"i'm Kinda Busy, Can You Send Me An Email?", Anybody ever hear this? Options

[SEOisTheFuture]

"I'm kinda busy, can you send me an email about what you do?"

Anybody ever hear this alot when they're talking on the phone with a future prospect before you even get to say anything? What information do you send to them and what do you say in the email? Any fancy copywritng or how you can help their business? Or do you just basically tell them what you were going to say on the phone?

[Dragon]

I think that whatever you send via email needs to have a little bit more thought & strategy planning involved than just talking over the phone.

Firstly it needs to be more visually stimulating to show that you have actually put effort into what you have sent them

Secondly you would need to consider that emotion is more difficult to convey in copy. Think very carefully about what you are writing, your message needs to be clear & concise - you are not 'there' to explain things to the person 'reading' your proposal.

Thirdly depending on what you are trying to 'sell them' you would need to provide reasons for why they should consider you - like if you are offering them web design, provide them with screenshots of previous clients, or a link to your online portfolio.

Enjoy it & good luck!

[Jill]

That's what I tell any sales people who call me (if I even answer the phone). If you want me, you email me.

You should have something standard for those people. It should discuss what you can offer them, and how much it will cost.

You could follow up with a phone call in a week or so if you don't hear from them.

Jill

[t49]

send them a brief email thanking them for their time,and include a link to an info page on your site.
Even better,include a link to a special report about promoting their business on the net. It is relatively easy to do. Be sure to create it in PDF,and also put an HTML copy on your site.
You can convert small documents to PDF for FREE! at Acrobats' site.
Do NOT create a 90+ page document with only 1 or 2 lines per page,plus a large useless cartoon.
I printed one of those,in error,and in full colour,because I didn't bother to look through it first. Guess who didn't get my business.
Tom

[MakeMeTop]

Hmmm! I say that to about 90% of people enquiring about my services (if they ever manage to get through to me).

Seriously, it has got to be a lot tougher starting out in this market now. A lot of people are getting tired of being cold-called for SEO. Even we get phone calls.

However, if you have managed to get through to someone who is willing to receive an e-mail, then I would offer them a brief report showing how their competitors are doing on search engines and suggesting that they need to start playing the SEO card and not just allow their competitors to sweep up the sales unopposed.

Oh, and good luck to you - and everyone in the forthcoming year (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/cheers.gif)

No internet (bar 1 day) since 24th December - it was wonderful (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Now I have 6.5K of mainly spam e-mails to go through (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/yuk.gif) before I can really start work again.

[OldWelshGuy]

HI SEOis, I have put this together, it will need refining as it is straight out of my head.

People who ask you to put something in the post will fall into one of two groups.
#1 just giving the classic put something in the post please, brush off, they will not read it, and will never be available when you call back.

#2 GENUINE cases of busy people.

Sadly it is very hard to distinguish which bunch they belong to, so ask them the simple question along the lines of "no problem, I understand you busy, as am I as we are a small company basically myself and my wife/partner etc, but what I will do is put together information specific to you, as that would be of most interest right?. do you have internet access directly, as then I can put some links in for you to click on for specific information? What is your main aim for your website currently? to bring in more business, or to protect your existing business from your competition?"
<this will get them thinking about their business and the web, it will switch them on, asking about the web access ensures you do not send a mail with links to someone who cant get it (many people just have e mail access to the web)>

Thank you for your time, who should I mark the email for the attention of so it does not get lost, as there will be some valuable information on there that is specific to your company and your competitors? should I send it directly to yourself?
< This will make them WANT to read your e mail>

Thanks again, I will get this information over to you within the hour, and when shall I call you back, later today, or tomorrow? NAIL DOWN A CALL BACK APPOINTMENT !
<this will make them check their mail if they are a genuine interest case, as they are expecting something that can help THEIR company, and you will also have taken control with regard the next contact (important rule in selling is keep control>


Then get online, carry out some basic research, like what they do, some keyword research, and a couple of ranking reports for those keywords, basic stuff that should take no more than 10-15 minutes.

Present the information cleanly and without flannel.

INFORMATION AS REQUESTED
Your MR XXXXXXXX
Our Mr YYYYYYY
10.35 am 05-Jan-04

Dear Mr XXXXX

Here is the information I discussed with you at 10.35 this morning, It is simply basic information that will help you get a better understanding on how we may be of help to you. After reading this mail, should you wish to arrange a brief meeting where we can discuss matters further, either telephone me on xxx xxxxx or reply back to this mail with a convenient time for me to telephone you to arrange the meeting. regards xxxxx

Your Main Area of Business:
extrusion moulding of plastic and similar materials.

Your Main Geographical area covered:
Unable to determine from information on website

Your Main key words or phrases likely to be searched for by potential customers:

injection moulding 146.0/day
plastic injection moulding 82.0/day
injection moulding of plastic 50.0/day
injection moulding process 39.0/day
reaction injection moulding 28.0/day
metal injection moulding 24.0/day
compression injection moulding 19.0/day
husky injection moulding 19.0/day
plastic injection moulding machines 17.0/day
injection moulding machine 15.0/day

The above list are actual search volumes from one smaller search engine, this is to give you live data, and actual volumes to work with.

