Here’s the Best Prospecting Email We Received in 2015

Sending mass emails should be Marketing’s job. Salespeople need to build relationships. With that in mind, I’m going to share with you a shining example of a sales rep who did just that. The best sales email that I received all year was from Adam Brophy over at UberFlip. Not only did I respond to Adam’s email, but I forwarded it to other team members as an exceptional example of a cold sales email.

Here’s Adam’s initial email:

Let’s examine the reasons his email worked, including takeaways that can help you write more successful sales emails:

Employ a Personalized Subject Line

From the subject line, Adam set his email apart from other sales emails. First of all, he mentioned a blog post I had recently published. Right from the subject line, Adam establishes that not only has he read my article, but he’s using what I described … on me. Since I’m a writer, he focused on something that I am obviously passionate about. Similarly, if your target is a CFO, your subject line might refer to their publicly released quarterly earnings or a round of funding they just raised.

Takeaway: Use engaging subject lines that are highly personalized. Try to anchor your subject line to something that your prospect cares about (e.g. an article, a referral partner, etc.)

Don’t Sound Like a Robot

I, for one, hate reading stiff sales emails.  In his email, Adam did an excellent job of letting his personality shine through. I felt like I was hearing from a real person, not a sales robot. Obviously you might use language that’s a bit more formal if you’re prospecting to the C-Suite, but remember: just because someone is successful, it doesn’t mean they like reading boring emails.

Takeaway:  As a general rule: write a bit more like how you’d actually speak. Keep it casual (while still role-appropriate).

Offer Value

One of my pet peeves is when I receive prospecting emails that are loaded with a product’s features but don’t explain the value of the product. I don’t care about what someone is selling nearly as much as I care about why I need it. Adam briefly (key word: briefly) gave me two reasons why I should care about UberFlip: a better customer experience and more leads. These are two factors that are important to virtually everyone in my role. He didn’t launch into a diatribe about how UberFlip can make good on those promises. He merely focused on generating interest.

Takeaway: Focus on 1-3 key benefits of what you’re selling. Make sure that those benefits are highly targeted to your prospect’s role.

Sure, writing highly targeted emails might take a bit more time, but I can virtually assure you that ten highly targeted, well-crafted emails will yield better results than 100 form emails. After all, Adam’s email directly led to us attending a product demo.

Establish Credibility

Adam not only referenced the article that I published, but also linked to an article that he had published on the same site. That gave me some insight into his company’s core mission and values.

Takeaway: Consider publishing thought leadership that you can link to in your emails. As an alternative, you can link to a highly article that someone on your team published in order to establish the credibility of your brand (e.g. an article your CEO published on Forbes).

For more help personalizing your sales emails, check out our free buyer persona template. It will help you identify what’s most important to the various roles you sell to.