The Marketing 24-7 Podcast

Email is critical to sales and marketing. We all know it, so if we want to win with email, we must create emails that not only get opened but also deliver on the objective of the email.

Podcast Transcript

8 Key Elements to a Winning Sales & Marketing Email

All sales and marketing emails have an objective.
We wouldn’t send them if they didn’t.

In most cases, the objective is to get the recipient to take action. We’re asking the recipient to download a document, to read an article or to give us 15 minutes of their time.

Every sales and marketing email worth anything has the objective of getting the recipient to act.

Unfortunately, the sales emails we send out aren’t very good at getting to the objective.

To improve your ability to meet your goals and create emails your
customers and prospects will open and respond to, they must rank high on the following eight traits.

SUBJECT LINE
The subject line of your emails must be compelling and intriguing. It must capture the attention of the reader immediately. There is no room here for messing up or cutting corners. The subject line has to get your readers attention or everything else in the email is lost. Make sure the subject line is about 9-14 words or 40-50 characters and is intriguing. Make your subject line feel like a riddle, that when clicked, the riddle will be answered.

INTRIGUE
This is the most important part of the email. It must be intriguing. The reader must want to keep reading or engage because the email breaks their expected thought patterns about email. If your email(s) looks, feels, or appears to be just like everyone else’s they won’t break through. Be sure to craft emails that intrigue the recipient and gets them wondering, that surprises them and gets them wanting more.

THE OFFER
Every sales and marketing email must have an offer, no matter how small or inconspicuous. We’re trying to get the reader to take action, and the offer is what we’re giving them to take action.

Therefore the offer must be of value. It must be worth something.

Take a look at your emails today. When you ask for 15 minutes of your prospects time, what are you offering for that time?

Is it worth it?

If you’re talking to an executive who makes 500k a year, that fifteen minutes is worth 50 dollars to them. Is what you’re asking worth 50 dollars? To put it another way. Would they pay you 50 dollars for what your offering? The answer is usually no.

When looking at your offer make sure it’s a good solid offer that meets the needs of your prospect or buyer. Even more important, ensure that you have an offer.

THE ASK
What are you asking the reader to do? Is it reasonable? Is it easy to execute? Is the ask clear and concise? Can the recipient do it now, with little hassle or effort? Are you making it easy for the reader to execute your ask or have you created hurdles or unnecessary process?

The key with the ask is to make sure you have one; it’s reasonable, and it’s easy to execute.

Be clear what it is you’re asking the reader to do and why.

The ask should be why you wrote the email in the first place, don’t mess this part up.

OVERALL VALUE
The overall value of the email can be summed up in a simple equation.

The value of your offer minus the ask (offer – ask = Value 0r O-A=V)

The greater the difference between what your email is offering and what you’re asking for, the greater probability the reader takes action and executes the action.

This equation represents the most valuable part of the mail.

Unfortunately, most emails fall flat here.

Little effort is focused on the overall value of the email, and therefore too many are ignored, resulting in low conversion rates. This is usually because the offer is less valuable to the prospect or buyer than the ask. When this happens the equation is upside down.

If you want your prospects and customers to take action, make sure the overall value of your email is high.

It’s a simple equation: O-A=V

LENGTH
Too long and you’ll lose the reader. Too short, your message is lost or not well articulated. The key is to create an email that is the perfect length. According to Boomerang data, emails that are between 50 and 120 words get opened the most. With that said, I don’t think there is a hard and steady rule to word length. What’s most important is that the email is the right length based on the complexity of the ask and the offer.

The best way to make sure your email isn’t too long is to have someone else read it. The key, the reader doesn’t get bored or want to “stop” reading. Don’t make your emails too long. Get to the point quickly.

RELEVANCE
How relevant is the email to the recipient. Make sure you’re sending the right email to the right person. Make sure the message and format are appropriate for the recipient. Don’t be sending an email to the CIO or head of IT that lacks data, and technical specifications. Don’t send an email to the CFO or CEO that doesn’t address business issues and money. It’s important to make sure your email is targeted to the recipient and relevant to their needs and responsibilities.

READABILITY
How easy is your email to read? Is it grammatically correct? Is the
sentence structure clean? Does it flow well? What it is the tone?

At the end of the day, emails are communication. Therefore, it’s critical to make sure you’re communicating in a way that connects with the reader. Make sure the email is written in a way that the tone is light, humorous, or engaging. It needs to connect with the reader. Don’t let run on sentences or poor grammar undermine a great email.

