Welcome to SALES with ASLAN, a weekly podcast hosted by ASLAN Co-founders Tom Stanfill and Tab Norris, geared at helping sales professionals and sales leaders eliminate the hard sell. At the end of the day, we believe that selling is serving. ASLAN helps sellers make the shift from a ‘typical’ sales approach, to one that makes us more influential because we embrace the truth that the customer’s receptivity is more important than your value prop or message.
The goal of these interviews is to spotlight various experts in the world of sales and sales leadership – sharing informational stories, techniques, and expert interviews on the sales topics you care about.
The following are notes from EP. 190 Don't Get Confused As A Robot And Other Tips To Get Your Emails Read
In this episode, Tom and Tab talk about what it takes to actually get your emails read and not just seen then deleted. They emphasize the importance of answering these four questions: Who are you (are you a real person)? Can you solve my problem? What's next? How do I learn more? They also discuss the significance of subject lines and the need for a process in crafting compelling emails. This episode provides valuable insight for any business leader looking to break through the email noise.
Listen to the conversation here:
Or read below-
00:19
Tom Stanfill
I'm here with my trusty co host, Mr. Tab. You know what? I just hesitated. I said, Mr. Tab Norris, not doctor. I thought we.
00:28
Tab Norris
Well, I've been lost my magical touch. Well, we had a doctor on last time, and it gets really awkward when we have real doctors on when fake Doctor. Well, it's great to be back. Good to see you.
00:45
Tom Stanfill
Good, Tab. I'm excited about a topic today, as I always am, but for our regular listeners, they may be familiar with our show where we go back to our inbox. We go to our inbox and we look through all the emails that we get. I figured out the other day that I get 100 marketing and prospecting emails a day.
01:07
Tab Norris
A day.
01:07
Tom Stanfill
Okay.
01:08
Tab Norris
You get more than me. I probably get 105 to 30.
01:12
Tom Stanfill
I guess it's my title. I show up on list or whatever, but I get 100. Most of them are marketing, some of them are sales, but we like to go to the inbox. I keep up with emails, so when I get emails, I get really bad ones or typical ones. I'll tag them as bad, and then I get a really good one, which are very rare. I'll tag them as good. So we like to go to the inbox and kind of remind sellers as they're trying to build their pipeline for 2024, which I'm sure everybody is doing right now, either whether you're working with existing accounts and you're trying to get deeper and wider in the account or you're trying to acquire new logos, this is the time to build our pipeline. Right. So we're all sending emails, and emails is a good thing.
01:55
Tom Stanfill
And by the way, everything we're going to talk about today also applies to LinkedIn.
01:59
Tab Norris
Yes.
02:00
Tom Stanfill
Right. Because when we talk about how to develop a message that breaks through the noise, the principles apply in whatever medium we use, whether it's voicemail, email, LinkedIn, social, whatever we're doing. So excited about the show. Tab, your thoughts? You've been preaching this for a while.
02:24
Tab Norris
Yeah, definitely. And I get a lot of questions about this. We all do. It's a never ending journey trying to figure out how to get people's attention in whatever way we can. So this is a great topic, and it's a great topic to kind of banter back and forth on. Right. Kick around. What do we like? What do we not like? What have you seen work? So I'm looking forward to this.
02:48
Tom Stanfill
And we're also sharing based on our experience with working with hundreds of firms and thousands of sellers. So we're constantly learning what's working for them. So we're sharing insights and best practices that not only we've vetted at our organization, but we've also watched what works. So I think people will find this helpful. All right. So I think before we dive into the specific emails, I think it's good to revisit what really drives engagement. Why do people click? Why do people open? Why do people respond? There's four questions we have to answer. Who are you? Is this a human? This is super important now.
03:30
Tab Norris
Yeah, this doesn't sound like a human being.
03:33
Tom Stanfill
Yeah. Are you a human or do I know you? Right. Is there context? Because if you're in a hurry, you go through your inbox, you just delete everybody you don't know.
03:44
Tab Norris
Totally.
03:45
Tom Stanfill
You just delete somebody. You'll stop and you go, wait, I might know that person. So whether it's the subject line or the first line, and remember, a high percentage of emails are read on the phone, which means they're just going to see subject line. They're just going to see maybe the first sentence. And so there needs to be immediate context and answer the question, who are you? I know it's at the end of the email, but they may not get to the end of the email. The second question, can you solve my problem?
