Here are some tips for sales people on emailing buyers
I worked in retail buying roles for over 15 years and often get asked about emailing buyers.
Over the past few days I’ve been at the London Stationery Show. A common topic of conversation again seemed to be had I got any ideas on how to get buyers to reply to emails? It’s a common problem that from what I am hearing is getting worse. We all know that with the amount of emails everyone now gets it’s easy to feel overwhelmed not just by the number of emails but also by all of the email marketing messages.
Email marketing in general still has one of the highest marketing success rates of nearly 24.79% open rates and 4.19% click through rates (stats from mail chimp). Email marketing if done well can be informative and useful but if it is done badly it can be impersonal and intrusive. I wonder if as we are all now getting so many emails, lines are being blurred as to what good email etiquette is. After all it’s fine to ignore or delete a marketing email but increasingly people are also doing the same with communication emails.
My experience of emails as a buyer
All of this got me thinking about how many emails I used to get as a buyer. I would often spend all day in meetings and literally start checking my emails at 5pm. I usually got at least 100 emails a day. The way I used to manage them was to filter by unread then go through them in alphabetical order, block deleting those that weren’t relevant and flagging those I needed to go back to. Personally, it made me feel a lot less stressed to clear the bold black unread emails in my inbox at the end of the day. If my inbox was out of control I felt out of control and stressed. That doesn’t mean I used to reply to them all but at least I knew I hadn’t missed anything. However, I know other colleagues, who would literally let emails mount up and have thousands of unread emails in their inbox so only those at the top would get read.
On other occasions while on buy trips it would be impossible to stay on top of emails when mostly using a blackberry or smart phone. We also had a strict data size policy in most companies I worked for, which meant my inbox would get very full quickly if anyone sent really large files through. Then I would get an email from the I.T department saying I had exceeded my data allowance and they would block me from getting emails. While on buy trips I would get my assistant to go through my inbox every day and delete larger files. Managing my inbox was a constant frustration for me!
My experience of emails as a sales person
Now I’m on the other side emailing buyers and potential clients I can see things from another point of view. It’s hard to get a response sometimes and as a sales person it is easy to get frustrated. You spend half an hour constructing an email to someone and then get nothing back. I mean even a thanks but no thanks would be better than no response at all right? I’ve been told this is a very British problem and buyers in the US for example are a lot more helpful. Constant cost cutting in retail head offices in the UK means that buyers here are continually over stretched.
I know someone reading this will be thinking that I was exactly the same when I was a buyer! So I’ve spoken to a few ex colleagues who are buyers about this. The consensus is that buyers often don’t respond to a first sales email because they like to mull things over or because they’re reading it late in the day and intend to come back to it. If they’re really not interested then you might get a no on a second or third email. However, if it’s not the right time of year for them to look at that product then they will park the email and you will probably not get a response. Beware as well that making a sales person wait for a response can be a negotiating tactic. Sellers are more likely to drop their prices if they think a buyer is not interested in their products or they have less chance of getting it listed because they are not getting a response.
Some top tips on getting buyers to read emails
So what advice can I give on getting buyers to read emails? Well there is no magic formula but here are a few tips based on my experience:
The email communication loop
Firstly just because you have sent an email don’t presume you have communicated your message. So many people send emails to cover their backs so they can say their bit of the job is done. This is not full communication and not particularly helpful to a busy buyer.
I have found the communication model opposite useful when thinking about emailing buyers and communication in general. Just because your email has been sent doesn’t mean it has been received. Just because it has been received doesn’t mean it has been read. Just because it has been read doesn’t mean it has been actioned. Equally just because you haven’t had a response doesn’t been it hasn’t been actioned! The biggest contributor to communication not getting through is the noise factor i.e distractions and other priorities. There are so many reasons why your email may not get read or actioned. Often you will need to email then phone or leave a voicemail to say please read my email about X.
Don’t presume because you have sent an email that anything has been read or actioned.
Email marketing
Account managers – check with your marketing department whether they are also sending emails to your buyers. You need to make sure that you have a consistent marketing message across sales and marketing. You also need to ensure that you are not competing with other internal departments for the buyer’s attention.
Well constructed emails
Make emails easy to read and to the point. Try to avoid really long emails but if you do need to communicate lots of information use headings or bullet points.
Say the most important things at the top of the email in case the buyer doesn’t end up reading the whole email. I had a boss once who just wouldn’t read long emails, they had a really short attention span! The person in question once returned from a two week holiday and said that they had nearly a thousand emails in their inbox, which they subsequently deleted. Their view was that if it was important enough the sender would either call or email again.
Attachments
Don’t rely on attachments or links to communicate your main message in case the buyers are traveling and have no wifi.
Have you ever tried to read a spreadsheet on a smart phone? It’s pretty difficult!
File sizes
Make the file size as small as possible for attachments so it doesn’t clog up a buyer’s inbox. If you need to send a larger file and send a link just be aware that some buyer’s are not allowed to access some file sharing sites due to I.T security.
Subject lines
Make sure the subject line reflects the content of the email so it is easy to see what the email is about. Often in email chains this gets forgotten.
Be thick skinned
Don’t take it personally if you don’t get a response or read too much into it. If they really don’t like your product and want you to leave them alone they can tell you. You should then respect their decision.
Persevere
If you can’t get hold of a buyer, don’t give up! If a buyer sees you are hungry for their business and passionate about your products then they are more likely to give you a chance.
Strike the balance
It’s also important to strike the right balance, no one likes to be hounded. Often suppliers used to chase and chase for information for their own internal purposes that was not yet available. Make sure you listen to your buyer when you do manage to get hold of them and respect their time. If they haven’t had a range signed off yet then they can’t give you the information you may be requesting.
A plea to buyers
Oh and finally… if there are any buyers out there reading this we know you are really busy and important but please save us all some time and answer our emails. Being rejected is often better than being ignored!
Modern day life for all of us is busier than ever but let’s all try and put some etiquette back into email communication.
Bright Disposition provides marketing and consultancy services to the gifts and stationery industries. Learn more about the services we offer here.
