When you've been in sales a while, it's like shooting fish in a barrel to develop bad habits. You lot pick them up from other reps or take a shortcut during an especially decorated week and, all of the sudden, you lot've added some skills to your repertoire that aren't helping you meet your quota. If y'all're not regularly examining your beliefs and results, these habits can cause mistakes that cease in deals falling apart, annoyed prospects, or missed numbers. Create a new, on-brand email signature in just a few clicks. Get started here. (It's free.)

And I'm not simply talking near waiting too long to update a contact's information in your CRM. Seemingly innocuous phrases like, "Sad to bother you," sneak into our regular sales emails and telephone calls and toxicant our relationships without united states even realizing it. Hither'southward how to stop it.

Why You Should Never Say, "I Am Sorry for Bothering You"

Ideally, sales reps would never have to write a follow upwardly email because they would avoid the number-1 follow-upward mistake: Declining to set a next step before ending the phone call.

All information technology takes is one cringeworthy phrase to kill a sales follow-upwardly e-mail. 1 of my least favorite moves is asking for a prospect to respond "ASAP." Simply apologizing for contacting your prospect is nothing brusk of poisonous to deals, and should exist cut from the vocabulary of every sales rep. It usually looks like this:

So, why should you avoid saying "Sorry to bother you once again?"

  1. Information technology implies you've go annoying to your prospect. Information technology also reminds the prospect they've reached out several times before ("over again") to no success. Even if the sales rep hasn't annoyed the prospect yet, this is the phrase that might do it.
  2. Information technology implies you've done something wrong. In addition, people use the word "sorry" after doing something they deem wrong. When we make a mistake that negatively impacts someone, the kickoff phrase that ofttimes comes out of our mouths is "I'g sorry." This phrase means we've acknowledged wrongdoing and know nosotros need to fix it.
  3. Information technology signals agony. Reps ship "sorry to bother yous once again" emails in hopes of starting a conversation subsequently not hearing back. The message is a terminal-ditch effort to pique the potential buyer's interest -- on the rep'due south timeline.
  4. It communicates your fourth dimension and energy is not equally valuable as the prospect's -- which simply isn't true. Maintain say-so and equal footing with your prospect by never apologizing for being in their inbox or vox mailbox.

If yous find yourself using this phrase in an email -- stop writing. Instead, regroup and focus on providing value to the prospect and grabbing their attention instead of "bothering" them over again.

In that location are a multitude of means to provide value in a sales follow-up e-mail. Here are a few I suggest.

Alternatives to Saying, "Sorry for Bugging You"

one. Send a customer review

A client review provides value considering mod-day buyers trust their boyfriend buyers to give honest feedback nigh a product they've used. Call up they might non trust a written review coming directly from you?

Connect them with current and by buyers who can provide honest feedback on why working with you is great as well as some of the drawbacks. For example, y'all might open up an e-mail with, "Instead of sending you a pitch, I'll let a previous customer do the heavy lifting with their unvarnished (really) testimonial."

two. Include a case study

Example studies permit prospects to detect how a business in a similar position to theirs solved its problems. Send your latest and most relevant written report with a annotation saying, " This case study made me retrieve of your business. I know your fourth dimension is valuable, and I think this is worth the few minutes it will accept to read. "

You've acknowledged their time is a priority for you lot, without discounting your ain schedule and what you're offering.

3. Link to a blog postal service

A web log post is a way to build brownie with prospects and provide them new information about the product and company as they starting time to make a decision.

If you're trying to grab a prospect's attention, endeavour sending one with an especially snappy title. You might fifty-fifty work with a marketer to craft a post just for them. After all, who isn't going to click the link to a post titled, "ix Reasons Julie Needs ABC Staffing Solutions Today."

4. Reference a mutual connection

Surfacing a mutual connection allows the prospect to inquire their acquaintance nigh the sales rep and get together more data. Information technology also signifies that if a friend works with this sales rep, the prospect might besides relish working with the aforementioned sales rep.

And information technology gives you something in common to bond over. For instance, "I run into we have a mutual connection: Sansa Stark. Her family bought several dire wolves from me a few years ago." You lot've given your conversation and human relationship something to build upon -- and that can be a huge help when conducting outreach.

v. Provide a suggestion

A small strategy tip tin help sales reps build credibility and showcase the value of their insight to buyers.

When a salesperson'south name appears in a prospect's inbox, the reaction shouldn't be, "No, not this rep again!" or "Who?" but "I wonder what they're sending me -- I improve bank check it out."

Send them a new manufacture benchmark report or a mention a recent move their company fabricated, and offer unique insight into how your product/service could help.

For instance, "I idea you might be interested in the latest benchmark study from [insert trusted industry source]. Their findings on the 25% increase in mobile app usage might exist especially interesting to y'all and relevant to your work."

6. Drop shop-talk altogether

Want to really become their attention? Don't talk business at all. Instead, transport them a casual email maxim, "I watched a documentary on Colorado ski country this weekend and thought of you immediately. Accept you hit the slopes yet this twelvemonth?"

While your prospect might not be ready to hash out business -- most people like talking about their hobbies and out-of-office interests. Once you accept them engaged again, use your best judgement to steer them back to the topic at hand: your offer.

7. Offer to walk away

If you've reached out multiple times over the course of several weeks or months and your prospect still hasn't responded, do yourself a favor and walk away.

You should be spending time on deals that really have a chance of endmost, and pleading with an unmotivated prospect to respond to your emails isn't doing either of you lot any good.

Simply say, "Tony, I've tried to reach you lot unsuccessfully a few times now. Usually when this happens, it means my offer isn't a priority for y'all correct now. Is that safe for me to assume here? If so, y'all won't hear from me again."

If your prospect is still interested, this should take hold of their attention. If not, it gives them an easy way out. You can ever go out the door open for a phone call or email 6 months down the line to run across if things accept inverse.

eight. Compliment them

If your prospect recently published a new blog post or the visitor unveiled a shiny, new product, let them know you're paying attending.

Chances are, they put a lot of time and effort into their recent project, and would love for someone to observe. Send a simple note proverb, "I saw your recent feature in Forbes and wanted to tell you what a great write-upward it was. I particularly liked your observation that AI will begin to take a stronger concord in sales." It's short, specific, and gratuitous.

Bully emails build rapport and brownie. By looking for this deadly phrase earlier sending your emails, yous can improve your odds of a response, and eventually, a relationship.

Want other ways to improve your sales emails? Check out these killer opening email lines or explore alternatives to saying, "Hope you're doing well" -- guaranteed to put your prospect to slumber before they've fifty-fifty read sentence two.

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Originally published Jun 10, 2019 ii:17:00 PM, updated June 10 2021