Make your emails conversational and engaging; people want to feel there is a person on the other side of the screen.

Being successful with emails is hard, it takes work, but it’s not impossible. Like most things, emails have a success formula and by adhering to the above you drastically increase your chances of creating emails that your prospects and buyers respond to.

Imagine, emails that our prospects and buyers engage with that has a nice ring to it.

If you'd like some new training on Email please CLICK HERE

Braggadocio is a fabulous word with a great history to its orrigin - find out what it means to your business and its implications.

Podcast Transcript

Today. I saw something on Twitter, which caught my attention. I must admit I've become a real user of Twitter a lot over the years. I've stopped reading newspapers, which is bad for the newspaper industry, but I'm fond of Twitter, I don't participate in it much, but I like to read it. I also find it's a great aggregator of all the news that's going on. Just don’t get too wrapped up in it.

However, there was this tweet that came through this morning. It was a beauty, and it was regarding Trump's estranged niece in her new book, where she depicts a man trained in deception and braggadocio, by a distant and dysfunctional father. I just loved that word “braggadocio.” It sounds Italian. I mean, it's got an Italian ending, and if you actually look at what it means according to the dictionary, braggadocio means boastful or arrogant behaviour. That word always resonated with me.

My mother used to use it. When I was a kid, I can always remember her saying to me. “Peter, pride comes before a fall.” To be honest with you. I think that held me back a little.

When I was young, I was too scared to put my head up and get knocked down because this pride was always going to come right before a fall, but I understood, and I understood a little later that what she was saying. It was “be aware of being arrogant.” There's nothing wrong with being proud. There's nothing wrong with being proud of your achievements, but it was the arrogance that you had to watch out for. Of course, if you have been around long enough, you tend to see popular culture trends, come and go and come back go again, with a slightly different twist.

It wasn’t easy to accept my mother’s advice when observing the great Cassius Clay as I was growing up. When he was young and was brash, arrogant, and confident, I think at the time I thought, “Yeah, he's got pride, but a fall is coming.” And obviously once he became Muhammad Ali, he really showed his conviction and wouldn't go to the war, he was prepared to go to jail and was prepared to lose his title and win it back. You realise that the man stood for something. Maybe all that false bravado of being the greatest was actually part of an act, whereas deep down, he was a really nice guy. So the greatest as he was called, and till his death, he was still known as the greatest.

Flick forward to the 1980’s, and that was the time of Gordon Gekko and “greed is good”. At that point, I suppose you could say that in popular culture, the tilt wasn't too far away. And in my mother's eyes, Gordon Gecko would have been someone that she would have said “there's a braggadocio.” And then this guys pride was definitely going to come before a fall and of course, as the movie would have it that's exactly what happened.

Then came the period when super model Naomi Campbell started to exhibit the most arrogant behaviour, where she was convicted and almost went to jail for throwing a phone at her personal assistant.

It was at about that point that the world got tired of “braggadocio.” The world had had enough of being too arrogant and to the point that one would be a celebrity if they started helping others. Mother Theresa and Princess Diana for example were celebrated during that whole period.

Being nice to people became the accepted norm. If you think about it, perhaps particularly Princess Diana got as much exposure, and got as much opportunity as any previous braggadocio. But you could see there was goodness in their hearts.

However, then came 2000, and all of a sudden arrogance came back into vogue The Kardashians and a number of others; greed was becoming good, arrogance was becoming good, being noticed was becoming good, being extreme was becoming good, being opinionated was becoming good again the list goes on and on. Trumpism, as we know, it started to appear and being extremist started being normalised.

Also in today's Twitter feed, the same day the niece of the president was saying that he was a braggadocio, here was Anthony Scaramucci, who did once work for the braggadocio, who said “every once in a while, like your mother told you, or your grandmother told you, sometimes people get what they deserve. It is nice to see that the negative karma that he generated in our society is coming back upon him”, said, Anthony Scaramucci about Steve Bannon's arrest, who was the braggadocio in arms – co-pilot.

Isn't that interesting, either Scaramucci had an Italian mother, or an Italian grandmother, but he obviously was told that pride comes before a fall just like I was.

Today's Twitter feed also contained commentary by Peter van Onselen who writes for NEWS CORP, he goes, “I sometimes seriously wonder if our prime minister thinks before he opens his mouth and makes pronouncements he constantly has to walk back from. It happens too often to just be a mistake. It's pretty ridiculous, frankly”.

