Don’t let your salespeople send emails like this

The only reason I opened this piece of SPAM is because I find it quicker to delete an open email than to delete one from the Gmail inbox. Before I hit the trash button, something caught my eye. The email started out like this:

Hey Jeff,
I would really love to talk with you about our experiences and how they could potentially benefit (company name).

That’s right!  The salesperson from this well known app dev firm didn’t even take the time to replace (company name) with my company name. That tells me that someone in corporate probably wrote this email template and gave it to sales. But that’s not the worst part.

The email starts with what the salesperson would LOVE to do, which is talk to me about her company’s incredible work. She goes on to tell me how amazing her team is, then tells me about an app they’ve built that is nothing like what I’m building. Rambling on, she tells me about all the industries and app spaces they’ve worked in, none of which match my business.

She closes by repeating that she’d LOVE to set up a time to talk. Never did she communicate the value that I’d get by talking to her, nor the value that her firm delivers.

Note to salespeople: These emails are a total waste of my time. In fact, they leave me with a more negative impression of your firm than I previously had.

Here’s an idea. Before sending the email, find out who I am and what my company does, and tell me how you’ve helped a few other entrepreneurs like me. Tell me a value story about one of them, why they chose you, what their experience has been like, and the outcomes they’ve received. Tell that story in your customer’s words. Better yet, let the customer tell it in their own voice.

Marketers, practicing Customer Voice Marketing is the most important thing you can do to help your sales teams. More on that in future posts.

What are you doing to help your salespeople keep from wasting the time of your precious prospects and customers?