The relationship with a prospect whom you've already spoken to and are following up with is very different from cold email blasts or email marketing to your list of leads. Because you've already established a relationship, follow-up emails should re-establish the previous connection you've made and remind the prospect of how you can help them and their business.
Therefore, follow-up emails should be personalized, but that doesn't mean your sales team can't use templates to save time. Personalized email templates for follow-up not only save time but ensure your grammar is perfect, formatting is clean, and you're not forgetting anything important. With that in mind, let’s go through these six elements of what makes a good sales follow-up email:
1. EnthusiasmFrom the subject line to your sign-off at the end of the email, every part of your email should exude good, positive energy. You want to show optimism for the future and excitement from your last conversation - because that's exactly how you want the prospect to feel! Here’s an example :
“Hey Sasha, it was a pleasure meeting you on Thursday at the Argentum Senior Living Conference and I hope you ended up getting the name of the wine you tried at dinner and really liked! You’re doing interesting work in the senior living industry and gave me some great ideas to bring back to my team in Boston. On the flight, I was reminded of a similar company we worked with a few years ago that implemented an inbound marketing strategy at their community with great success. They are a similar size, with roughly the same locations. Doing some back of napkin estimates, I believe some of the strategies implemented would increase your sales by 20-30% based on your current lead generation process. I’d love to talk more and see if this is a real possibility.”
As you can see, it’s possible to be enthusiastic without gushing and being too far over-the-top. You want to be honest with your prospects, but positive and optimistic too, always using conservative but impressive numbers where possible. Never just tell them just what they want to hear, but include constructive feedback and ideas that will add real value. And, wherever possible, include a personal note from a previous interaction (see the wine comment above).
It's important to be enthusiastic while maintaining authority about your product and services. Remember, you have a solution to their problem. Sure, it may be your job to learn about their situation and understand their specific circumstance, but it’s also your job to educate and teach them things that they don’t know.
Don’t make the mistake of becoming a people-pleaser. Saying thank you or apologizing too often, especially when it’s not deserved, reduces their respect for you. Conduct your tone in emails as if you're certain of the future relationship with them and confident in the abilities of your products and services. Act as if you're advising them on the right decision, even if it's not with your company. Having that mentality can create a lot of trust in your ability to be the authority.
"40% of emails are opened on mobile first – where the average mobile screen can only fit 4-7 words max."
-Content Monkey
Since follow-up emails aren’t cold, make sure to include a phrase about the personal connection you made. It reminds them who you are and portrays you as more of a friend than another sales rep. Case studies show that people buy from those they feel they can trust.
Build trust by mentioning something from your last conversation. Show them that you were listening and you’re there to help them solve a problem. By building this trust, and building your personal relationship with the prospect, you’ll quickly see an uptick in your email response rates.
Always try to clearly show your prospect how you can make their life better. People care about themselves and what would make their own lives better. Whether you're helping them hit a goal, helping them save time, or helping to eliminate a fear they may have, make sure you have something of value and convey it clearly in your email.
Try to tie in value with something that will speak to their emotions. Making more money or saving an hour every day may not seem emotional, but once you start asking what they would do with that additional money or time, it gets emotional and personal quickly. For example, maybe they would spend more time with their family if they only had a senior living marketing automation solution.
*This email template from Hubspot shows their email sequencing tool: an email tool that allows you to automate a string of emails to prospects over time. By using templates (like the one above) you're able to test results and find out what's working - as they did with the open rate on this email's subject line.
At some point during your follow-up email make it very clear what the next step is. Do they need to send you more information? Do they have to get their sales director to sign off on something? Your prospect needs to be able to clearly understand the next step in working together in order to move forward.
If they need to set up a follow-up meeting, make it easy to schedule by using a meeting link to your schedule. If they need to send you additional info clearly outline exactly what you need in the simplest terms possible. Once you ask for something make a note to yourself in your sales CRM to reach back out in a couple of days in case they forget. Always be looking to reach the next step in the sales process.
"Emails with a single call-to-action increased clicks 371% and sales 1617%."
Emails, marketing automation software, and an easy-to-use CRM make it extremely easy to follow up with prospective clients. While cold emails may seem interruptive and annoying, follow-up emails should always feel warm and friendly. That's because you have something of value that will make the prospect's life better! If you don't, then you WOULD be annoying.
Having the right elements in your follow-up communications will improve the quantity and quality of your responses from prospects. That means a bigger, more engaged sales pipeline and ultimately more customers. To discuss different senior living marketing automation tools or senior living CRM options that make following up with prospects easier, contact us today. We'd be happy to walk you through different options and advise which might work best for your company.