04:16
Tab Norris
This is a question that seems pretty obvious, but it's amazing how often that's not.
04:23
Tom Stanfill
Yeah, and I want to break this down. There's three words I want to focus on when the question, can you solve my problem? You. Right. What is it that you offer? You need to be seen as unique. It's not, hey, let's just talk about the things that I do and it's something that everybody does. It's like, what do you individually uniquely offer to solve my problem? And then the two, the solve, do you know something that I don't know about? A better way to solve my problem? Can you actually really solve it?
05:03
Tab Norris
Do what you say you could do.
05:04
Tom Stanfill
Right. And we're going to review some emails where we can see that we're not answering that question. And it's such an obvious question, but people don't answer. What most people are doing is they're just kind of saying, hey, are you possibly in the market for this? Almost like a category? Are you looking for a new payroll company? Well, most people aren't. And then the last one is problem. So you, meaning it's unique to you. You brought for something unique solve. You can demonstrate, you actually can solve it and then problem, meaning you focus on the problem that they have, not your solution.
05:46
Tab Norris
Right.
05:47
Tom Stanfill
We talk about this all the time at ASLAN tab, and you know this. We talk about the Raz. The Raz is the part of the brain that decides what messages get through, right? We get thousands of messages literally every day. I think it's like 8000 messages a day. Your brain sifts through all those messages. You don't even consciously know the messages you're getting, but your brain will alert you. And that's the purpose of the Raz. It's the filter that determines what messages get through. The filter. And the filter has two criteria. Something I don't understand or something I know I need. In other words, if you have a problem, it's amazing your subconscious knows this. Hey, you need a new car, right? So you'll notice cars. Whatever you need, your brain will tune into that if you're walking through the airport.
06:36
Tom Stanfill
I remember I walking through the airport the other day, I did notice any signs. And then I noticed one. It was an elephant surfing.
06:45
Tab Norris
Right, because you're a big surfer and you love elephants.
06:51
Tom Stanfill
I'm like, elephants don't surf. And I do want to learn to surf. All right, so what activates the Raz is a problem. The reason I'm passionate about this, because no one leads with the decision maker's problem. Everybody leads with their product or their service or their company, and we need to describe the problem we solve. That's what motivates people to act. So can you solve the problem tab? What do you see as the biggest challenge reps have with that question, with answering that question, can you solve my.
07:35
Tab Norris
Biggest? I think people are lazy.
07:40
Tom Stanfill
Yeah.
07:41
Tab Norris
I just don't think they got a couple of templates and they're not going to really spend the time to go try to, and it's just easy. I'm going to stick four problems out there. Everybody says that to me all the time. Well, I put four or five in there because I just want to make sure one of them hits. And it's the exact opposite effect. Less is more. Like when you put four or five, they see nothing. You're better off picking one. Find the one that most likely will hit the raz. That's based on whatever research you do. I'm not saying you have to spend hours and hours, but spend some time to get somehow connected to the problem. I just think it's just not taking the time.
08:22
Tom Stanfill
I think you're dead on. I have to read this email. I got to read this email. Because of what you just said. Okay, so this email is from a payroll company.
08:35
Tab Norris
Okay.
08:36
Tom Stanfill
So the rep comes to my office, comes to the ASLAN office, is let in by somebody that works here. We're not a huge company. Anybody that works here could answer lots of questions about what we're doing. Anything you want to know about ASLAN, whoever they talked to, which was another consultant, could answer that question. Right. So this rep drives all the way to our office, gets out of it, buys a gift, leaves me a gift, really? Leaves me a gift, leaves me a voicemail, apparently. And this is the email. Okay. So it says, hey there, I just left you a voicemail.
09:22
Tab Norris
You got my attention.
09:23
Tom Stanfill
Wow. Yeah, I don't care. That's actually annoying. Okay, so now I got to delete another voicemail along with your email.
09:35
Tab Norris
Right.
09:36
Tom Stanfill
So they leaves me a voicemail versus. What if she would have said it was a she? What if she would have said, hey, I met with so and you met with so and so. Hey, I met with Kelly. He communicated. Now I am all about anything where she's talking about me because I'm my favorite subject. This is to your lazy, like, just say something about, hey, I met with Kelly and they shared this with me. I would definitely read the next paragraph. So then the paragraph was. Then she follows. This is where it gets generic. 78% of business owners are reevaluating their current vendors during this time of year.
