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Posts Tagged ‘sales success’
At almost every sales writing or email etiquette workshop I present someone asks me which is the best font to use. I wish I could tell you. The research is inconclusive and often contradicting so here are my thoughts and an overview of recent findings:
• Instructions written in a plain Arial font are more likely to be completed than those written in a script-like font. (University of Michigan)
• Using Century Gothic instead of Arial can save money on printer ink; about 30% less ink will be used. The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay has switched its default font on its e-mail system to save money and be more eco-friendly.
To confuse you further:
Reported in Advertising Age… Using “crealytics” (creative analytics), a group called Organic, researched customers’ responses to various fonts. They found, hold your keystroke here, that the use of serifs like in Georgia are more warm and fuzzy (really) and enjoyed by readers most, except in certain parts of the country (New Yorkers seem to likeHelvetica better).
And more: Turns out that sans-serif font may not be more legible than serifs even in design… Here is an interesting blog post about how designers enjoy keeping things “clean and bold” yet it seems clean (like Helvetica) may have lost its impact.
And whatever you do,
• don’t shout by bolding,
• don’t underline because readers confuse the underscore with a hyperlink (only hot links should be underlined)
• avoid red (even if that is your corporate color),
• stay away from blue (again because of confusion with a hot link),
• don’t use all CAPS (except when you have really good news and want to begin with CONGRATULATIONS! or YOU ROCK! or something you know will bring a smile to the recipient) and
• be thoughtful about the font you select to represent yourself.
My choice? Century Gothic. 12p font. Yours?
Friends send me appalling emails all the time. It’s not that they write them; they receive them and forward them on to me. I love my friends.
Today, these two examples of “sales letters” were in my inbox:
The “less” bad one ended with:
Thanks, again for your hospital and providing ….
(My friend is an independent meeting planner, not a nurse.)
But the really bad one:
(Background: The sales person first sent the email and sales proposal to an incorrect email address, using .com instead of .org.) Here is the National Sales Manager’s response to my friend’s follow-up, in entirety:
Here you go
The sales person had attached a copy of her original message, the one with the wrong email address, to that message.
Her original email? It said:
Attached is our proposal. Please contact me with any questions. Thanks.
OMG! wrote the planner who received this. OMG is right.
About the typo in the first example…it’s not funny and it does matter! People think less of you when you don’t care if you’re sending your very worst. In fact, according to a Nov 2009 survey of HR managers, 57% of them agree that typos or grammatical errors are “deal breakers” in hiring (and isn’t that what the sales person was trying to do… get hired?). Typos were seen as “somewhat of a problem” to 41% of those responding to that Society of Human Resource Managers study.
The people you write to deserve respect and doing a quick review of your message is simply an honorable thing to do. Besides, if you’re selling attention to detail (any service) and you aren’t going to exhibit that attention in your email communications, when should the customer expect you to start?
But about the OMG example… bad sales people may have gotten by when times where different. Today’s customers expect to be treated as the valuable commodity they are. It’s up to you to show your prospect you care about her success.
How much time would it have taken for that sales manager if she had (checked the email address and) expanded her initial message to say:
Hi Name of Association Planner,
You can expect great attendance when you book at The ABC. Attendees love the convenience of the airport location and it’s especially perfect for your well-traveled members. I’ll follow-up with you next Tuesday to be certain you have everything you need to make a great business decision.
And in place of her “Here you go,” how about:
I’m so embarrassed! We really do pay attention to the details and you can hold me to it! Thanks so much for your follow-up. We look forward to welcoming you soon.
Email etiquette for sales people? Be clear, concise, correct. Empathy is your friend.
Do you have examples of really bad sales letters? I’d love to rip them apart here!
In preparation for an upcoming Power Sales Writing workshop, I’ve been reviewing my client’s writing examples. And I have to say if I read about one more gabillion dollar renovation, I’m going to scream. (Clients, clients, clients, I love you and I know you know better than this…)
First (and not most important, but still) is the word itself. Renovation. The first definition in dictionary.com is: to restore to good condition; make new; repair. So when you tell your customers (or me) that you’ve spent X amount renovating, it doesn’t tell me that the project, venue or hotel is any good. It just tells me that it was in need of repair. Really, really in need of repair.
