Avoid these 7 Mistakes in your Next Cold Solicitation Email and Improve your Sales Communication with the Prospect Client

1. Off-topic subject line

Subject lines can make or break your cold emailing outreach efforts. Make sure your subject line gets to the heart of the matter. Otherwise, the prospect may never even open your message. Examples of effective subject lines will vary, but what powerful subject lines have in common is that they are attention-grabbing, compelling, and resonate with the client. 

What are some concrete ways to improve your subject line? Choose a punchy subject line that is not too long to be read in its entirety, as character limits for subject lines will vary across devices. If you’re not including the prospect’s or his organization’s name in the subject line, you’re risking having your email sent to spam. While personalization tactics have become more common, and therefore less striking, they are still an effective way to redirect the prospect’s attention to your particular email within their inbox. Finally, be direct. Whether you decide to focus on a difficulty they are facing, to use an urgency tactic, or to reference a referral by a partner company in your subject line, it is important to remain accurate. After all, building trust with a future client starts with an honest subject line!

2. Ambiguous content

Non-specific language won’t get the point across. Could a reader with no context other than your email body explain what the product or service is? Could they describe what makes your organization unique, or what distinguishes your product from the competition?

Along the same line, including extensive lists of offerings will drown the prospect in information, and likely result in the core message being glossed over. If it’s too much to recall aloud after reading, then it’s likely too much information to include in an email. Instead, use specific, matter-of-fact language and include informative data points that will convey the benefits of your product or service to a new client in as brief a message as possible.

3. A lackluster email mockup

Does your template get the message across? Is it hitting the right tone? Generic templates are a sure-fire way to have your email disregarded for a number of reasons. First, bad templates make it obvious you don’t know the person you’re reaching out to. Second, they reveal early on that you are trying to sell a product or service. Furthermore, weak templates are unstructured and impersonal, often overemphasizing your organization’s accomplishments instead of explaining how it could help meet the prospect’s needs. Reliance on generic templates may save you a few minutes at the beginning of your outreach efforts, but this approach will not yield the results you are hoping for.

4. Unclear goal

What is the purpose of your email? Be specific with your ask. A common mistake of cold-emails is having too many next steps that leave the customer curious but confused as to how to proceed. However, simply including a request for a call-back is not going to cut it. Prod your prospect into discussion by using an open-ended question that motivates them to learn more about your organization’s solutions. To build your team’s sales reflexes, try Attention. Attention helps sales reps start asking the right questions and increases their engagement with prospects across communication mediums.

5. Impersonal tone

Is the email personalized enough, or does it come off as a run-of-the-mill message? Are your reasons for reaching out too broad? Another usual misconception is thinking that cold emailing doesn’t require doing any research on your target. But why would someone take the time to work with you if you don’t take the time to investigate their needs? Much like planning for a sales call, cold emailing requires doing your due diligence and assessing your prospect’s specific values, challenges, and preferences. Write your cold email with the golden rule in mind: would you delete the email if it was sent to you? If so, maybe it’s time to write up a new draft.

6. Unprofessional formatting

When it comes to formatting and add-ons, keep it simple. Flashy pictures, creative fonts, or unconventional punctuation may degrade your email’s otherwise professional tone. Use non-text content sparsely, as such tools may overwhelm the prospect and detract attention away from your email’s core message. Stylistic considerations aside, another potential consequence of going overboard with the attention-grabbing tactics is that they may backfire and have your email sent straight to spam! Spam filters pick up on the use of too much bolding, links, attachments, and suspiciously positive text like “100% guarantee, one-time offer,” and so on. Be sure to use proper spelling and grammar conventions throughout, and end your message with an email signature to signal credibility and facilitate return calls.

7. Failing to check in

After sending the first email, be sure to follow-up. Sometimes, curious prospects may open your first email at an inopportune time. Swamped with work, they file it away and quickly forget it exists. This is where your follow-up email comes in. By reaching out multiple times at different points in the work day, you can give a potentially interested prospect plenty of opportunities to reach out. What is the right number of follow-up emails? Well, that depends on your particular outreach context and industry. But a general rule is that each email should include unique information that is relevant to the prospect’s interests rather than just rehash material from earlier emails. However, if your email scheduling system is an automated one, be sure to end the automated scheduling of cold emails after the prospect replies to your message. Finally, this may seem obvious, but don’t use a no-reply email address! It’s an easy way to dampen reply rates and discourage action on the prospect’s end. Make it easy for them to simply hit reply to get a conversation going.

Now that you have your cold emailing strategy prepared, are you ready to speak with an interested prospect? Attention helps prepare sales reps for better discussions with prospects by using AI-powered sales coaches to share relevant insights from millions of successful sales conversations. Help your reps be ready for that reply and try Attention today.