10:20
Tab Norris
All vendors. Coffee vendors. Exactly. The people that take care of our plants and our office.
10:29
Tom Stanfill
Okay, you know what? You got me. My raz was looking for another vendor. A vendor? Just a vendor? All vendors. Okay. This time of year. And I'd love the opportunity to sit down with you for 30 minutes and learn more about your company. And I want to be a strategic partner. Yeah, a strategic partner tab.
10:55
Tab Norris
We're going to jump straight from vendor to strategic partner. Just like that.
10:59
Tom Stanfill
And what do you do? I don't know. What problem now. Okay, so then this is where we get the typical. Okay, and this is what I do, by the way, I don't know anything about you. I'm not going to say anything about you. This is a cut and paste. Cut and paste. Cut and. Right. So she's got a formula. They're probably using some software automation, some tool that's going to send out, crank out emails, and this is the one she pulled out. Here are the three problems. Here's the three priorities that I have. Tab as a CEO, one, employee productivity. Oh, and by the way, my whiteboard, I just thought about this. My whiteboard is right here where the gift was set. She could have looked at my actual whiteboard and she could have said anything.
11:45
Tom Stanfill
I have three initiatives on the left side of the whiteboard, and there's three of them. She could have said those three bullets.
11:52
Tab Norris
Yeah, she was there.
11:54
Tom Stanfill
She was here. She could have just taken a picture of that. And if she would have put that in the three bullets, I would have had to have responded. So this is her three? This is her three. Okay. Employee productivity, adoption of technology, and maintaining compliance. I don't care about any.
12:11
Tab Norris
She knows you so well. You are king. Compliance. That's really what you do. When you wake up in the morning, you're going, I don't feel like I'm compliant today. I'm compliant.
12:21
Tom Stanfill
Well, the thing is, you could use those same three bullets for anybody. Everybody obviously wants to be more productive. How would you help me be more productive? So we didn't answer. So back to your point, tab. I don't know who she is. She doesn't understand my problem. I don't know how she can solve my problem. And so therefore, I'm not interested.
12:47
Tab Norris
Okay, that's it. Do I get to go now? Can I go, please?
12:54
Tom Stanfill
Okay, you're next. But I do want to cover. I had to cover that because you said that. Yeah, just to kind of review.
13:02
Tab Norris
Oh, we didn't get through all four.
13:03
Tom Stanfill
Yeah. How we're assessing these emails. There's four questions. One, who are you? Can you solve my problem? What's next?
13:12
Tab Norris
There we go.
13:13
Tom Stanfill
Are you going to send me something? Invite me to something? Are we going to meet? What's next? Now, in this email, she just says, let me know if you want to meet.
13:20
Tab Norris
Okay.
13:21
Tom Stanfill
That was the next. I don't think that's very compelling, and it doesn't have to be incredibly creative. If you can come up with something creative that makes it easy for them to engage, great. But if it's just, I'd love to meet with you to learn more about. Or here's our steps, our process, and then how do I learn more if I'm not ready to meet? This is the number four question. Who are you? Can you solve my problem? What's next? And if I'm not ready but I'm interested and I want to learn more, how can I learn more? So I think we've got to answer that fourth question. And that's the order, by the way.
14:01
Tab Norris
Yes.
14:01
Tom Stanfill
All right. Let's use that lens and talk about yours. Yeah.
14:06
Tab Norris
Let's take it through all four. Yeah.
14:11
Tom Stanfill
And this got your attention, right?
14:13
Tab Norris
No, this wasn't my favorite. I was going to share one. That was not so great.
14:19
Tom Stanfill
Oh, no, share your good one. Share your one. Because I just shared a bad one.
14:24
Tab Norris
Okay. But as long as I can come back to my bad one.
14:26
Tom Stanfill
Oh, you can. We'll come back. I promise. Because I'll share a good one.
14:30
Tab Norris
Okay. This is one that got my attention. Basically it was from a recruiter. And it's real simple. High tab. This is blank international and we're the largest, oldest firm, search firm specializing in learning and development space. And a sample of our clients in positions we filled are as follows. And then she lays out five actual people I know that we compete with titles that were hired by them. And they're just bullets. Lots of white space.
15:08
Tom Stanfill
Relevant.
15:09
Tab Norris
They're all relevant.
15:10
Tom Stanfill
They're relevant companies and they're also relevant positions.