 So he's questioning our prime minister who this week couldn't help himself, indicating that he'd signed a deal on a vaccine for all Australian people. But of course it wasn't soon after that holes started to appear with this story and the deal.

So just maybe this brash arrogance in politics is starting to catch up with people, and just maybe the pendulum is starting to swing the other way.

What is even more evidence of the contempt the politicians have of the people, is on Fridays, which is known as “take out the garbage day.” The whole idea of take out the bad news, or take out when you've got to correct something, or take out when you've got to walk back on something like the treasurer Josh Frydenberg had to walk back on the job keeper allowance and his dodgy mathematics, and straighten up a $60 million over estimate.,

So you're bringing that out on a Friday because the media is apparently lazy, and won’t ask hard questions, and society is lazy, our community is lazy, and by Monday, we will have forgotten all about it.

But do we forget about it?

Is braggadocio still alive and well on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday? I think the pendulum has swung. I think the pendulum's heading back towards at least the central line possibly even left of centre.

I'm thinking all of a sudden that boastful and arrogant behaviour may not be acceptable any more. Even in marketing, we need to be cognisant of this trend. In marketing we have to know where people are, and we have to act accordingly.

So where was the word braggadocio derived from? Well, it came from the fairy queen, which was written by a fellow called Spencer. It's a long poem, and it was about Knights in shining armour.

One of the knights was called Braggadocio and he didn't end too well.

Marketing is not just one quick trick or campaign. But marketing isn’t hard either, you just need to develop the understanding and skills.

Podacst Transcript

What started as just another normal morning.

Sitting at the café doing some writing when the owner came up asking for advice.

An Instagram Influencer who I happened to know, had offered to promote this café in a post or two for $500.

What did I think?

To be honest my immediate thoughts were two:

• These suckers still exist, and
• Got to hand it to that girl she is really “ballsy” to keep asking.

I am no longer as unfiltered as I once might have been and I actually love this coffee shop, so I opted to use some discretion.

The café business as I know it (at least pre COVID), runs a third product, a third overheads and a third profit. To liberate $500 for a dopamine hit of influence means $1500 in revenue. I am a good customer and I spend $13.60 daily on breakfast, so he would need 110 hits of new blood to simply breakeven.

Did he honestly think that there would be 110 losers so hooked on this influencers Instagram feed, bereft of a place for a coffee, that they would flock to his joint come hell or high water?

Sadly, when it comes to marketing, sensible and successful business folk can be oh so blind.

Now to the fisherman…

Later, I went for a walk and in the usual spot was Pedro (as I like to call him), the fisherman.  He is there every day and generally in the same spot and always seems to be catching fish.

Strange occurrences today because in a panic he stopped me and asked whether I would watch his stuff whilst he chased a pelican that had stolen his trove of baited lures and hooks.

Lucky today I had donned my good Samaritan suit.

When he got back, he offered me my pick of the fish. I’m not a fish eater so declined, however during our quick conversation I gleaned that this spot yields him around five fish a day, which saves him and his extended family somewhere between $50 and a $100 a day. What's more, he loves fishing, so every day he gets to do what he loves and earns the keep and respect of

his family doing so.

The tale isn’t quite over…

As I continued to walk, I couldn't believe my eyes, but there was the Instagrammer posing for a snap.

She must have fleeced someone with that cheesy smile on Matagarup Bridge, earning herself a quick $500.

This got me thinking, the fisherman earning $50 a day doing what he loves and being loved by his family versus the influencer snapping 500 bucks for around 15 minutes work, albeit she probably had to have hair and makeup, (I'm sure another sucker coughed that up), but unlikely to score that $500 sucker again.

Who would I rather be?

In fact, what is more important… is who would you rather be?

Frankly, I'm with the fishermen, because as the saying goes,

“Give an influencer a gig and you feed her for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed them for a lifetime.”

Actually, this is one reason I created my FREE sales and marketing strategy app. It has a host of marketing training, tips and strategies to help you resist the quick urge for a hit of dopamine. I want you to be able to make sensible decisions about your marketing and slowly but surely builds a business that is worthy of your efforts.

Marketing is not just one quick trick or campaign. But marketing isn’t hard either, you just need to develop the understanding and skills.

