Email to get the phones ringing

[cash89]

Hey guys,

Not that new to wf, but this is my first time posting on the copy writing forum. I am now selling a google local optimization. Mostly doing door to door and cold calls to make sales. I am looking to use emails also. I want to send cold emails & warm emails (if I have a d.m. name).

I'm not really sure how to structure these emails. I know it's good to keep it short but i'm not sure exactly how it should be laid out. My goals for the emails is to get people to reply by email and by phone if they are interested and to try and build some interested for the future if they are not.

Any suggestions on how I should run this?
Anyone have any experience or tips that could help?
Anybody have any email examples or good articles they could point me to?

[Jeremey]

Originally Posted by cash89

Hey guys,

Not that new to wf, but this is my first time posting on the copy writing forum. I am now selling a google local optimization. Mostly doing door to door and cold calls to make sales. I am looking to use emails also. I want to send cold emails & warm emails (if I have a d.m. name).

I'm not really sure how to structure these emails. I know it's good to keep it short but i'm not sure exactly how it should be laid out. My goals for the emails is to get people to reply by email and by phone if they are interested and to try and build some interested for the future if they are not.

Any suggestions on how I should run this?
Anyone have any experience or tips that could help?
Anybody have any email examples or good articles they could point me to?

Where are you getting email addresses from?

[joe golfer]

Cold email is a tough way to go. Check this out:

Marketing Via Email... I need advice and tips please.

Also make sure it is legal in your country.

[cash89]

Thanks guys, here's some more info on what i got going

What I have been doing up until now is, used google to find my leads and cold call those prospects. If they are there I go for the sale, if they are not I get as much info about the decision maker as possible and then send a warm email. I ask the person answering the phone for the best email address to send it to. I am looking for some suggestions for copy for this kind of email.

I also wanted to try a cold email with killer copy, with the goal of getting prospects to reply to the email or call me. I feel if the copy is good enough I could get a pretty good conversion rate. I will have no problem make the sale once I get them on the phone, just want to get a lot more inbound leads.

Any advice

[Jeremey]

Originally Posted by cash89

Thanks guys, here's some more info on what i got going

What I have been doing up until now is, used google to find my leads and cold call those prospects. If they are there I go for the sale, if they are not I get as much info about the decision maker as possible and then send a warm email. I ask the person answering the phone for the best email address to send it to. I am looking for some suggestions for copy for this kind of email.

I also wanted to try a cold email with killer copy, with the goal of getting prospects to reply to the email or call me. I feel if the copy is good enough I could get a pretty good conversion rate. I will have no problem make the sale once I get them on the phone, just want to get a lot more inbound leads.

Any advice

I think you're going to want to forgo any email marketing efforts regardless of how spectacular your email is. Even with a targeted mail list of thousands of emails the response is usually next to nothing. Since you're going after local offline businesses, your best bet is to a great sales letter printed up on good quality stock and a bunch of stamps, double check the names and addresses of each of your leads, hand address and stamp each envelope, and follow up via telephone after about a week.

[joe golfer]

Consider that it will take some time to fill your sales funnel no matter if you use email or not.

Even if you get immediate sales you don't want to waste any effort you put forth on each campaign. You should run follow up campaigns over time.

A study looked at how people buy in multiple product categories. They found that generally only 15% of the people that make a purchase do so in the first 90 days. Keep selling the other 85% by staying in touch until they buy or die.

That's why it's important to put together a good list. I suggest spending a lot of time determining the most likely candidates for your service. You'll need at least 200 in the target market. Then hit them with a multi-step campaign.

That might mean direct mail followed by telephone follow up. Then an email. Then some lumpy mail. Or try to get in with a cold call and leave a voice mail if they don't pick up. Then follow up with email or direct mail. Lots of different routes you can travel. Contact them every 2-4 weeks.

One key is that many prospects don't want to get on the phone because they think they will get high-pressured. So create ways they can gather information about your service without talking to you. A free report, another free report, a special calculator, some free software, a free recorded message, etc. Slowly they will move down the funnel. Over time they will convert like mad.

As far as actual email copy, your best bet is to hire a copywriter. If money is tight, check out Brucerby's WSOs for ideas. Also Ewen Mack's threads here and in the offline forum have a lot of good info.

[Steve The Copywriter]

Hi Cash,

Great advice so far.

My thoughts... you can battle away with freezing cold emails, but it will be a relentlessly hard slog.

Direct sales letters would be so much better and much more acceptable to your prospects.

Nobody really minds getting "junk" mail (I mean very interesting, informative and entertaining mail, that solves a pressing problem that your people want fixed).

But they hate spam emails.

I know they're cheap to do, but it's almost impossible to gain any credibility (hint, if you must do them, start by saying - "Sorry for troubling you, I was going to send you a letter, but this is much quicker and I have something I hope you'll find very interesting blah blah" - make sure it IS interesting).

It maybe the costs of putting together a 3 plus step direct mail package are a bit off putting.

If that's the case you can always do Flyers.

Far cheaper to produce and with top notch copy they can bring you a fast and very profitable response.

I've never seen anyone rant and rage about getting a Flyer. Just make sure it's good, so they read it.

Steve


P.S. What I'm about to say is top secret.

When a business, company or organisation sends out a Flyer they say "Well, good stuff, that's that done"

What they should be saying is "Good stuff, that's the first one done, lets measure the response, and then send another, and another and another. Lets do this like direct sales letter campaign, using all the same techniques...."

I'm one of the very few people in advertising who was "stupid" enough to put a "grabber" on a Flyer.

People said "Steve, you only need a grabber to make an envelope feel "lumpy" to get it opened it, and then it helps make people read the pitch - why the f*** would you bother putting one on a Flyer?"

The answer is in the question - it makes people read it.

[DesertSand]

What is a grabber?

[Steve The Copywriter]

...Imagine There's A Dollar Bill...

At the top of this post.

That's a grabber.

It "grabs" peoples attention.


Steve

[Alex Cohen]

Joe and Steve have given you good advice: use direct mail.

I suggest you send out a simple postcard.

On the picture side, make an attention-grabbing statement (same as a sales letter headline). On the address side, include three compelling bullets and a call to action.

I've used this method, and it works well.

Alex

[cash89]

Great suggestions guys, thank you.

Have never really been a fan of direct mail, but i will try it one day. As of now, I don't mind making cold calls, I actually kind of enjoy it. Out of thousands of prospect that I have called over the years, only one has complained about receiving a cal, everyone else has been pleasant. What i am going to do is continue with the calling, and increase it to at least 250 dials per day. Every call that I am not able to connect with the decision maker on, i will get as much info about them as possible and send a warm email.

With this strategy I can get at least one client per day. I also feel the warm emails will get a response due to using the persons name and mentioning the fact I had called earlier. Anybody have any suggestions for this type of email?

Don't think im going to go through with the cold emails, although I will try it out.

[deezn]

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