15:13
Tab Norris
And the fact it tells me that she knows my world number one. She's l and D. She knows. And these are positions that she's done her research to know. That's exactly the kind of people I'm looking for. And they're my dead on competitors. Which instantly hit my raz. If you'd like to learn more, that's it. If you'd like to learn more about us and other placements, review our website at www. Blank and refer to actual case studies. Alternatively, if you'd like to schedule a call, please let me know your availability over the next few days and I'd be happy to work with you to get a call scheduled best.
15:54
Tom Stanfill
I think that's a good email.
15:56
Tab Norris
Yeah, I thought it was good. I get so many bad emails.
16:01
Tom Stanfill
That's the good news about this. It's easy to stand out.
16:04
Tab Norris
Yeah, because that was short. It was sweet. She had done a little research. Let's walk it through. She clearly said who they are in a short. I mean, instantly had some credibility. They're a real player in this space of l and D, right? Solve my problem. So it's as if she knew somehow. Maybe she's on our website.
16:30
Tom Stanfill
You have a problem. Your problem is recruiting. You got to recruit. It's a whiteboard problem.
16:36
Tab Norris
It's a whiteboard problem. It hit my whiteboard problem. It was my whiteboard problem. It hit my raz. She clearly had. What's next? She wanted to schedule a call. She was going to work with me to get that on the books. And how do I learn more? She had in there her website. And the thing I really liked about that is she said, and go to our website and you can look at some actual case studies. I like that. I thought that was a little know. Not just go to my.
17:03
Tom Stanfill
Love that. I love it. The way that she could have made that even a little bit more compelling at the beginning when she said who you are, she could have provided a little bit more context to say, we've worked with Tom or know Tom. Yes, because I have worked with Rice Cohen, or I've reached. They could have done, or they could have at least known that they've engaged. They could have leveraged our relationship. I don't know if we've actually hired them, but they've reached easily said, I've.
17:31
Tab Norris
Worked with your partner, Tom Stanfield, and we had some good conversations in the past, and I thought I'd reach back out to you knowing in your role, blah, blah.
17:42
Tom Stanfill
Yeah, you're right. The people are looking at their email and they just get like, when I get off this podcast, I'm going to go to my email. There's going to be 25 messages. And so I got to clean up my inbox. Right. So you've got to do something that catches their attention, and then now you draw them in, and then that's where you deliver that. How can I solve the problem? All right, I'm going to go to a bad one tab.
18:08
Tab Norris
Okay.
18:09
Tom Stanfill
I'm just going to go categorically say, don't do this. People do this all the time. Just don't do this. Now, this is a LinkedIn message.
18:20
Tab Norris
Okay.
18:22
Tom Stanfill
And this message, the beginning message, was from somebody that seemed potentially a connection that made sense for me to have. So that's great. So I accepted the invitation. This is what the invitation said. I'm glad to connect. Let me know if I can be a resource, like a resource, or introduce you to anyone in my network.
18:45
Tab Norris
Okay.
18:45
Tom Stanfill
So it sounds like, okay, yeah, I'd like to connect with you. It's great. I don't really have anything to sell. So the second message comes through. Now this is. Yeah, I don't know if it was the next day, but very soon after now I got a video. So this is an email video. This is an email that happens via video. So she's talking to me and she sends me. So it wasn't like, we're going to connect and I can help you. It's like, I got something to sell. So she basically helps people like me publish books. So she has the video, she's talking, but behind me in the video, which is probably some technology that allows her to do it, is my LinkedIn profile. Now, if you look at my LinkedIn profile, it's basically a picture of my.
19:29
Tab Norris
Okay, okay.
19:32
Tom Stanfill
It's right there. I have a book. I wrote this book that's prominent more than anything else. And her message is, if you ever want to write a book, I can help you. It has to be an AI generator.
19:47
Tab Norris
It has to be a bot doing that.
19:49
Tom Stanfill
Yeah, she probably says that same message to everybody else. They go, we'll pull in the. And by the way, this is what's killing us in sales, is people keep sending spam. If you would just look at my LinkedIn profile, you would have said something, hey, I know you've already written a book. Maybe you could say something and that would work. But she's got some AI generated thing that says, I'm going to create this video. It's going to populate the background with the person's LinkedIn page and Ritz and repeat. I actually responded to her because that very interesting message that you sent me, I said, because I've already written a book and you're showing that in your video. I didn't get a response to that for some reason. Yeah, but that is killing us.