Selfishly, I’d like to have my app on your mobile phone because it will one business at a time put cheesy quick fix influencers out of work. Better still, it will let me sit on my lonesome in cafes writing my stuff ensuring there will be little need to be interrupted for free marketing advice. 😂😂

Please grab the app petergianoli.com/app

Not even 007 James Bond is immune to the effects of COVID-19. Here is my take on what he should do.

Podcast Transcript

It seems like just the other day that I shouted 20 friends to a James Bond Premiere for my 35th birthday, and trust me that wasn't the other day...

With the recent news regarding the delayed release of the latest James Bond aptly named "No Time to Die" - if I had been waiting for this movie to treat myself or my friends I will have aged 3 more years.

Whilst I can understand the effects the Coronavirus pandemic have had on global box offices, the 'go / no go' decision making is not going down well with fans and ultimately the perception of the brand.

Having already lost $30m on marketing 'No Time To Die' for its ill-fated April 2020 release, MGM and Universal are now somewhat gun shy with any new release dates. They have already snuck out buzz generating promotional tid bits like Billie Eilish is singing the theme song, Matera, Italy is the location for the grand opening scene and Daniel Craig is calling it quits after this -

so why not just man up and get the thing in front of the fans.

I am not sure if the M.B.A marketing types at  EON, MGM, or Universal are awake to facts as yet - but a day when the world is likely to be normal again is unlikely to be soon, and NOW is not the time to die!!

But here's the good news: (And if they asked, this is what I would tell them) You CAN release it today if you anticipate change.

Just like in your business ... please stop waiting for things to get better - with this virus (sadly,) this could take a long time, if at all.

You can start TODAY.

In fact, this is the perfect time to stand up and say "enough! I'm NOT letting this virus control my life or my business any more!" 

Over the last couple of days I have been urging you to take the time to download my FREE sales and marketing training app...

...many, many of you have, and the feedback has been a treat and to each of you I offer a nod.

BUT I know there are a lot more of you who need it and should go to the link now.

https://marketing.petergianoli.com/App

BTW, when interviewed about making another James Bond film,  Daniel Craig said and I quote,  ". . . I'd rather break this glass and slash my wrists."

Do you care who plays Bond after you? "'Look, I don't give a f***. Good luck to them! All I care about is that if I stop doing these things we've left it in a good place and people pick it up and make it better. Make it better, that's all."

Getting it released and in front of your fans is a great way to start. IMHO

A Client Generation System can  change  the  game  for  business.  Spend  your  time learning  about  Client Generation System  (and  the  strategy  behind  them)  and  you  will  have the keys to acquiring a heap of new customers at no cost.

Podcast Transcript

“Whoever can spend the most money to acquire a customer wins.”

The  first  time  I  heard  it,  I  didn’t  get  it  either.  Isn’t  it  the  opposite? 

The person who can spend the least wins?

• Company A has $1,000 to spend on ads for their business. •Company B has $1 million to spend on ads for their business.

Who is going to get more ads, better placement, and more customers?

Obviously  Company  B,  right?  Company  A  won’t  have  a  chance  for  airtime,  newsfeed  time,  or  anything! 

But  let’s  say  BOTH  companies  started at the same time with the same cashflow, products, and people.

The  next  logical  thought  is  “How’d  Company  B  get  a  million  bucks  for advertising so much faster than Company A?”

Marketing Asset thinking and a CGS. that’s the key. CGS  create  a  better  buying  experience,  for  both  the  company and  customer. 

The  traditional  online  shopping  method  (Company  A) goes  like  this:

1. Joe goes to a website.
2. Joe searches through hundreds of products.
3. Joe adds a few items to his cart.
4. Joe leaves the website to go let the dog out.
5. Joe’s kid shuts down the website to watch YouTube.

Maybe  Joe  comes  back  and  buys  something,  maybe  not. 

If  you’ve spent  $5  to  get  Joe  to  your  website,  how  much  did  you  get  back? 

$0. 

And  you don’t have any way to get in touch with him!

With  a  Client Generation System,  you  are  tapping  into  the  psychology  behind  buying, not  just  the  purchase  process  itself. 

With  a  Client Generation System,  Joe  is  NOT  given  500 choices  on  a  website. 

Instead,  he’s  asked  to  give  his  email  address  for something  really  cool  (and  free).  He  can’t  resist  the  bait,  so  he  gives  his email  address,  and  as  soon  as  that  transaction  is  complete,  he  is  offered an  INSANE  deal. 

