Write enticing follow-up emails that get your prospects to resonate and respond, book more calls, and want to work with you. Further, learn how to use AI products to reduce the heavy lifting for each follow-up while increasing the quality and consistency of what you’re sending out.
A perfectly timed follow-up can go a long way in getting a prospect to respond to you, book future calls with you and start becoming a champion for your product within their org. (If you’ve ever watched Suits or Mad Men, you already know what a powerful and well-timed follow up can do!)
You don't need a law degree or an old-fashioned ad agency to master the art of the sales follow up email. What you do need is a deep understanding of human psychology, the strengths and weaknesses of your conversation with the prospect, and a pinch of AI help to speed you up.
In this ultimate guide, we'll give you the tools to craft sales follow up emails so powerful, you’ll be ready to rival every charmer from your favorite Netflix series. Or at the very least, take more deals further down the pipeline with high response rates.
But first, why do sales follow up emails matter?
The Art and Science of Sales Follow Up Email: Why It Matters
In the world of sales, timing is everything. And when it comes to nurturing leads and closing deals, follow-up email is the unsung hero. And yet, almost half of sales professionals give up after one follow up attempt.
But the best closers are those who make every interaction count - relentlessly. That makes perfecting the art of the sales follow-up email pretty important in the sales cycle. Here’s what it does for sales pros:
- Keeping the momentum going: A well-crafted follow-up email keeps the conversation going with your prospects, ensuring that your product or service remains top-of-mind.
- Demonstrating empathy and understanding: A personalized follow-up email that hits upon the points that had emotional resonance with the buyer on the call demonstrates high EQ, and shows them that you genuinely understand their needs and challenges. You care. This helps build trust and rapport.
- Staying organized and proactive: Sending timely follow-up emails ensures you're on top of your pipeline, consistently nudging prospects closer to a deal.
- Addressing objections and concerns: A well-thought-out follow-up email can address concerns, provide additional information, or offer alternative solutions to alleviate any hesitation.
- Setting yourself apart from the competition: In a crowded market, a thoughtful and relevant follow-up email can be the difference between closing a deal and losing a prospect to a competitor.
With smart, emotionally intelligent and well-timed follow-up emails tailored to your prospect's needs, you stand out and position yourself as a trusted partner.
Hallmarks of a Stellar Sales Follow-Up Email: A Recipe for Success
Crafting the perfect sales follow-up email is an art form in itself.
While no two follow up emails are ever the same, the best ones have some common qualities that win over prospects.
- Clear and concise subject line: Your email subject line should be attention-grabbing, relevant, and concise. It should convey the purpose of the email while piquing the recipient's interest, increasing the likelihood of your email being opened and read.
- Personalization: A personalized email shows that you've taken the time to understand your prospect's unique situation and needs. Use the insights from your calls to tailor your message so it addresses their pain points.
- Context and relevance: Begin your follow-up email by referencing the previous conversation or interaction, reminding the prospect of the context and any points of agreement or action items discussed. This sets the stage for a meaningful conversation. Moreover, feeling warm and connected boosts the tendency for a prospect to respond to your follow-up message.
- Value proposition: Your follow-up email should emphasize the value and benefits of your product or service, focusing on how it addresses your prospect's specific challenges. Use social proof or customer success stories to demonstrate your solution's effectiveness. You can also add value by linking to any new market insights that you came across that might be relevant to the prospect.
- Addressing objections: Proactively address any potential objections or concerns that your prospect may have, providing additional information or alternative solutions as needed. This demonstrates your commitment to finding the best fit for their needs and helps build trust.
- Call-to-action (CTA): A good follow-up email should have a clear and compelling call-to-action, guiding your prospect towards the next step in the sales process. This can be scheduling a follow-up call, signing up for a demo, or providing additional resources for their consideration.
- Professionalism and tone: While maintaining a conversational and engaging tone, ensure your follow-up email is professional and free of errors. This reflects positively on your brand and helps establish you as a trusted partner.
- Timeliness: The timing of your follow-up email is crucial. Strike while the iron is hot by sending it soon after your call, keeping the momentum going and ensuring your solution remains top-of-mind for the prospect.
By incorporating these hallmarks into your sales follow-up emails, you'll create a lasting impression on your prospects, drive meaningful conversations and ultimately increase your chances of closing deals.
A Step-By-Step Guide to Sales Follow Up Emails That Close Deals (or Get You Closer to a Closure!)
Sales Follow Up Email Step 1: Gather Insights from Your Call
First, it’s important to have a clear idea of what the major insights from your call were. Just like when Tony Stark uses his Iron Man suit to analyze his surroundings, you can use video calls to tap into the emotions, the needs and the wants of your prospects.
Take notes on their body language, tone, and facial expressions during the call, and make sure to note any pain points or areas of interest that you discussed. This provides context into what’s going on in their head, and what you might want to hit upon in the follow up. This would make your follow-up personalized and emotionally resonant, and much more likely to be responded to.
But where many sales pros falter is in observing body language and pain points, having a deal-worthy conversation, and highlighting how the product or solution solves the prospect’s problems. We’ll give you that - doing all of it in a 30-minute call is difficult at best and impossible at worst.
That’s precisely the story of why we are building Sybill. So you can focus on the conversation and your AI sales partner can bridge the gaps.
Sales Follow Up Email Step 2: Choose the Right Follow Up Email Subject Line
A great follow up email starts with an eye-catching subject line. A study by Barilliance found that 64% of recipients opened emails due to their subject lines. So channel your inner Don Draper and come up with something creative, but don’t over do it. More importantly, keep in mind the insights you gathered from the video call.
