You’re not going to find a lot of people in our position. We work in sales as salespeople who sell sales software to other salespeople . . . try saying that five times fast.
The point is, we deal with salespeople every single day. We’ve been at it a long time and, to be honest, we’ve learned that sales aren’t really that complex. The key is to deliver the right things to the right people at the right time. A huge part of that is knowing the right things to say and when to say them.
That is why we’ve created these 16 sales email templates for everything from cold prospecting emails to follow-ups and anything in between! But before that: some emailing basics.
Emailing Golden Rules
Thou Shalt Personalize Every Subject Line
Did you know that adding your recipient’s name in the subject line can increase your open rate by 20% alone?
Thou Shalt Keep it Brief
Short, vague subject lines (like “quick question”) get 33.4% more replies than the long rambling one you spent half an hour crafting. You’ll notice we use “quick question” pretty frequently.
Plus, the ideal email length for getting a reply is around 75 to 100 words. So keep it concise.
Thou Shalt Speak Like a Human
Write like you talk. Say please and thank you. Pretend like you’re speaking with a friend you actually like.
For whatever reason, when we email strangers, many of us have a tendency to panic and go overly formal or adopt an unnaturally business-like tone. Don’t do it. Read your email aloud and make sure it doesn’t sound weird coming out of your mouth.
Thou Shalt Email During Normal Waking Hours
It’s not hard to schedule an email to go out at a reasonable time instead of say, 3 am. Even though people are starting to care less and less about getting emails outside of working hours, be respectful and don’t send it when they’re probably asleep.
Okay, those are the basics. Now, let’s dive into the templates.
1) Cold Outbound
Cold emailing is the first interaction that you’ll have with a potential client. The goal here is to get your foot in the door and grab their attention.
Tell them who you are, why they need to be talking to you, and how you’re going to improve their lives. If you can accomplish that, you’ll be golden.
2) After Just Leaving a Voicemail
It’s important to keep your prospects engaged. You want your name and your company’s name to be at the front of their mind. Whenever they get frustrated with their situation and they brainstorm solutions, your name has to come up.
If you gave them a call and ended up leaving a voicemail, send this message over right after.
3) Trigger Event Occurred
Generic emails simply aren’t gonna get it done. Sending out mass emails to some imported list won’t yield any results. If you really want to strike a chord with your prospects, it’s gonna take some work.
This template will require you to do some research and talk to your prospect about something specific to them. It’s worth the effort, trust me.
4) Prospect’s Colleague is Your Client
FOMO is a real thing. Nobody wants to fall behind with things, especially not when it’s people are your own team who are leaving you in the dust.
Showing your prospect that their colleagues are already on the platform is a very powerful way to get their attention. If you have the opportunity, use it.
5) Prospect Goes Cold
In a similar vein to the last email, your prospects don’t want to fall behind the ball and the only thing worse than falling behind your team members is falling behind your competitors.
In the hyper-competitive world we live, any advantage can’t be overlooked. Make your prospects aware that there is a tool their competitor is using and you’ve got their attention.
6) Last Outreach
You need to know when it’s a lost cause. Sometimes, someone just isn’t interested in talking to you and you can’t just keep wasting your time trying to make something happen that just won’t.
Here’s your last ditch effort to get a response.
7) Prospect Views Your LinkedIn
Seems like there’s something you did to catch their eye. They visited your LinkedIn, so they at least know you exist. Try using this template to pique their interest a little more and elicit a response.
8) Ask For Advice
Humble yourself. I’ve got this problem that you happen to be an expert in. I’d love to get on a call to ask you some questions and get your opinions on some things. Relationships form, bonds are made, and suddenly you have an in with this company that you didn’t before.
9) Get Their Opinion
I’ve got a quick question for you. Just a harmless little question. It just so happens that this question relates exactly to what we can help you with. Anything you can do or say to get a prospect engaging with you is a positive in my book.
Try this one out
10) Ask If They’ve Got Right Person
“Excuse me, I’m looking for the person in charge here. That wouldn’t happen to be you, would it?”
It’s a respectful way to ask, ”Are you the DM?’ If they aren’t, maybe they can be a champion for you. If they are, you’ve mapped out the opportunity a little better and can start making your moves.
11) Demo Recap
So you got the demo booked and it went great! Let’s keep this momentum rolling with this follow-up email.
List out some of the reasons that they really loved your product and how you think you can really help them out. Remind them of why it’s so important to move on this now.
12) Pricing
It’s just about that time where we need to get into the weeds. It’s clear that there’s a need and that you fill that need, but like it often does, it’s gonna come down to dollars and cents.
Try to cater your proposals to their specific business and give them a tailored solution. Tell them why these options fit their business specifically. What’s included that they really need? Break it down for them.
13) Compelling Case Study
There aren’t many things that make for more effective sales tools then success stories, especially if they’re direct competitors. The prospect is going to want to see exactly how you can affect their bottom line and make their jobs easier.
It’s pretty powerful when you can say, “This is exactly how we’re gonna help you, and here’s this other person who was in your exact shoes that we helped.”
14) Ask for a Referral
Sometimes, the best way to get through the company is from the bottom up. Start with a lower level gatekeeper, win their favor, and ask for them to connect you with the right people. Make the connection, build rapport, and move up the ladder.
15) Competitive Comparison
“Hey there, friend! I noticed you’re evaluating software and, oh look! Here’s an unbiased third party that says we’re the best! What a coincidence!”
The truth is, people trust other people’s reviews. So, if yours are good, use them to your advantage.
16) Industry Fact Sheet
This goes back to the very beginning: you can’t just send one email to every prospect and expect it to work. Cater your approach to individual industries, verticals, or even companies.
At Map My Customers, we’ve built out collateral for every vertical we target and we send them directly to our prospects. We want them to know that we’ve thought long and hard about how to make their job’s easier and that it’s already worked with their direct competitors.
Here’s a downloadable version of all the above so that you can copy and paste the text for each email. Happy prospecting!
