By Ryan Estis – Speaks on Business Performance, Leadership and Sales

“Pushing this to the top of your inbox.”

“Bumping this back to the top of your email.”

“I’ve reached out a few times and haven’t heard back.”

I can’t imagine a worse way to connect with someone over email, especially when you’re trying to win their business.

That doesn’t mean I don’t believe in outbound sales emails. Quality outbound email is still an effective way to build new relationships. And relationship is the key word here — ‌that’s‌ —‌ your goal with your outreach should be to take a relationship from what I call “net neutral” (they have no opinion of you) to something positive. 

Unfortunately, what’s happening too often in sales today is that we’re turning those net neutral relationships into negative ones. You might think “pushing this to the top of your inbox” is just a friendly reminder. However, you have to earn the right to offer that kind of personal prompt. ‌The way to do that is through offering value first. Shame doesn’t close sales.

Think about your own inbox. When you don’t respond to a cold email, it’s because you’re probably not interested — and don’t want to be bothered further. “Too much contact”— is by far what annoys customers most about sales reps.  “Bumping this to the top of your inbox” isn’t helping. 

Here’s what you should do instead:

• Personalize your outreach. Relationships are built on connection. Spend some time researching the prospect and tailor your message based on what you learn. For example, share what you’ve learned from the prospect’s latest product or white paper. Your genuine interest in them invites reciprocity.. 
• Be “probability intelligent.” Instead of bombarding your new LinkedIn connection with invasive questions out of the gate (“What are your goals for growing your business this year?), pace your engagement to match the likelihood they’ll respond given what they know about you. You have to earn the right to ask those kinds of probing questions. What can you do, say, show or ask that gives you the highest probability of getting to the next logical sequence in the decision cycle? 
• Increase your value with each interaction. Outbound emails and DMs are generally created as sequences. Your followup emails shouldn’t repeat what you said previously, but instead offer additional value. Doing this well requires you to do the hard work of preparing before reaching out. Customization and personalization are huge differentiators that elevate sense or urgency and increase the probability of a serious response. 

This week, think about how you can elevate outreach to deliver more value. When you add value and have the probability intelligence to properly sequence your interactions, you’ll turn those net neutral relationships into positive ones and earn more opportunities to engage. 

About Ryan Estis

Ryan Estis has more than 20 years of experience as a top-performing sales professional and leader. As the former chief strategy officer for the McCann Worldgroup advertising agency NAS, he brings a fresh perspective to business events. As a keynote speaker, Ryan is known for his innovative ideas on leading change, improving sales effectiveness and preparing for the future of work.

Ryan delivers keynote speeches, courses and online learning with an emphasis on actionable content designed to elevate business performance. His curriculum emphasizes emerging trends influencing leadership effectiveness, sales performance and customer experience. Ryan helps participants prepare to thrive in today’s ultra-competitive, hyper-connected business environment.

To learn more about Ryan Estis contact [email protected]

Derek Sweeney is the Director of Speaker Ideas at The Sweeney Agency  www.thesweeneyagency.com. For 15 years Derek has been helping clients find the right Speakers for their events. Derek can be reached at 1-866-727-7555 or [email protected]Edit