Second (and much more important) is why. Why did your company invest so much money in this remodel? (Quick. Why did they beside that it was tired and worn? Dig deeper! Bet it has to do with serving and satisfying your guests’ needs better….) How will the newly remodeled (ahhhhhh!) hotel, property, project, venue help your customers? Will the new environment help meeting attendees stay focused? Will the beautiful, comfortable new rooms offer a welcome retreat and a great night’s sleep to help them be more productive the next day? Will participants feel energized and excited and ready to learn as soon as they walk through the fun and funky new lobby?
Connect the dots. Help customers see how they’ll benefit.
Talk and think more about your customer and less about your company. That is what’s important.
Comments? I’d love to know what you think…
According to today’s Research Brief from the Center for Media Research, social media doesn’t work to build brand, extend relationships or to impact buying decisions. In fact, they say:
A study, recently released by WorkPlace Media, outlines some of the hurdles facing major brands as they attempt to harness the worlds of Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, to create an impact with consumers.The study, which polled office Internet users, found that 55% maintained at least one social networking account. However, of those respondents, only 43% reported accessing their social networking accounts at work, and even for those with access, 78% reported spending less than 30 minutes per day on their site(s).
They are wrong.
They’re looking in a rear view mirror and if you remember the singer, Meat Loaf (and who doesn’t?!) then you know, ”Objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are.” There was a time when studies like this would have been true about owning an automobile, a phone, or inside plumbing.
It’s true that many companies today don’t allow their associates to check social media sites during work hours. They’re afraid that they’ll spend too much time being social and not enough time working. I get that. It’s pretty addictive and if work is boring…
The thing is that conversation, communication, collaboration and connection are taking place today, right this second, on line within social media sites. Using Twitter, for instance, I’ve communicated with people and even arranged times to meet and when we’ve meet, we’re already friends. Yesterday, on FaceBook a colleague asked for donations for a meeting. At last count, she had 10 confirmed donations. And don’t get me started on how much I’ve learned through others comments on their blogs, LinkedIn discussions, and even the 140 character Twitter tweets. Social media provides the village we need today.
WorkPlaceMedia/Center for Media Research cited additional findings to support their message:
A recent Harris poll also supported this assertion, says the report, showing that word of mouth is a much stronger influencer than social networking.
Here is the thing: Social media is word of mouth.
Backwards looking folks don’t get that. But if what the “research” is saying is that we trust our friends more than a random on-line comment, I agree whole heartedly. Except that my definition of friends has expanded beyond the people I break bread with. Am I a bit skeptical when I see four negative comments on a site and then one that says this place rocks? Of course. Anonymity allows evil. If my on-line friends – people I’ve chosen to follow on Twitter, for instance, or a friend of a friend on Facebook or a member of a LinkedIn community group – tell me something, I have no more reason to be skeptical than if my neighbor told it to me. (And I might ask both of them to give me more examples..)
If you’re looking for excuses to not join the social networking community, you’re looking in the wrong direction. Look forward to expand possibilities, persuasion and profits.
Join the conversation!
Market Watch. NBC News Channel 6. Phoenix (and Boston) Business Journal.
Business to Business Holiday Email: Why Generic Is Worse Than Doing Nothing
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Dec 11, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Sending your very best is more important than ever. But reaching out and touching someone requires both creativity and meaning, or you might be better off not sending a holiday greeting at all.
“The question used to be, ‘Is it appropriate to send holiday wishes in an email?’” says Sue Hershkowitz-Coore, sales trainer and author of How to Say It To Sell It ( www.SpeakerSue.com). With the current economy, that question is moot. The issue, she says, is figuring out how to do it well.
1. Be meaningful – from their viewpoint
“The most important thing is to make the message meaningful to the other person,” suggests Hershkowitz-Coore. Sending a generic “Wishing you happy holidays from all of us at fill-in-the-blank” can actually backfire. According to Hershkowitz-Coore, “The goal is to help recipients feel good about themselves and your relationship. Mention something they’ve accomplished that you’re proud of them for, something accomplished together that impacted their company, something that reminds them that you have a successful relationship.”
