My first post on Garth’s World talks generally how to construct an introductory client communication that won’t get machine gunned into the junk file by a busy executive. Here is a specific example that caught Jim’s (Fowler, Jigsaw CEO) eye and his response. It’s from a search consultant, too, which I think qualifies as a miracle- I get an hourly spam cannonball from the same knucklehead using a Gmail address telling me how he can triple my SEM…
Read from the top:
From: [Search marketing sales guy]
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 12:57 PM
To: Jim Fowler
Subject: Short bullet point email
Jim,
I talked to one of your guys at Ad:Tech. I like love your service.
Your Google search advertising leaves much to be desired. Here's why:
- You're paying too much per click (by 21% to 39%)
- Your ads are buried below your competition (screenshot enclosed)
- You're missing many of the latest optimization techniques
If you're open to a new progressive search marketing agency, when can we talk?
[First Name and signature file]
From: Jim Fowler
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 1:15 PM
To:Sales Guy, Jigsaw Marketing folks
Subject: RE: Short bullet point email
[Sales guy],
I’m thinking about using your email as a model for how to communicate with me. Way to listen and get my attention at the same time. Please forward this to your boss and tell him I suggest you get a raise. I’ve also cc’d our VP of Global Sales/BizDev, as we’re always looking for great sales people.
The person who has complete budget and responsibility for SEM/SEO is [Jigsaw marketing director] (she’s on Jigsaw). I’ve cc’d her here.
Note: we are coming off a nasty experience with [your competitor]. [our director] will likely be gun shy.
Best of luck.
Fowler
From: Jim Fowler
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 1:50 PM
To: Biz Dev; Sales (All); Marketing; Garth Moulton
Subject: FW: Short bullet point email
Team,
This is one of the finest examples of a sales outreach email I’ve ever seen:
- He read and listened to my contact preferences/instructions
- Used the fact that he read the instructions to get my attention
- VERY crisp communication throughout the email – no extra blah, blah, blah.
- He complimented Jigsaw, which is like complimenting my kid. Makes me feel good.
- The bullet points have numbers (yes, they’re probably BS, but who cares – got my attention)
- Attached an actual real-life example of what we can do to improve
- Provided a call to action at the end
- Notice the response I gave him. I provided extremely valuable data – something that will happen to you too, if you do it right like [sales guy].
REALLY impressive. I would be very pleased to see the quality of our outbound 1to1 emails from our sales team be of this quality. Please make it happen!
Fowler
