5 Secrets to Effective Email

Written by Mike Brooks

Email has changed everything, and people now hit the delete button on their voicemail messages the instant they hear something they don't like -- which is usually when it's a message from an unknown sales rep.

Years ago voicemail was all the rage. There was no e-mail, so people tended to honor and even return their voicemail messages. It was a good time...

But that's history now. Email has changed everything, and people now hit the delete button on their voicemail messages the instant they hear something they don't like -- which is usually when it's a message from an unknown sales rep.

What to do?

The good news is people still respect email, and I think it's become the primary mode of communication between business people (and everyone else for that matter). The even better news is that there are 5 secrets that will set your emails apart from the thousands of others your prospects get, and if you use these 5 secrets when constructing your emails, you'll have the best chance at getting yours read and returned.

Here's what they are:

Email Secret #1: Use the prospect's first name in the subject line. Putting your prospect's name in the subject line (first name) will automatically distinguish your email from the hundreds of others your prospect gets. In addition, we're all partial to our own name, and this will draw your prospect's eyes like a magnet.

Email Secret #2: Customize the first few lines of your email as much as possible. Many people preview your emails by reading the first paragraph in Outlook, and the beginning better be short and have immediate value to your prospect. Something like:

"Hi Barbara, Mike Brooks here with HMS software. I've got some ideas about your networking issues for your new office that's opening in Houston next month. We've helped a lot of companies in this area, and I think you'll find it useful if we talk."

Again, keep it short, to their point, and provide immediate value.

Email Secret #3: Keep your email short and easy to read! Nothing will turn your prospect off more than long, information packed paragraphs. Their eyes will glaze over! Break up your sentences into paragraphs if possible to make them easy to read and accessible. I say no more than 3 sentence paragraphs

Email Secret #4: Ask for a return response - whether they are interested or not. This is a great way to end your email and a good way to get a response. Simply thank them in advance for their consideration and that you're looking forward to their response on this.

Email Secret #5: Promise to follow up by phone if they don't respond. Let them know that you understand they are busy, and that out of consideration if you don't hear from them you'll follow up with a call in a day or two. This increases your response rate.

Bonus: Be happy when you get a "not interested" response. These prospects just disqualified themselves and saved you a lot of time and energy. On the other hand, there will be others who don't respond and they become your follow up leads!

These are the 5 secrets to emails, and believe me they work! Take a few minutes right now to script out the outline for your emails and then fill in the details as you need to per prospect. And then watch your contact, response and success rate skyrocket!