Mass Email Is a Horrible Way to Prospect

There, I said it. Mass email is a horrible way to prospect. In a world of LeadGen, prospecting made easy, massive reach and minimal-targeting-prospecting, I think we can do better. At RAB, we teach SMART prospecting: Strategic, Methodical, Adventurous, Rewarding and Targeted. Perhaps the most important part of that is the targeting. We are a people business, and people do business with people.

Consider the irony of an email we recently received from a LeadGen company, wanting to help us generate more leads… (I’ve redacted the names to protect the guilty.)

Hey Jeff, I am loving the beautiful spring weather we are having. I hope you are too. A few months ago, I reached out to you about our new [redacted] New Business Development program, but the timing was not right. As a persistent, "leave-no-stone unturned" business owner, I wanted to update you about our program and the enhancements we have made to increase the sales results for our clients. The enhancements we have made to this sales-boosting program has been a jump start for many businesses across the country since COVID-19 challenges began. Using this proven marketing program, my team and I at [redacted] Marketing have helped many businesses open up new doors and close more sales. Simply put, we want to grow your business through our proven process for developing new prospects. Would you be open to a brief phone chat to discuss this more detail? Thanks, Dale

At the risk of being obvious, let’s unpack this message together. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it as well. Email me here.

• The opener was about beautiful spring weather. It was snowing in Wisconsin that day.

• “Reached out to me before” is an attempt to make us feel stupid or guilty.

• “I wanted to update you.” We didn’t respond the first time, why would you think we wanted an update?

• The email is all about them – nothing about us, nor does it demonstrate that they have any idea why their services might be beneficial. The irony of this coming from a company that purportedly works to help their clients do a better job prospecting is not lost.

Thus, the problem with mass emailing. It’s never personal. If you are using email to a prospect, it must have three critical components:

1. It must be personalized. We don’t just mean the name of the person, but a relevant point indicating why you are contacting them.

2. It must be relevant to the potential client and provide something of value. You need to include research, an article or something that indicates you put some effort into the communication

3. It must be targeted. Your prospecting efforts should be directed at people most likely to benefit from your services.

We have plenty of prospecting tools to help you with those three critical components. You’ll find them under the Sales Tools/Prospecting section of RAB.com.

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development. You can reach him at Jeff.Schmidt@RAB.com. You can also connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.