We live in a world where quick and easy is normal behavior. Although it may be considered normal, it cannot be the way relevant email campaigns are designed and delivered.
These days, important meetings often include someone with their smart phone under the edge of the conference table. Some otherwise professional salespeople may type an email to a client while on the phone with a family member. On the other hand, the same person might respond to business text while in the middle of an important conversation with their spouse. This hyper-connected world can diminish communication.
The practice is so commonplace people will be very forgiving when you apologize about your stumble in focus. In our device-dominated lifestyle we have the misconception that we are communicating all the time.
Meaningful and Relevant Communication
In his book, “Stop Talking, Start Communicating”, Geoffrey Tumlin warns people about the ever-present quick and easy communication style of today. He claims that this casual approach is not inevitable due to the tools that allow us to maintain contact with thousands of people from around the world. While it can fragment our concentration and diminish our ability to listen to others, the devices are not the problem. People are the problem. We must make a conscious effort to listen and be heard.
Poor Communication is a Two-Edge Sword
The results of distracted communication can hit us from both sides. Not only are we charged with the task of taking time to craft well-written communication in our email campaigns…but we also have to keep in mind that the reader is distracted too. Here are a few bits of advice that relate to our email marketing efforts:
Play dumb: If there is anything that will send a sales lead running away, it is an overconfident and pushy sales person who thinks they know it all. The truth is, your sales team does know a whole lot more than any sales lead that believes they are empowered by the information found on the internet. You won’t convince them, play dumb and listen instead.
Question your questions: The best way to assure that you are asking the best questions with new sales leads is to set them up in your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software for your sales team to use when talking to raw leads. Your professional sales team probably has a pretty good idea what questions lead to the right answers, so give them a test.
Ask the team to develop a set of questions they think will bring the best results and make it easy for them to record the answers while talking to the new sales lead. At the same time, set up a way to measure the results in the CRM. When you review the results, you may want to try completely new questions, tweak the ones you currently use and keep the ones that resulted in the most profitable appointments.
Blow Things Off: Nothing can dilute good communication more than trying to accomplish everything at one time. As Tumlin says in his book, “Protect what matters by letting go of what doesn’t.
This principle is true in several aspects of your email campaigns. Certainly you want to make each email hyper-focused on only ONE message. The fragmented attention of the reader cannot respond if you try to talk about more than one topic at a time. Besides, you can’t measure what got a response if more than one thing is covered in an email campaign.
The second way you want to “blow things off” is when deciding what to measure. When a company gets enthralled by the power of possibilities in CRM metrics they can sometimes go overboard with gathering data. Awash with lots of data, they will often let it build up without taking time to respond.
If the data is not moving your company toward action, it is worthless and meaningless. The goal is to carefully hone your communication to be intimately relevant to your ideal clients. Make your communication, especially email campaigns, more meaningful and relevant, and expect more revenue for your company.