Copper Staff
Contributors from members of the Copper team
Remember the late ‘90s when email took the communications industry by storm and you probably got excited over one new message in your inbox?
It didn’t matter who it was from or what it said—the fascination of being contacted ‘electronically’ made you read it in full.
Fast forward to the present and you’ll find your inbox filled with hundreds of email messages. And it’s only natural that your first thought is to ignore or delete most of them.
That said, you probably wouldn’t mind sparing a few minutes to read personalized emails that have a proper introduction. You might even do what the sender is asking if the first few lines manage to pique your interest.
As a salesperson, how do you get prospects to not only read your email, but also feel convinced enough to take action?
The key is to write a sales email introduction that potential customers can’t say no to.
Though a small part of your sales email, the introduction is your best (and perhaps your only) chance at making a good first impression on your prospects.
Review these tips for getting your introductions read, with examples and templates to use in different scenarios.
1. Lead with a shared interest.
If the prospect doesn’t know you, your top priority should be to tell them who you are. Sounds easy, right? You’re going to mention your name and the name of your company in the introduction.
But what if you took this a step further? Instead of just providing some background information on your company, why not lay the foundation for a longstanding relationship by citing a mutual interest in personalized emails? After all, most people like discussing their own interests more than anything else.
Let’s assume you’re the salesperson at a company that makes table management software. If your prospect’s a restaurant owner who is exploring the perks of investing in a technology like yours, you and other sales reps could say something like:
Hi [prospect name],
It’s Daniele from managetables.com. I recently made a presentation on how table management technology is helping restaurants generate more revenue, which I think you’d find interesting.
The opening introduces the sender and then quickly dives into stuff that the prospect can relate to. Framing your sales email with “I’m familiar with your preferences” like done here is a great way to get the ball rolling—and to establish you as someone who actually takes the time to understand the needs of the people you’re reaching out to.
Of course, you’ll have to do some research on your prospects’ needs, as well as figure out which of those needs align with your brand’s offerings. Here are some good resources to check if the two of you share common ground:
- Twitter (Check out their tweets. Do they mention anything that’s related to what your company does?)
- Medium (Have they published anything you could comment on or add to?)
- CRM (Review all the crucial information your CRM has captured about your prospects. Are they already familiar with your product/service?)
By being vocal about what you have in common in the sales introduction email, you’ll have a better chance of developing a mutually beneficial relationship from the get-go.
Use this sales email template to relate to your prospect by leading with a shared interest:
Hi [prospect name],
It’s [your name] from [company name]. I recently made a [marketing asset like a webinar or presentation] on how [solution name] is helping the [prospect’s industry] industry generate more revenue, which I think you’d find interesting since [something personal and relevant to this prospect that would make sense here].
2. Evoke curiosity with a suspenseful introduction.
The aim of this type of sales email introduction is to create irresistible curiosity about what follows next. You can accomplish this by saying something that’s mysterious, universally unexplored, surprising, or a little outside the box (or all of the above, if you’re good).
That something could be a breakthrough discovery achieved by your company. It could be an interesting statistic that will strengthen the claims you want to make. Or it could simply be an analogy that struck you when researching about your prospect.
For example, if you’re a sales representative at a company that specializes in Keto meals and your target audience is people between the ages of 49 and 65, your email opening could be:
Hi [prospect name],
X% of all seniors believe that cutting down on saturated fat will improve their health, and they couldn’t be more mistaken.
The compelling introduction makes a bold statement that’s thought-provoking and makes your recipients think. You could base it on a personal experience you want to share or the data you want to cite in your sales email.
The impact you want to have after the prospect reads the opening is for them to wonder, “Wait … really?” You want them to feel they must stay engaged so they can solve the mystery that’s formed in their minds. Bonus points if you can drop a real-life story to back it up.
For example:
X% of all seniors believe that cutting down on saturated fat will improve their health, and they couldn’t be more mistaken. 59-year old Michelle found this out the hard way when poor body temperature regulation caused her to have to move out of town.
That part of the sales introduction email should perk up your recipient’s ears, making them eager to learn more.
Use this template to intrigue your prospect:
Hi [prospect name],
Did you know [insert astonishing claim] + [contradictory outcome]?
3. Use social proof to establish credibility.
People trust word-of-mouth more than anything else.
They don’t like being sold to, but they will appreciate recommendations, especially if they’re from someone they can relate to. That’s where social proof can have a powerful impact on how people react to your emails.
Simply put, social proof is the idea that people will take the same action as the masses. It goes hand-in-hand with the psychology of consensus, which states that those who are unsure of how to respond in certain situations will rely on others to determine the correct response.
You can lend some credibility to your sales email introduction by highlighting social proof. It can be industry endorsements, influencer reviews, client testimonials or a stat related to the number of companies you’ve onboarded to date.
Take a look at this email opening:
Hi [prospect name],
My name is Sarah and I’m the Sales Representative for XYZAPP. Over 80,000 companies with 200+ employees are currently using XYZAPP to manage their payroll.
The fact that 80,000 other businesses with large workforces are using the sender company’s solution will make its prospects a lot more interested in hearing from (and buying) it.
Sharing your numbers in the opening sends a powerful message to the recipients, but be clever with it. If your customer base isn’t large enough to knock their socks off, cite the number of successful transactions, completed projects, or other creative achievements.
Use this template to wow your prospect with social proof:
Hi [prospect name],
My name is [your name] and I am the [position name] for [company name]. Over [number of clients] trust [solution name].
4. Press the compliment button.
Everyone loves a compliment, and your prospects are no different. Making your sales email introduction about their work or achievements is a great way to put them at ease.
To maximize your impact, show some appreciation for a certain thing they recently did.
Did you see the recipient speak at an event, webinar, or panel? You and other sales reps can strike up a sales email introduction that references their presentation and touch base on any pain points they shared.
LinkedIn makes this convenient as it lets you stay updated on prospects’ recent activities and job changes. You can also refer to a recent blog post, comment, or another piece of content in the opening to warm up the recipient—the sky’s the limit here.
For example, if you sell virtual staging software to real estate agents and you come across a prospect who gave a great presentation on house flipping at a conference you recently attended, you can use an introduction similar to this to stroke their ego.
Hi [prospect name],
Your RealSummit talk was incredibly inspirational—I really liked your perspective on real estate’s need for digital technology in particular.
Instead of having a random thought or pitch be the first touch, this sales email introduction builds a relationship off of the familiarity with the prospect’s activity, allowing the sender to separate themselves from the dozens of completely cold email pitches the recipient receives daily.
Use this template to show your prospect some appreciation for their work:
Hi [prospect name],
Your presentation at [insert conference/event name] was really fascinating—I really liked your perspective on [insert presented angle or recommended solution] in particular.
Time to write an awesome sales email introduction.
With a few tweaks, the introduction templates we’ve shared above can help you be creative and proactive in drumming up some sales.
Use them to inspire you, or in combination with your own unique writing methods, to write introductions that keep the reader reading.
Have a suggestion for writing an enticing sales email introduction? Let us know on Twitter! We’re always looking for new ideas to share with our community.
