The Worst Prospecting Email Ever
Aug 08
Last Friday I received this prospecting email:
Good Friday Morning,
My name is (I left the sender’s name out) and I live in Florida. I would like to know if I could possibly send your company some promotional product options and quotes via email?
We offer over a million items that we can add your company logo to including; Pens, T-Shirts, Hats, Magnets, Tote Bags, Water Bottles, Eco Friendly items, Mugs, Key Chains, Stress Balls, Trade Show Items, Umbrellas, Flash Drives, and much more.
Please let me know what items you normally purchase or are looking for and I will send you quotes and try to save you money.
Sender’s Name
Marketing Executive
Orlando Florida
Here are a few reasons why this is one of the worst prospecting emails I have ever received:
- No attempt was made to identify a potential business problem I might be experiencing.
- The sender did not create ANY value. Yeah, you might sell a million different items but who cares?
- The language was weak. The sender used “possibly” and “try” which are weak words in a sales conversation.
- The call to action was also weak. In fact, it bordered on non-existent. If you want people to respond you need to have a strong call to action.
- There was no website or company name. This indicates that the sender is a freelance person and doesn’t actually work for a specific company.
- The sender used a Gmail address. See above comment.
If you use email to prospect it is critical that you demonstrate your expertise by identifying a potential business problem and indicate how you might be able to help.
Avoid sending messages like this one.
Otherwise, your prospects are simply going to hit the delete button a moment after they open your email; if in fact, they actually take the time to open it.
I help sales people improve their approach so they can win more sales and earn money. Feel free to contact me if I can help you or your company.
Good example. Flunks the “What’s it for me?” test.
No kidding!
wonderful stuff. The worst i get are usually from lead gen companies ( yep the irony)
Good points. Obviously this person is a novice, filled with grandeur thoughts about sending a ton of emails and playing the averages. Trouble is, his/her response rate is likely close to 0%. Hope you shared a few pointers with them.
Danny, I was VERY tempted to send them a response with a link to this post. However, very few people are receptive to unrequested feedback (criticism) so I didn’t.
Cheers!
Appreciate this post. I’m currently working in a B2B niche that requires calling nonprofit volunteer board members. Normally this means calling home/cell numbers that are seldom answered. I’m needing to send more emails to intro myself and our applicable products and have wrestled with the language/format, etc. Thanks for the tips.
My pleasure Brett. Good luck with your efforts!
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