Southwestern Sales Talk

Continuing in my “worst ever” series….

As the gatekeeper for Southwestern Company, I get lots of random sales pitches and marketing promotions at work.  This may be a bit of a stretch for a sales blog, but here is a real email promotion we received recently at The Southwestern Company.  I include the sales pitch in its entirety for full effect:

“how are you? we are in Shanghai, China. We are a printing company and can print the following:

gift box

stickers

catalogue

leaflets

…”

That was it.  Not a very good intro or catchy attention-getting opener; not a huge finish or action step–heck, not even a “thank you for considering us…”.  Just a list of what they do.  Presumably.  The ellipsis at the end, while dramatic, was ineffective as a closing remark.  The gripping subject line of the marketing promo?  “glad to write to you” Really?

While I’ll assume there may have been some language barrier/translation issues, here are a few tips to making a better first impression.

1. Know your prospect and tailor the message a bit.
2. Make your offering interesting–the best close is a great demo.
3. Provide contact information.  People who want business should make it easy for buyers to find them!
4. Avoid spamming as a prospecting method.  You won’t have any friends, and even fewer customers.

Just thought I’d share.  Now I’ll go adjust my spam filter.  Have you seen anything as impactful as this?  Comments/experiences welcome.

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