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Are you writing sales negotiation emails like prospecting emails?

Guest post by: Kendra Lee

Article Overview: It’s critical that folks recognize when the switch from prospecting to negotiating is occurring, and subtly change their writing style.

Are you writing sales negotiation emails like prospecting emails?

Email has become the primary communication tool for sales reps. We use email to prospect instead of cold call. We confirm meetings via email. We follow up on sales calls with an email. We answer prospects' questions through email. We discuss proposal terms in email. Some savvy sales reps even close the sale through email!

For the last two years I've guided sales reps on how to write prospecting emails that get a response. I've shared all my secret tips and tricks and they're working for you!

I've received scores of emails - and even some phone calls - from sales reps telling me how they've successfully broken past gatekeepers to secure meetings with reluctant top prospects and silent customers.

A simple change to the subject line, short one sentence paragraphs, focus on a business issue, an emoticon and an exclamation point to personalize your message, and suddenly your cold calling email gets you in the door.

But what happens once you're in the sales process and using email to answer a complex solution question or discuss proposal or contract terms?

The same prospecting email approach for these emails? You shouldn't.

Emails later in the sales process are different. Let's examine why.

While you want to maintain your friendly demeanor, once you engage in the sales process and begin answering prospects' questions and validating information, you're actually entering a negotiation. Your contacts are asking specific solution or contract related questions and your answers influence their decision.

They're reading your response and weighing it against your competitors and sharing it with the decision making team.

All you wanted to do was shoot off a quick response to keep the sale moving forward. If you aren't careful what you've written and how you've written it, you may find that you've agreed to terms you never intended.

Suddenly you've agreed to a different payment structure or thrown in free training, which you'd never do in a face-to-face negotiation. The idea of offering a trade-off or making a counter offer didn't even occur to you. You just thought you were answering a few questions.

You were caught unaware.

You didn't realize you'd begun an email negotiation because you weren't expecting it and you can't take back what you wrote.

As more prospects and customers respond to your sales emails, you'll find yourself negotiating through written email. Your negotiation emails will probably be saved for a long time and used as you implement your solution. Make sure what you committed to is actually what you wanted, not what you thought would keep you in the running.

It's critical that you recognize when the switch from prospecting to negotiating is occurring, and subtly change your writing style. Take time to respond thoughtfully and completely. Then you'll be able to successfully negotiate and close more deals even through email.

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Article Tags: email, email negotiation, prospecting, sales, sales negotiation, writing style



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Re: When is your interest peaked by unsolicited mail? - The worth spammers are like the one I got today. They have no shame, they will subscribe to your newsletter and use it to reply and spam you. The subject line is usually "RE:your subject", I recognize my emails, and this just make me so angry, because I am opening these emails, maybe one of my readers need my help, and this "lady" today, saying thank you for a valuable info, and then writing more and more and some more on her business, and how she made money, when we know she didn't, otherwise why is she sending me spam? 4 emails like this, the same text, from the same person, replying to 4 emails sent by my autoresponder. I have other things to do with my time, like sleeping!
Re: Email marketing lists - Hi All, The Sendblaster software seems to work quite well and has given me a starting point for creating sales emails. So far have not found any list that carries any weight. I now have two seperate forms on my site to harvest emails. Look forward to seeing the video, thanks Evan
Re: Do emails count? - [quote="BuzzAroundBooks.com":3ov3pks3] Hi litekepr, What about working with someone based on a verbal contract with emails/private messages to outline the working conditions and prove that there was some sort of agreement made? Can emails or private messages constitute as legally binding agreements or do all "written agreements" require signatures from both parties?[/quote:3ov3pks3] I just went through this with a psycho client. He said many things in emails that proved my side of the case and when I forwarded these messages to his attorney, she dropped him. I kept all his emails so that I can send them as a whole document instead of copying and pasting the info into another file. I kept telling him that it was critical to be careful what you put in writing. It protected me and ended his dreams of suing me without justification. His messages also proved that I was right to be concerned for my safety. Many of my contracts are in emails and I keep a print copy of each one in my client contract folders. Shri
Re: What i hate... - [quote="Trent Brownrigg":3srgv506]It does suck when people don't reply to emails. However, you need to take into consideration that some of them probably get hundreds of emails per day that they would have to reply to if they replied to them all. And with all the spam these days it's easy for a legitimate email to get overlooked or lost. I'm sure more often than not they are just not replying because they don't want to but there are some good reasons that might be the case.[/quote:3srgv506] I agree with Trent on this point. Also I think a lot of emails are sent from auto responders and they are general ones that go out to everyone one on the list, so many of these don't require answers. It's true that I also don't open emails if they come from someone I don't know. Who know what kind of virus can be in there. MichelleJ
Re: Email autoresponder messages: what delivery intervals? - Depending on the campaign, but I do either daily or I make sure every 7 days people receive emails from me. Reason for this is if you opt-in on Monday, you might be more likely to open email again on Mondays. Also, if there are sales taking place, it's good to send out on the 1st and the 15th. Friday is a payday for many so that works out well. I haven't tested what time to send, but two friends who send more emails than I know send 11AM CST and 4AM CST.


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