When it comes time to finally begin selling the product or service that you or your company has created, it is essential to understand how to craft a sales pitch email that will not only grab the attention of the person on the other side of the computer, but also initiate them to take action.
Learning through Trial and Error
When I first started creating sales pitch emails in late 2011 as we decided to expand our supplier network, I didn’t know where to start. I wish that I had stumbled upon an article of this depth, but instead I learned through trial and error, as many entrepreneurs do.
In the past 4 years, I have contributed to creating the sales pitch emails and researching representatives at companies we were interested in creating a partnership with. I changed the sales pitch email almost monthly at certain points and we spent a good amount of time A/B testing to discover which rendition truly worked the best. It was quite the journey and we contacted over 10,000 potential leads in the process.
I am proud to say that our efforts resulted in us creating over 850 supplier relationships effectively growing our managed inventory to over 1,000,000 products, but it would not have become a reality had we not learned how to write an effective sales pitch email.
In this post, I will walk you through the strategic action steps that you can take to make your sales email campaign as effective as possible from the first email that you send.
What is a Sales Pitch Email?
Before we dive into the steps to craft your sales pitch email, I would like to quickly define the sales pitch email for those unfamiliar with the concept. The sales pitch email is specifically used to achieve three main purposes.
- Grab the attention of the individual reading, usually your potential customers.
- Express how your product or service adds value to the reader and why they would want to work with you or buy your product.
- Invoke action from the reader to begin the sales process.
The sales pitch email is a tool that is used on the front end of the sales process. For the reasons above, it acts as a tool to get your foot in the door with your potential customer. If you can achieve that and you have a strong sales process, you will be well on your way to signing up new customers and increasing your company’s overall run rate.
How to Write an Effective Sales Pitch Email
Step 1: Know Your Audience
The first step before sitting down to craft your sales pitch email is to understand your audience or reader. In order to create the best possible email, you need to research and understand who the reader is. You should ask yourself the following questions:
- What type of decision power does this person have?
- Are they the person you really want to talk to or do you need to ask for their supervisor?
- Are they your end user/potential customer?
- What do they do within the company?
Once you have a general understanding of who will be reading your sales pitch, you can customize your email to agree with who they are and what is motivating them.
While crafting sales pitches and contacting individuals on behalf of Portlight, my main audience was manufacturers. In the best case scenario, I would have an email address to someone on their executive team or marketing/sales team that I could directly pitch.
However, in other cases where a person-specific email was not available, I had to send a customized pitch to a generic email requesting that my correspondence be forwarded to someone in their marketing or sales department. Both scenarios worked because I understood who my audience was.
Step 2: Tailor the Subject and First 60 Characters to Grab Attention
The second step to creating an outstanding sales pitch is to optimize the subject of the email and the first 60 characters inside of the email.
In most email organization platforms, i.e. Gmail, Outlook, etc, the preview of the email in line with the hundreds of other emails will display the subject and the first 60 characters of the email providing the reader with a quick glimpse into the content of each email. When attempting to grab an individual’s attention via email, this is your first chance to display how you can add value to their life or company.
Let’s look at an example of a poor subject and first 60 characters that would most likely be sent to the trash before even being opened.
Subject: Dropship Inquiry
60 Chars: Hi Marketing Manager! My name is Connor Gillivan and I work…
The only thing that this individual learns from this is that we are interested in something to do with dropshipping and my name is Connor Gillivan. Does that add value to their life? I don’t think so. Would you be inclined to open this email if you had 100 others to sift through? Doubtful.
Now, let’s look at an optimized version of the email we were trying to send above.
Subject: Increase Sales on Amazon.com
60 Chars: I can help you optimize your presence on Amazon. Portlight is…
When reviewing this email, the individual clearly knows why we are contacting them and can see the value that we say we can add…”increasing sales on Amazon.com.” They also see that the name of our company is Portlight. As a manufacturer interested in selling more of your product, would you now open the email? I think so.
A/B Testing and Email Analytics
Utilizing A/B testing on your subject and first 60 characters will help you to better understand what your audience is looking for. Begin by using a simple email system with analytics on open rates so that you can assess the effectiveness of each variation that you send. Over time, you will find your top 2 to 3 that you can regularly use while pitching potential customers.
Step 3: Write the Email –> Introduction, Body, Close (Call to Action)
Now that you have an attractive subject and first 60 characters to grab the reader’s attention, it’s time to write the email. The email can always be broken down into three sections and should follow a general rule of thumb for the length of each.
Introduction
The introduction paragraph is a short, 2 sentence reminder of the value that you add to the reader and an introduction to who you and your company are. Keep it simple.
Body
The body paragraph should be viewed as if it were your elevator pitch. You have grabbed the attention of the reader and you have 15 to 30 seconds to tell them exactly why they need your product or service. It is important that you work on making your elevator pitch as simple as possible. The last thing you want is the reader not fully grasping what your company does and what you are selling. That will be destined for the trash and you won’t get them to the most important part of the email.
The last aspect that you can include in your body paragraph is a sentence boasting your reputation. State a recognizable brand that you have worked with to build trust with the reader. By connecting your company to a well respected company, the reader will feel more comfortable and confident in your pitch.
As a general rule of thumb, the body paragraph should be no longer than 4 sentences. You don’t want to lose the reader because the body paragraph looks too daunting to read on a Monday morning.
Closing (Call to Action)
If your reader has made it this far, there is a good chance they are intrigued by what you are talking about. Now is your opportunity to call them to take action so that you can add them into your sales funnel.
The call to action should be as concise as possible clearly stating what action you want them to take. Once you have written your CTA, thank the reader for their time and leave a signature with your contact information so that they can easily contact you or review your company’s website. The CTA should be kept to 2 sentences at most.
A Sample Sales Pitch Email
Let’s bring it all together. Below, I provide a sample sales pitch email that I found great success with while working at Portlight to attract new drop ship partnerships with manufacturers around the United States. You are welcome to alter this sales pitch for your own use, but please do not use my language verbatim.
Subject: Increase Sales on Amazon.com
Good day. I want to help Step2 optimize its sales on Amazon.com. My name is Connor Gillivan and I work with Portlight, a reputable seller with over 5 years of experience on Amazon.
Portlight utilizes in-house technology to manage, list, reprice, and handle customer service on Amazon.com so that you can focus on the manufacturing and delivery of the product. We have a proven track record selling for some of the top brands in the toy industry, i.e. Little Tikes, and we are interested in adding value to your eCommerce operations.
Please call or email me at the information provided below so I can tell you more about our service and we can discuss purchasing your products. I greatly appreciate your time and look forward to speaking with you.
Best regards,
Connor Gillivan
Chief Executive Officer
Portlight Logo
(518) 396-0988
portlight.cdgillivan@gmail.com
Give It a Shot!
If you have any questions or suggestions on how to write an effective sales pitch, please share in the comments box so that the community can continue to learn from each other.
If you’d like me to review your company’s sales pitch email, I would love to collaborate. Please email me at Connor@ConnorGillivan.com and we can set up a training session.
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