There are lots of reasons why an email fails to meet the target.
Inboxes are full. Time is limited. Maybe you ended up in the spam folder.
And frankly, it’s tough to track email these days unless you get a click into your CTA.
But there are a couple of things that will hurt your email response.
Yes, the headline could miss the mark.
Yes, it could be selling out of the gate when maybe a relationship approach would be better.
And yes, the email could actually suck. There are few things worse than a boring email.
But writing an email for an executive sounding like it’s coming from an employee will torpedo it for sure.
Let me explain.
This one made me cringe
I was looking at the email and wondered where it was going.
It was headed for an executive at a financial institution.
As I read it, I cringed.
There was no way this thing was going to land.
The tone was subservient. As in, the person who wrote it was trying to talk up to the executive.
It was needy.
This is not the way you want to write to an executive.
Especially if you’re planning on selling a big-ticket service.
Nothing kills confidence like an email that sounds like it was written by a timid employee asking for a raise from their boss.
And if this is going to the procurement manager, hahaha. You’reYou’re dead.
Is your email getting noticed?
Now, the thing to remember about email is that open rates these days don’t mean much. Lots of technology out there makes it difficult to know if it got opened.
And those inboxes are brimming with people vying for attention.
So to get something opened, you have to do better getting attention than everyone else.
What is doing better?
Well, how about a subject line that might mean something to them?
That’sThat’s hard when you do mass template emails.
And what about not trying to sell them out of the gate on the first meeting?
You hate that person at a party who jams you up with a pitch before you’ve said two words. Why do you think someone will like that in their email?
Then you have to think about how to communicate.
How does a CEO think and talk?
There isn’t going to be any neediness, hesitation, and fluffy terms.
It’sIt’s going to be clear, authoritative, and based on an expectation that whatever is written will be understood or carried out.
And this is even more important if the relationship is already warm.
Every communication is a negotiation
Every communication you make with the executive is a part of a larger negotiation.
So you should be prepared to talk in their language and level of authority.
But you also have to take into account the executives’ path and personal risk.
Some people in tech like to think they know more than a financial executive.
They have no idea how hard it is to become a financial executive and the long path to get there. Or the challenges of staying there. Every decision they make has risk attached to it.
So your communication should meet them where they are and show through that communication a level of respect for the position they hold.
And at the same time, you want to remind yourself that every part of this interaction is part of a larger negotiation.
If you display any neediness, they will ignore you. Or if you have something they want, and you are needy, they will chew you up.
Try this with the procurement manager and they will take your deal to the cleaners and shave 50% off the price.
Some don’ts
So how do you write those emails?
Well, let’s start with what you should not do.
If you’re writing these while thinking about your father, or some other authority figure, that subservience will come across in your writing.
If you feel needy like you need the deal or the open or whatever, that will come out in your writing.
If you see yourself as an employee, you will use language that will convey this.
And if you write what you want to read, well, you’re not getting it done.
Then there is the generic template that hasn’t been personalized.
This will be easy to see because it will probably have elements of the above, and it will read like a template.
All of these will work against you at some point, even if you get them to open it.
The other path is a bit more work but much better.
Some Dos
OK, so you have to write to a financial executive, now what?
Why not take the time to find out something about them.
What is important to them?
Have they done any interviews? If so, how do they talk, and what did they talk about?
As you write, incorporate this into the email.
The length of the email isn’t important but more of a contextual thing.
Long works where long is required. Short when short is required.
Now imagine you’re talking to this executive as a peer.
Then start writing.
The further you can remove yourself from the position you are in, the better the communication will be.
Email ain’t dead. Your emails were
Every year a bunch of high pooh-bahs will declare email dead.
And every marketing survey that comes out every year proves that email continues to be an important and powerful medium.
Well, except for those that don’t use it well.
Sell when you should be building a relationship? Email is dead.
Show neediness in your writing? Email is dead.
Write boring emails? Email is dead.
And use generic templates that speak to everyone…and hence no one? Email is dead.
But for those that take a little extra time to think about whom they are writing to, what they talk like, and what is important to them, email is still a golden ticket.
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Using the right language, tone, and emotion in your funnel emails can have a dramatic impact on your response rate.
If you aren’t crushing it, you should be, and I can help.
Get in touch at tristram@wordsunfold.com and set up your free consultation.