2. No business
“Whatever you do, don’t be tempted to ask for future business in your holiday greeting,” says Hershkowitz-Coore. “Looking forward to our paths crossing soon,” is as close as you can get, she says.
3. Sound like yourself
Make your message heartfelt, conversational and concise. Don’t copy a message someone else wrote. If your company style is edgy, use that edginess in your holiday greeting too. No rule says you have to be serious.
4. Don’t sip and send
If you haven’t made your email holiday list, don’t start after a few glasses of eggnog. Drinking and sending email never work well together. “Being friendly and familiar are different. After a few cocktails, it’s easy to forget that customers aren’t our best friends forever.”
5. Be political
You’re likely to offend someone regardless of what you call the holiday season. “Happy Holidays” seems to be the least annoying. Be cautious of including religious quotes, too. “Keeping church (temple and mosque) separate from business is good business, even in a holiday message,” she says.
6. Consider another holiday
If you don’t like these guidelines, send your message at another time. December is the typical time to send holiday greetings and that is exactly why it may not be the best time. “To stand out, send a meaningful New Year’s greeting or a Happy February note. Sending an authentic message full of gratefulness is perfect anytime of the year.”
Sue Hershkowitz-Coore is President and CEO of High Impact Presentations, a sales training consultancy specializing in communication skills.
I survived the 90-minute Weekend Warrior class at my gym, and was dragging myself out of the building when this much younger woman was coming in the other way. She looked not so miserable but like a misery. Like she had been weaned on a pickle. Or worse.
She held the door open only long enough to let herself through, letting it slam in my (exhausted) face. Nice. And as I slowly used all my energy to push the door back open, I heard her say into her phone, “I haven’t laughed all weekend.”
I wish I could tell you that I kept walking to my car, without saying a word. But I couldn’t help myself. “That’s pretty obvious,” I said (half) to myself. Fortunately, she was too wrapped up in her call, her misery and herself to have heard me. And maybe she thought I was just choking for breath. Whatever.
The worst part is that I thought about her all the way home which was ten minutes more than I wanted to see her snarky face.
And it took me all that time to realize that she hasn’t laughed because she doesn’t want to, not because she can’t or that there aren’t things to laugh about. She’d rather wallow in her pity party and bring everyone else around her down, down, down.
Forget that! Okay… a way corny alert … but “attitude determines latitude” and if she is willing to fly low, so be it. But don’t you. And don’t hang around with people who do. And don’t buy in to their negativity/anxiety/pity party. There have always been hard times.
You know what successful people do when times are hard? They figure out how to make them less hard. For themselves. For others. For humanity.
Watch your language. Are you talking doom and gloom or new opportunities? Are you talking this is what I can afford, or this is what I can’t? Are you figuring out how to be happy today, or waiting for tomorrow?
Laugh. Today. Now. Go ahead. Right here, right now. Because the saddest thing would be to go into the office tomorrow and tell someone that you haven’t laughed all weekend.
What do you think?
Oh, and check out Speak Schmeak for a nice post on getting rid of negative thoughts.
This is so good! GMail is developing a breathalyzer for email. According to this post, “when you enable Mail Goggles, it will check that you’re really sure you want to send that late night Friday email” by asking you to ” solve a few simple math problems …. to verify you’re in the right state of mind” to send your email.
The default kicks in only on weekends or late at night. You can change the default though and that is a good thing. For some people, it might be best if it kicks in after airplane flights, at conventions and conferences, and pretty much on a daily basis.
This email, sent to me by a client, says it all:
Hi Sue,
This email was sent to me by a vendor during the conference. He was out
drinking with one of my employees.
Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 1:07 AM *(Note the time!)
Subject: Wit allison (Note the spelling!)
Where at the w having coctails in montreal…she is great (Hmm… note the implication)
Regards,
The email breathalyzer can’t come soon enough.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: Email sticks around. Pretty much forever. In a click, it can be distributed to your best friends, your worst enemies and your boss. So here are some don’ts to remember:
1. Don’t write when your angry. Or drunk. Or even tipsy. Ask anyone who has. You’ll be sorry in the morning. Sending a “toned down” message won’t help people forget what the tuned up you is really like.
