience been? Different from mine? Disagree with me? Let’s hear about it!

Photo credit: Manel Torralaba