He  can’t  pass  it  up  because  it  goes  PERFECTLY  with  the free thing he just got. Boom. 

He  buys  it.  And  right  before  he’s  sent  his  receipt,  he  sees  this message: 

“Hey!  I  have  this  other  cool  thing.  You  can  add  it  to  your  order with  one  simple  click.” 

Because  Joe  feels  so  good  and  excited  about  his purchases,  he  rides  that  high  and  clicks  the  button  to  get  something  else!

Company  B  has  spent  $5  to  get  Joe  to  their  page,  but  now  he’s  given them  $15. 

That’s  $10  profit! 

So  now,  not  only  do  they  have  Joe—and  the power  of  his  word-of-mouth  referral  and  next  purchases  through  email sequences—they also have $10 to go find two MORE Joes.

Do  the  numbers  and  you’ll  see  just  how  fast  Company  B  amasses  a  huge customer  base  and  advertising  budget. 

They  can  now  overwhelm  and crush the other companies just by brute force.

So  the  saying  “whoever  caN  spend  the  most  money  to  acquire  a  customer  wins…”  makes  sense,  because  when  you  use  a Client Generation System,  the  ACTUAL cost of the customer is zero.

Cool,  huh?  A Client Generation System can  change  the  game  for  business.  Spend  your  time learning  about  Client Generation System  (and  the  strategy  behind  them)  and  you  will  have the keys to making large amounts of money.

petergianoli.com/client-genration

"It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who has been swimming naked."

Attributed to Warren Buffet and day by day reflecting the business world as we know it.

Just take a stroll along any shopping strip and the sign of shuttered windows, empty stores and for lease signs reveal who has been swimming "butt naked". 

Podcast Transcript

"It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who has been swimming naked."

Attributed to Warren Buffet and day by day reflecting the business world as we know it.

Just take a stroll along any shopping strip and the sign of shuttered windows, empty stores and for lease signs reveal who has been swimming "butt naked". 

Look I am no "prude" and to be honest a "skinny dip" every once and a while is good for the soul, but when it comes to business we need to double down and have ourselves covered. And by covered I mean we have to focus on our marketing efforts and keep up the sales momentum. 

Just the other day I received an email from a client in real estate...

"…. I want to say thank you ...

Because of all the help (and training) I have gotten from you, my business (real estate sales training) has almost tripled during the last month. My emails, videos, courses, coaching, etc. are all selling like hot cakes. And I feel it is because I DO NOT write anything without one of your courses open in front of me to help me spark ideas. It is the coolest thing ever. So thank you!"

I don’t know how it is in the rest of the world.

But here in my world, Australia, when the government stimulus stop coming in, the eviction bans disappear, and the enhanced unemployment benefits that have kept many afloat expire... it’s going to get real bad and "naked" for a lot of businesses who don’t have their acts together.

Especially those who have cut their marketing effort because they don't think it will work at the moment, and have been lazy about building a list. And, even more importantly, have not been building a relationship with that list with quality content and helping people.

Remember in times of strife people are looking for beacons of hope and that should be you. You should be the one in your market that they are buying from.

Then there are the clients of mine of the world.

Making more than ever before.

Cleaning up in a market rife with competition.

And understanding that an investment in something like “Sales & Marketing Training” is not an “expense”, it’s buying money at a discount to whatever extent one is willing to work, think, plan, and execute their ideas to make it happen.

I won’t say that everything I offer is a cure-all for anything.

It isn’t.

But I know that if you take the time to download my FREE sales and marketing training app, you will go a long way toward getting yourself covered from a business growth point of view.

In fact, think of this mobile phone training platform as if it were the latest in lime green mankini's or an "itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini 👙👙".

Inside this FREE marketing app you will find heaps of FREE resources and training along with some of my best ideas and strategies. 

Grab your copy of my free Marketing 24-7 mobile app by going here

https://marketing.petergianoli.com/App

If you want to succeed in marketing you have to constantly keep your eyes and ears open and never stop learning. In this episode I outline what I have learnt recently thanks to an outreach email I had received.

Podcast Transcript

Hi Peter,

I know you're busy so I'll cut right to it.

I'm reaching out to high-quality sites that feature great ways to get better leads. 

I came across your post: https://petergianoli.com/get-better-leads/ and was particularly interested in the free stock photo sites that you mentioned! 

