Sales professionals know that in-​person meetings with prospects allow them to form closer relationships. But prospects increasingly pull back from these time-​consuming interactions. To stay connected with prospects, your selling tactics must include outstanding writing.

The Challenges of Business Writing

Not everyone excels at writing. And mastering a sales email can be particularly challenging. But a well-​written email can also bring you much closer to a signed contract.

Fortunately, research shows the best ways to connect via writing with your audience. It involves a few simple steps. A recent Richardson post on Salespop​.com outlined these steps.

Before writing an email, decide on what you want to communicate. Above all, you’ll want to avoid confusing the recipient. That means focusing on a simple message, along with form and content.

Focus on Form

Most of us are over the habit of including emojis in email messages. Spam filters are quick to make sure your recipient never sees a message like that. Remove emojis from your list of selling tactics when emailing.

Like many sales professionals, you may hurry to get your thoughts onto the screen in front of you. The sight of two long paragraphs of text that outline your ideas may please you. Your prospect may not be inclined to read long sentences that are strung together in even longer paragraphs.

To make a positive impression and help the reader focus on important details, use:

• Short sentences
• Bullet points
• Headers

Streamline Your Content

Your email message should make one important point. As one of your selling tactics, you may be asking the recipient to agree to an in-​person presentation.

The recipient will want to know what’s in it for them. Explaining that other clients have experienced a 10% ROI after investing in your product is a strong start.

You can remind them that spending half an hour of their valuable time will result in them learning something new.

Sales Writing Tools

Using technology can improve your business writing. Excellent tools exist to help you avoid common spelling and grammar errors. Beyond that, these tools can generate email text that is personalized.

Your selling tactics shouldn’t rely on emails completely generated by AI, for example. 18% of B2B buyers will not meet with a sales professional who sends bulky, spammy emails. And 29% will not engage with sales professionals who share misleading research, according to our surveys.

Emotional Intelligence

Every communication with a prospect should demonstrate empathy. Your prospects have business problems. Acknowledging those problems and explaining how you can help set the right tone.

This approach can also strengthen your relationship with the prospect.

At least 19% of B2B buyers prefer no interaction with a sales professional when they are making purchase decisions. You can improve your chances of making a connection by sharing information that the prospect doesn’t know about. Over 30% of B2B buyers will be more likely to meet with you when you take this step.

Measuring Results

Tracking the results of selling tactics can help sales professionals improve their outcomes. Your manager may already be sending out reports that indicate your win rate and your deal size. No doubt, you’d like to improve both.

Measuring email effectiveness can show you what to improve about this part of your sales process. A low open rate on your email messages indicates you may need to:

• Change when you send your messages
• Change your subject line

Many email tools allow you to test how well subject lines are resonating with your prospects and clients. Take the time to engage in testing, and then make the necessary adjustments.

Other key metrics like email opens and click-​throughs on promotional offers show what’s working.

The Power of Good Business Writing

When a prospect hesitates to meet with you, a well written email can be one of your best selling tactics. The way you write your email can convince them to move further down the sales funnel. It’s always appropriate to use technology to optimize your business writing.

Photo by Maksim Goncharenok on Pexels.