Email Marketing – The Rest of the Story
by Richard Barrett
In the previous post our friend Jim Easterbrook, Director of Internet Security at Midwest Regional Bank, had just received his first marketing email from your company – Super Security, Inc.
Your first email passed Jim’s six intuitive spam tests, so he did not delete it immediately. Instead, he put it into his “To Read Later” folder. Congratulations to you and your marketing team.
Of course, Jim did not find time to read that email, so it got deleted a few weeks later when he cleaned out the folder. But it did its job. It created a little name recognition for Super Security, and made the initial introduction for a longer term relationship.
As VP of Marketing for Super Security, you continue your email marketing campaign, approximately one per month, for the next year.
Jim continues to file the next few emails in his “To Read Later” folder. He likes the titles, he’s beginning to trust you and Super Security, and he has even opened one or two of them, but he has many urgent tasks and the services of Super Security are not critical at this point.
Then something happens to Jim and Midwest Regional. It could be a merger, a promotion for Jim, an internet attack on the company, or one of his vendors let him down. You may never know the trigger event, but suddenly Jim has a business need for internet security services.
Now he is alert and tuned to any information about internet security. When he gets your next email, he opens it and reads it thoroughly. The case study you reference in the email sounds interesting, so Jim clicks the link to read that study on your website.
Now Jim is ready for your team to engage with him, based on the relationship you have built through your email communications.
The chart below summarizes the email relationship building process.
As the chart shows, your sales team calls Jim only when he expresses interest by opening the email or clicking a link in the email. Jim’s interest level drives the intensity of the interchange. When an external event creates a business need, you will know by Jim’s actions.
These simple guidelines will lead you to effective email communications and easy sales when the time is right.
Always
- Be open and direct.
- Be patient and persistent.
- Respond to your prospect’s actions.
and opportunity will come to you.
January 21st, 2009 at 4:08 am
This is Craig Elias the creator of Trigger Event Selling.
Richard’s comment about the ‘Trigger Event’ being necessary is bang on.
Even with all the marketing and relationship building int the world, people won’t change their buying pattern without an event that triggers (aks Trigger Event) makes solving the problem a priority.
One of the best ways to identify the Trigger Events for what you sell is to conduct a won sales analysis.
I have a template with instructions on how to identify the best Trigger Events for what you sell that is available free of charge at http://www.WonSalesAnalsysis.com
Call my cell phone (+1.403.874.2998) if you have ANY questions once you have downloaded the form.
Have an eventful week!
Craig
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Craig — Thanks for the confirmation about the importance of trigger events creating buying windows. A seller can learn a lot about its prospective customers and their needs by identifying trigger events.
But it is critical to understand that, when the prospect has a trigger event, the prospect will not call a stranger and will not even respond well to a stranger calling. The prospect will call a trusted advisor who has ALREADY established a long-term, trustworthy relationship with the prospect.
In other words, if you as a seller wait until a trigger event to start your relationship building activities, you will miss that buying window. You must develop a trusted, professional relationship with the prospect a long time (6-12 months) before the prospect encounters a trigger event. Ongoing email communication is ideal for establishing your qualifications and experience, demonstrating your trustworthiness, and building a relationship over time.
Then, when the trigger event occurs, your prospect will remember you, will find your recent email, and will contact you to elevate the dialog.
Build the relationship before the trigger event occurs!