I'd like to pitch my website for inclusion in the post - Pikwizard 

We have over 100,000 free images and videos on the site, with 20,000 of those exclusive to us. We are also adding new images and videos to our library daily and our ultimate goal is to get to more than 1 million images and videos.

We've got A LOT of pictures of people, which tend to be rare on free stock photo sites. If you check out our site and search for "office" or "meeting", you will see the quality of images on the website. All of which are free to use without attribution.

You can also take each image and edit it on our graphic design tool, Design Wizard!

I realize it's a pain for you to make changes, so I'd like to attempt to return the favor whatever way I can (Write the blurb? Share on social?)

If interested, you can check out the site here: www.pikwizard.com

Thanks very much,

David, 

Outreach Manager

Imagine having your own world - where you can stipulate the rules and be able to explain yourself and offer your best products and services to people who really want to know about them. Best yet, if people transgress (nasty reviews and the like) moderate or expel them.

Podcast Transcript

So a few WAGS (wives and girlfriends) of AFL players went to a day spa whilst living hub life on the Gold Coast.

This was an unauthorised activity in an unauthorised place which was not cool, and by one of the WAGS posting some pictures of the outing on social media.... whoops!! 📛🏸🦡 the AFL are now in a pickle.

The WAGS, whilst guests of the AFL - do not actually belong in their world and as such the AFL have limited, if any jurisdiction over them. But, the state government in question isn't happy that this breach of protocol occurred. 

What to do??!!

Okay, I can read your mind - what has this to do with marketing.

Not a lot - if you aren't interested in world building.

However, if you'd like to dramatically build your business and substantially increase the effect of your marketing then you should.

Imagine having your own world (like the AFL has with its players) - where you can stipulate the rules and be able to explain yourself and offer your best products and services to people who really want to know about them. Best yet, if people transgress (nasty reviews and the like) moderate or expel them.

Well, I have been working on doing this very thing over the last couple of months. In fact I have begun crafting my own Sales and Marketing 24-7 world, and I'd like you to experience it and become a part of it.

My Sales and Marketing 24-7 world is now alive and well in the form of a mobile app and I am now in a position to invite you into its orbit.

In it you will find heaps of FREE resources and training along with some of my best ideas and strategies. Over time I will also be making all of my training courses available in the mobile app format, as I know a lot of you are glued to your mobile and would enjoy learning things in the strangest of places that you take your mobile to. Yes, even in a day spa!!?? :)

If you’re interested in checking out my free Marketing 24-7 mobile app for strategies, tips, training on all things sales and marketing, possible plans, and other tidbits I got mulling around, go here:

https://marketing.petergianoli.com/App

People may copy your stuff, but they can’t copy your fire. 

Podcast Transcript

Many of my clients in the service industry and even some of those in products fret about are nervous about their competitors. 

What if they steal our ideas, deal or code.

That’s when I remembered something I heard in a podcast.  “They can’t copy your fire, your message, your community, or your work ethic.”

Many pieces that go into growing an empire are intangible. Knowledge and information is everywhere. 

In fact, I think there’s probably not aNYthiNG someone couldn’t Google or YouTube and figure out for themselves.

So if you think you have a corner on the market of knowledge or information, you’re always going to be afraid.

Focus on the parts of your business that are  copy cat-proof.

Growing your team, your work ethic, your character, message, and vibe. People who are  going  to  rip  you  off  are  going  to  do  it  anyway,  and  you’ll  waste  so much time and energy chasing those ghosts. Instead, build products and services for your buyers. Thieves are not the people you want to work with anyway. The customers you want are the people who are going to pay for your time and information because they know it’s worth it.

Insecurity is poison to a sales relationship. If your prospect picks up on any anxiety or self-doubt, they’ll lose respect for you -- and more importantly, they won’t believe your recommendations are valuable.

Podcast Transcript

Insecurity is poison to a sales relationship. If your prospect picks up on any anxiety or self-doubt, they’ll lose respect for you -- and more importantly, they won’t believe your recommendations are valuable.

So what can you do to project confidence? It’s tricky, especially because in sales you often go from feeling like a champion to a failure in single week (sometimes a single day).

One of the easiest areas to tackle is email. Prospects can’t see your face or hear your voice, meaning following these suggestions will instantly make you seem confident.

Here are seven things making you appear insecure and how to fix them.