For example, if your client mentioned a specific pain point during the call, consider using a subject line like “Acme <> Sybill next steps” or “Following up from our call - report + proposal”. Typically for follow-ups, being simple and direct (and piquing curiosity) really seem to do well.
Sybill users get these subject lines ready made for them, based on its understanding of what happened in the call and what makes sense to have in the follow-up.
Sales Follow Up Email Step 3: Craft an Engaging Email Opener
Time to channel the inner Jerry Maquire charm now! You want your prospect to “have you at hello” - that’s the charm sales pros are known for and this step is where it all really comes to the yard to play!
Use emotional intelligence from the video call to create a connection with your prospect.
For instance, if they mentioned an anecdote that relates with your product or service, reference it in the opening of your email. This not only shows that you were listening, but also demonstrates your strong understanding of their needs.
Sybill auto-captures these conversation starters and tid-bits, and uses them where relevant in follow-up email generation.
Sales Follow Up Email Step 4: Bonus Tip - Integrate Generative AI into for Successful Follow Up Email
Now that you've got your client hooked with an engaging opener, it's time to bring out the big guns: generative AI.
21st century sales pros live in an amazing world. With OpenAI's GPT-4, you can input your notes from the video call and let the AI generate a highly personalized email based on the insights you provide.
While you are the best judge of what the right follow-up email should be, generative AI tools can help create the first skeleton of a meaty follow-up, and you can take a pass on top of it to make it crisper, add relevant links and info, and send it. Based on conversations with our users, this helps them reduce the time taken for a personalized follow-up email from a 15 min average to 2 mins!
But things get better with a sales partner like Sybill.
Sybill reads the room for you and takes notes. It will write your follow up email without even being asked! It all then goes into your inbox when the call is done. So you can add your magic, hit send, and get on with the next deal.
You don’t even have to copy-paste meeting notes into ChatGPT - Sybill uses the best generative AI tech and combines meeting transcripts with emotional insights to generate an even better follow-up for you that sits in your inbox without you lifting a finger.
Generative AI and emotional intelligence superpowers are helping users draft successful sales follow up emails in a jiffy. And these are no simple emails. They are meant to address your prospect’s specific pain points, offer solutions, and showcase the benefits of your product or service, all while maintaining your brand voice and a conversational tone.
Sales Follow Up Email Step 5: Include a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)
Every great story has a climax, and your sales follow up email is no different. After using generative AI to address your client's needs, it's time to guide them towards the next step with a clear call-to-action.
Remember, a strong CTA is both persuasive and actionable. So, instead of saying "Call me if you have questions," try something like "Click here to book a 15-minute call to discuss [Pain Point] further."
A great outcome of a sales call, of course, is clear next steps which you then use to write the CTA. But not every call ends with that clarity. In such cases, tentative CTAs work just as well, as long as you are defining the next step for your prospect.
This could be booking a demo, scheduling a call, or even just asking them to reply with any questions they might have. What might also work is a marketing asset that speaks to the prospect’s niche or pain point.
The ultimate goal is to build a rapport and move the prospect further down the funnel.
Sales Follow Up Email Step 6: Follow Up with a Personal Touch
You've crafted the perfect follow up email, sent it off, and now it's time to wait for the response.
But don't just sit back and binge-watch your favorite Netflix series during this time. Adding a personal touch to your follow up process can make all the difference.
But first, what makes this second follow up important? To answer that, you need to remember that your prospects are as busy as you! Sometimes they may miss your email or were too busy to reply when they first saw it. Don't underestimate the power of following up over other channels like LinkedIn or a quick check in over text. If these follow up attempts don’t work, consider a quick call. Especially if you're new to your sales role, you'd be surprised at how often a prospect is genuinely thankful for following up and catching their attention.
But caution: Keep the tone of this follow up light and conversational, and avoid coming across as pushy or aggressive.
Sales Follow Up Email Step 7: Analyze and Optimize Your Follow Up Email Strategy
Your work doesn't end when you've written and sent your follow up email. It's essential to analyze your results and optimize your strategy moving forward.
Track your open rates, click-through rates, and conversions to determine what's working and what isn't. This becomes even more crucial as you use generative AI and other tools to see what’s working and what’s not.
For example, if you notice deals falling through after the follow up email, it might be worth reevaluating your call-to-action or adjusting the email content to better align with your client's needs.
But doing all of this requires time and effort. Which sales pros often don’t have, especially in the bearish market that we’re all dealing with right now.
More calls, more follow ups for fewer deals. Where’s the time to analyze and optimize sales follow up email strategies? We’ll tell you where.
Sybill users are seeing a significant productivity boost, saving at least 42 mins/day on sales follow ups with our AI powered follow-up emails.
That just means more follow ups on more deals in a single day. And a little more time every day to rethink approaches like follow up emails.
Channeling Your Inner Jedi for Sales Follow Up Email Success
Crafting the perfect follow up email is an art form that, when done well, can lead to impressive results.
By using emotional intelligence from video calls, generative AI, and a touch of personalization, you can create a follow up email that resonates with your prospects and drives action.
Remember, it's all about understanding your clients' needs, addressing their pain points, and guiding them towards the next step in the sales process.
With the right follow up email strategy and the tools designed to simplify closing more deals in less time, being Harvey Specter, the rockstar closer, doesn’t have to be difficult.
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