subject: 9 Email Ways For Accelerating The Selling Cycle [print this page] E-mail marketing as an advertising medium will become one of the dominant resources for the click and mortar companies of the new millennium. And due to its relatively low cost, personalization, and tracking capabilities, it will be the choice of direct marketers across all vertical markets.
Here are 9 strategies to increase the changes that the email message you send will accelerate your selling cycle.
1. Choose a heading that gets you noticed. In the subject field, try using a reference name, someone you can list as a referring party or someone they might know. Consider referencing a company that will be familiar to the reader, one that you have worked with in the past. You can then build your message around your work with that company.
2. Get to the point. The email message should be no more than 2-3 sentences long. The shorter the better. The shorter it is, the more likely it is to be understood and acted upon.
3. Use the person's name in the body of the e-mail message. Otherwise, the person may assume that this is an e-mail that a hundred other people are receiving.
4. Emphasize commonality. If you can, point out that your company has been doing business with other firms in this person's industry. Another way to emphasize commonality is to reference the name of someone you have in common, preferably in the subject field of the message.
5. Don't try to sell. Don't include long monologues about how great your business is. Say simply that the reason for the email message is to set up an appointment. Offer a specific time and date that you want to get together.
6. Don't hound the person. Send only one message a week. If the person says that he or she doesn't want to get anymore emails, don't send any more messages.
7. Don't make getting this particular individual to answer your message your life's work. After 3 e-mail attempts, move on.
8. Don't try to turn an appointment into a prolonged premeeting correspondence.
Once you have set the appointment, there is no need to turn the exchange into a protracted discussion. Send a polite, short message of thanks and confirmation and then show up at the appointed day and time.
9. Include the name and the physical address of your company, as well as a way for the recipient not to receive unsolicited e-mail messages in the future. This, as it happens, is a requirement by federal law.