1) Writing too much
Emails that go on and on scream insecurity. After all, if you believe your message is powerful and compelling, you don’t need to write a book.
Next time you’re sending an email for the first time that’s three-plus paragraphs, stop and pick out the most compelling point. Delete the other sections. You can send these in follow-up emails. (As an added benefit, this makes your messages more varied and gives the buyer a reason to keep opening them.)

Just make sure you don’t leave out the call-to-action -- that's one of the most important parts of your message.

2) Apologizing
Do you begin emails with lines like:
• “Apologies for contacting you out of the blue.”
• “Hope I’m not bothering you.”
• “I’m sorry to trouble you.”
• “I know we haven’t met, but …”
• “Hopefully you don’t mind me reaching out.”
• “I know emails like these can be annoying, so I’ll get right to the point.”

These lines are usually used with good intentions: Reps want to show consideration for their prospects. However, starting with an apology implies you don’t think you’re worthy of the buyer’s time.

If you believe in your product’s value, and you’ve done some basic qualification to ensure your prospect is a potential fit, then you’re not wasting their time. You’re helping them.

3) Using too many emojis

Emojis can add personality to your email and make it a little more memorable. But it’s easy to go overboard. If every line has its own symbol, you’ll look like you’re trying way too hard.

How many emojis is too many? It depends on your market. In many conservative industries, just one smiley face would be completely inappropriate. Yet someone in an informal, modern industry tends to be far more receptive.

Factor in your company brand as well. If it’s playful, you can be playful too. If it’s relatively buttoned-up, reign in the emojis and smiley faces.

My final recommendation: When in doubt, leave it out. You can always wait and see what your prospect does. If they use a smiley face or emoji, you’re free to use one too.

4) Using exclamation marks

I admit, I used to have a real exclamation mark problem. Any time I wrote an email without one, I worried I came across as cold.

But then I realized most of the emails I got from other people didn’t include exclamation marks, and I wasn’t reading them as rude. Those messages simply seemed professional

Now, I rarely use exclamation marks. They’re rarely necessary -- especially in a sales context. You sound 10 times more composed and sure of yourself when you’re not ending any sentences like this!

5) Going too far with flattery

Reps often throw in phrases that highlight their prospect’s intense work schedule. That includes statements like:
• “I’m sure you’re busy …”
• “As [title], you must have a lot on your plate …”
• “I know your schedule is probably jam-packed …”
• “Is there any way I could borrow just a few minutes of your time?”
• “You can’t have much extra time, so I promise I’ll be quick.”

Unfortunately, prospects interpret these lines as: “You’re busy, and I’m not.” You lose a lot of authority in their eyes. If your time isn’t in-demand, your product must not be, either.

To avoid this, stop mentioning how busy your prospects must be. Come out and ask for their time instead.

Here’s a revised CTA:
“I have some recommendations around X. Are you free at [time] on [day] to discuss them?”

6) Using wishy-washy words

Words that weaken your statements will make you seem less confident. To illustrate, here’s a watered-down line:
“I think your company may be able to benefit from [solving X, doing Y].”

Using “I think” or “may” would be fine, but both in the same sentence sounds like you’re totally unsure.

Read through your email for wishy-washy language like:
• “Just”
• “Maybe”
“Potentially”
• “Might”
• “I think”
• “I believe”
• “I’m guessing”
• “I suspect”
• “I have a hunch”
• “I’m not sure, but …”
• “I could be wrong, but…”
• “It’s possible that …”
• “There’s a chance …”

Remove these terms when possible. Obviously, you don’t want to make promises you can’t keep or statements you can’t back up -- saying “You could be losing $20,000 per year” is preferable to “You’re losing $20,000 per year” unless you can definitively prove the latter.

7) Writing in caps

You might be confused by this point: Doesn’t using CAPS LOCK make your message (and by extension, you) seem more  important?

In fact, it does the opposite. Capitalizing entire words comes across as overly aggressive -- as though you don’t trust your message to sound urgent on its own.

Compare these two email subject lines:
• How ReadQ can hire engineers 3x faster (URGENT)
• How ReadQ can hire engineers 3x faster

Which would you be more likely to open? Probably the second. It seems less spammy and more legitimate.

There’s almost never a justifiable reason to use caps lock in a sales email, so pretend this button on your keyboard doesn’t exist.

When it comes to sales, fake it until you make it. You might be a brand-new SDR or a recent hire and nervous behind your computer screen, but there’s no reason your prospects have to know that. An assertive email will help you capture their interest, build credibility, and down the line, win the deal.