2. Don’t copy the world. Don’t even copy everyone on your team or committee unless they need to know. A recent Randstad USA study found that one of the most annoying email habits is hitting “Reply to All”. It’s worse than being really loud on the phone. Don’t do it. Be thoughtful.
3.Stop using email to CYA. Everyone knows when you’re sending an email for “political” reasons and no one likes it.
4 Don’t sneaky BCC. Sneaky BCC’ing occurs when you’re purposefully not letting someone know that someone else is privy to the message. Smart BCC’ing is when you do it to protect the confidentiality of addresses or when everyone in the office is getting the same info and you don’t want to waste their time with a giant glob of addresses. Mark my words. BCC in a sneaky manner and you’ll get caught. All the recipient has to do is hit Reply to All. (See above.)
5. Don’t use email to speak your mind. If you must speak your mind, pick up the phone to have that conversation. You’ll be less likely to say stuff that you’ll wish you hadn’t. Also, according to research to be published in the Academy of Management Review, recipients read emotions into emails that aren’t intended. (Now that’s what I call breaking news!) A neutral message is perceived to be negative in tone according to the research, and a positive message is perceived to be simply routine. Just think how your negative message will play.
6. Don’t get sucked into another’s crisis or negativity. Some people are just dumb. It’s not our job to be dumber. Refuse to be sucked in. Consider responding with, “That’s an idea. Let’s talk about it at the staff meeting tomorrow.” It is an idea; you’ve not said it was good.
7. Don’t scream. Using all caps or putting words into a bold font is not only annoying, it’s ultimately self-defeating. You may feel good for the moment but your histrionics won’t motivate them to do what you want. They may, however, give your reader a good laugh.
8. Don’t hide behind email. Some situations just need to be discussed by phone or in person. Even if you and they prefer email, don’t rely on it when tensions are high. It’s easy to forget that you’re dealing with another human when emailing. When you see their eyes or even hear their voice, most people remember that their goal isn’t to win the argument, but to win them over. It’s too easy to forget that in email.
What are your suggestions for dealing with negative email emotions? Post them!
“Create a connection that encourages the customer to be more involved with that company and its products”
Steve Yastrow, tompeters!
Steve’s blog comment in response to the February 18, Advertising Age article, Snide Advertising is Bad for Business and Society, may be the best, all-encompassing benchmark for communication and sales success that I’ve ever come across. Apply the advice to any sales conversation – verbally or email – and you have the key to infinite happiness.
Determine to create connections that encourage your customers to want to become more involved with what you’re saying.
How? Be so entirely focused on the other person, and on his or her success, that the conversation – the email, presentation, voice mail, meeting – is like a light beam. Every single word matters to the recipient.
Start with your next email. Help your customer want to give you the response you want. Eliminate all negativity and sarcasm. If your comments aren’t helping to create connections, they’re hurting your possibilities. Build bridges, create connections and find that light beam.
There I was at another Meeting Professionals International conference, this time in Houston, TX, and once again, I heard that email is ancient and that younger people prefer social networks instead. And, for a moment, just as I did 6 months ago when the meeting was in Montreal, Canada, and I was speaking on Email Etiquette, panicked. Email, dead, again?
But then I attended the well-presented program on the virtual alter-ego world of Second Life, and learned that even people – old or young – who have the time to create avatars and dress them, and teleport them, still use email. And the excellent podcasting class that Jim Spellos presented? Turns out that a great way to let people know you’ve created a podcast is through email. Email. It may not be perfect, but it’s here, and it’s staying for awhile. All this email dead prognostication stuff reminds me of all the predictions (5+ years ago) that F2F meetings would stop happening, and that paper would cease to exist in every office. Uh-huh.
Email isn’t dead. It’s the most used communication tool in business today. And if you don’t know the “rules” of email etiquette, you’re most likely shooting yourself in the foot. In fact, sending smart emails (as opposed to proper email writing – grammar, spelling, etc) is the answer to collaboration, productivity, and profits. Besides, taking back a bad email is about as easy as unspreading butter, on toast. You can recall, but you can’t hide!
So what less than smart emails have crossed your path? What would you like everyone to know about email? What really annoys you about email? What are your email pet peeves? What are you doing to enhance your email productivity? Your comments, please!
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