Consulting Journal: Techniques - Using email sales techniques

This article is reprinted from The Consulting Journal
http://www.consultingjournal.com

Techniques: Using email sales techniques

by David Blakey

Can we gain anything from email marketing techniques?

[Monday 18 January 2010]

If you want to make sure that people respond quickly and positively to your email messages, you should consider the construction of email messages that try to persuade their readers to purchase products.

They usually start with a question. Sometimes the question is direct: Do you want a larger income?. Sometimes it is intended to pique your interest: Wasting too much of your spare time? In both cases, the aim of putting the question at the beginning of the message is to get your interest very rapidly. By asking a direct question, the advertiser is trying to focus on a particular group of people to sell to, which, in the first example, is people who want a larger income. By asking a teaser question, the advertiser is trying to get people to think about something they may not have considered previously, and, in the second example, this is whether they are wasting too much of their spare time.

Can you apply these techniques to your email messages? Let's see. As an example, consider that you are a manager who wants your board to consider purchasing new technology outside budget. Let's call the new technology wotsits. By purchasing wotsits, the company could reduce its production costs on its new product range. You could start your email message with May I have an increased budget to purchase wotsits? and then continue with the justification for the purchase and the advantages that it will bring. This would be different from a message that started with the justification and finished with I request a budget overrun to purchase wotsits., but not much. Changing that statement at the end of the message to a question at the start of the message is not what I am suggesting you consider.

How to do it

Can you start your message with Can we gain advantages with wotsits? Perhaps. If you were a manager reporting to the board, it would depend on how closely and how long you have been dealing with the board. If you are a consultant, then you are more able to ask that question. You are also more likely to be able to use it to start a presentation to the board: Can you gain advantages with wotsits? A consultant can appear to be thrusting, dynamic, hard-hitting or any combination of these.

You could ask a different question: Can we reduce production costs on the new range? This is more of a teaser, and is less likely to work. But save it as a possibility, anyway. It may be useful occasionally.

When you should not

There are some situations in which you should avoid using this technique. To a large extent, it relies upon the reader answering Yes. Not No. Not either of Yes or No.

You can avoid the answer No by phrasing the question properly. My message to the board would begin Can you gain advantages with wotsits? rather than Can you ignore the advantages of wotsits? The first question expects Yes; the second expects No. Even though the outcome is the same, that the board wishes to gain, rather than pass on, the advantages of wotsits, the second question has invited a negative answer. Avoid that. Always aim for a positive-sounding response.

To understand why you should aim for a Yes response, look again at email advertising. Someone who wishes to sell someone a weight-reduction program will ask Want to be a new slimmer you?, which builds an image in their mind of the new slimmer person they hope to become, rather than Want to stay overweight?, which reminds them of their current weight and fails to present a vision to them. In other words, the question should build a vision of the future without reference to the present. They should answer a confident Yes to the vision instead of a miserable No to acceptance of their current condition. So we ask Can you gain advantages with wotsits? rather than Can you ignore the advantages of wotsits?

However you frame your question, it should expect only one response. This is a request to purchase wotsits, not a request to decide whether or not wotsits should be purchased. If you believe that the board could refuse the request, then you should avoid asking the question entirely. Use Please advise me whether we should purchase wotsits and then present your argument for doing so. If the board really does have a choice, then using a question can seem to be trying to push it towards one of the possible options.

An email message that starts with a question conveys some urgency. It may help you to get a faster response. It can seem pushy. If you use it in every message that you send, then you can seem pushy. If you over-use it, the board may think that you regard every initiative as urgent, and that you are unable to prioritize. If you use it less often, the board may think that you really do consider the purchase to be something that you regard as important.

Conclusion

Used with care and in appropriate conditions, the starting question to which the answer can only be Yes may be useful. Consider when to use it and when not. Do not over-use it. It is one of a choice of techniques, so you do not have to adopt it as your standard approach, or even as your default approach. Used occasionally and appropriately, it can help you to get the decision you want rapidly.

Consider also whether a less assertive teaser question would work better. It probably won't in most circumstances, but it can still be useful occasionally.