Here is a live search on Google the top search engine powering 80% of searches worldwide, it will show you what your potential customers are delivered when they search for your main service. Search Results.

AS you can see it does not make good reading, and with almost 150 potential customers searching for your services your website, and therefore your company is nowhere to be found.

I have also looked at some of the other phrases and it is the same story all along, you can search yourself from the link i have posted above.

What my company does, is, put simply, make sure that your website is delivering the information that potential customers are searching for. we 'optimise' each page for specific groups of customers, ensuring that, when a potential customer searches for say 'injection moulding' YOUR website will be there on the first page, or very close to it.

I can discuss this in more detail with you, please call me back on xxx xxx or I will call you at 1.00 pm tomorrow as agreed during our telephone call. You can e mail me back if you would rather me call you sooner, or at another time.

Best regards
xxxxxx

[SearchRank]

If you just cold called them and this was their response, they are just not interested in listening to you. This too is my usually response to get off the phone with sales people.

However if they initially contacted you and you are responding to them, you may want to remind them that it was them who contacted you first.

Either way, best to send an email describing what you can offer as they can then review it at their leisure and get back to you. I wouldn't spam people though as that will most likely get your mail sent straight to the trash bin!

[Dragon]

<this will get them thinking about their business and the web, it will switch them on, asking about the web access ensures you do not send a mail with links to someone who cant get it (many people just have e mail access to the web)>

< ....This will make them WANT to read your e mail>

Excellent summary "OldWelshGuy" !!

Bet you loads of readers are downloading that template for future use (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[dragonlady7]

I'm definitely copying OWG's response over, I can tell you. (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I actually prefer it when they say "could you send me an email"!! I'm much better at putting it all out in writing. (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)
I generally custom-write each one, and I'm always worried I've been too chatty. Having a standard response is a great idea, and one of the first things I want to do now that I'm full-time at this business is to draw up a series of templates for most situations, so that I can use them as guidelines for specific situations to avoid saying incorrect things or sounding like a twit when my head's not screwed on right. Because you've always got to send these things out promptly, but you can't guarantee you're going to have a lucid uninterrupted period of time to compose an intelligent and correct reply.
Well, maybe that's just me... (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

[bwelford]

Yes, OWG's response certainly has lots of meat.

However to throw in a counterview, there is that oft-repeated line of Mark Twain's, "I'm sorry this letter is so long but I didn't have time to write a shorter one." In this age of bandwidth and spam filters, I think it's helpful to write as short and as cogent a reply as you can.

You can always have links in it to web page articles if they want to know more. If your website log traffic program is flexible enough, you may even be able to check whether they clicked on any of the links. If you would naturally follow-up, then this can give you some useful information to make a better follow-up call.

[OldWelshGuy]

Too much meat Barry (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Thats why i said it could be tinkered with, may be just 2 results etc.

What I should have said is that the e mail is in no way intended to do what the guy asked, he wanted what you to tell him what you did, (only about 50 words in the copy actually do this) I would intend the mail to get them to want to talk to you.

Buying is an emotional decision, and you really need to be speaking to not writing to (some people are different)

One last thing though, I would make sure that you do not send a mail like this with an urgent flag, or worse of all with the dreaded 'the sender has requested confirmation etc etc' this can lose you the deal as it could indicate to a prospect that you are checking up on him/her.

Cheers
OWG

[meta]

Remember, SEO prospects usually don't know much about SEO. They don't care about it, either, they usually care about sales, or profit, or something along that line. You should have a short message that lets them know that you can help them make more money, and that you have a track record of doing so for other businesses. For details, you can use links, additional e-mail, phone calls, good old-fashioned mail, whatever. But you must first get the reader's attention.

Also remember that it takes many contacts, not just one to build awareness of what you have to offer.

[Steve Sardell]

Yes, OWG's response certainly has lots of meat.

However to throw in a counterview, there is that oft-repeated line of Mark Twain's, "I'm sorry this letter is so long but I didn't have time to write a shorter one."  In this age of bandwidth and spam filters, I think it's helpful to write as short and as cogent a reply as you can. 

You can always have links in it to web page articles if they want to know more.  If your website log traffic program is flexible enough, you may even be able to check whether they clicked on any of the links.  If you would naturally follow-up, then this can give you some useful information to make a better follow-up call.

Barry the Mark Twain example is certainly a good one, especially for writers getting started in web writing and more so in email correspondence. Reading a screen is unlike reading print material. Not many want a Jamesian style on their screen.

BTW: Twain grabbed the idea from Jefferson who stated, "The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do" Have no idea where Jefferson grasped it, maybe from Paine.

[Ron Carnell]

Dear Sir:

When we spoke on the phone, you said you were kinda busy and asked me to email you about what I do?

Trouble is, I'm kinda busy, too, and really don't have time for a long email. Feel free to call me, though, when you have more time. What I wanted to do for you, I'm now doing for your competitor, so I suspect you *will* have more time real soon.

TTFN

(In the immortal words of Mac Davis, "Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble.")

(IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[OldWelshGuy]

Ron, my friend and Neighbour is a barrister and his favourite saying is this...

Sincerity is everything in life dear boy, as soon as you have learned to fake it, the world is your oyster' (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)