20:25
Tab Norris
Oh, yeah. Well, but can I share a little good what I think is good news?
20:29
Tom Stanfill
Okay.
20:29
Tab Norris
I think it's getting so bad that being good is going to stand out. You said alluded to this earlier. I think that it's like you're just going to have to be so different. Somebody said this to me the other day. They said, yeah, we're so excited. We're training a bot and they're going to do all this thing and they're going to do this and that. And I just thought, this is not going to go well. It's just going to be flooding the market with more junk because that bot is not going to do any prep and know how to make this sound human and personal and connect to a raz.
21:08
Tom Stanfill
And it's okay because marketing. So we're separating sales from marketing.
21:13
Tab Norris
Right.
21:13
Tom Stanfill
Okay. Marketing is expected to generate generic messages and send it out in the market. Hey, we have this car, we have this software, we have these services. This is our resort, all those things, and we expect it. And when the subject line tells us it's generic, the body tells us it's generic, and we can be aware of those services and products and solution and marketing serves that purpose.
21:38
Tab Norris
And I actually had some good ones.
21:41
Tom Stanfill
And bots can serve that. But if you're a human being, you need to leverage human intelligence because artificial intelligence is going to kick your ass.
21:50
Tab Norris
Exactly.
21:53
Tom Stanfill
You've got to focus on where you can be human. Right? Where is human intelligence? And the reps who can learn to create customized messages that offer value that they can't get anywhere else. And that's key.
22:09
Tab Norris
And that's kind of what I'm saying that I think that is the good news about.
22:12
Tom Stanfill
That's the good news.
22:13
Tab Norris
Like that person that came to your office. I mean, that's just such a perfect example. Know? And even like the one I got from Rice Cohen, I mean, how much more personal that would have been in human. Hey, I've worked with Tom Stanfield, your partner in the past. That is just all of a sudden, this becomes very connected and real, and I can't wait to talk to this.
22:34
Tom Stanfill
Person and their next email. And this is something we all should say. Tab is like, you're not going to create the perfect message and deliver it once, and it's going to work because things get buried. People might read it, go, that's interesting. And then they lose it. You're going to have to send the six to know messages, but they all need to be good. So the follow up email could be. Let me tell you what's different about how we recruit for specific learning organizations. And so that could have been the follow up. And they would say something, you go, that's a good idea. And that's where the human looks at who you are, understands who Adeline is, communicates something disruptive and something powerful, and we call it disruptive truth about a better way to recruit and why do we need them.
23:14
Tom Stanfill
And like, okay, well, that was interesting. And they're educating you, and that's where the human side comes in.
23:19
Tab Norris
Right?
23:20
Tom Stanfill
That's beautiful. All right, tab, should I share my good one before we go to your bad one?
23:27
Tab Norris
I think so. Or do we want to finish on the good one?
23:31
Tom Stanfill
Let's see. Okay, you got a bad one, we'll finish on a good one.
23:36
Tab Norris
And we've already talked a lot about my bad, so we don't need to spend a ton of time on it. But this is driving to the. I get these a lot, and it's a little bit like what you're talking about. It's very generic. So they do everything from games and multimedia to product engineering to software design to everything in the world. Hey, I'm John from Inapp, Inc. 17 year old software company. We have level five quality certifications and offices in North Carolina and California, and a global delivery center in Tech Park, India. Really good to know. If time permits, our CEO would like to schedule an introduction call direct meeting with you to share our service offers, share our service offerings and experience related to your business. So maybe they know my business. For more details, look at our website.
24:48
Tab Norris
Over the years, we've worked with clients ranging from. This is my favorite, Tom, I get this all the time. We work with companies ranging from Fortune 500 to SMB to startups. We have helped many to solve all it challenges.
25:02
Tom Stanfill
Every it challenge.
25:03
Tab Norris
Our rate is between 20 and $25.
25:07
Tom Stanfill
What's their rate of what?
25:10
Tab Norris
I don't even know what they're doing. Our expertise includes, and literally, Tommy goes through eight, no, nine different expertises. I don't know if that's a word, expertise. I mean, literally. Look forward to hearing from you. Thanks. That was it.
25:26
Tom Stanfill
When you think about it, let's change that. Okay. So you do have a problem.
25:31
Tab Norris
Yes.
25:31
Tom Stanfill
Right. That technology can solve. We're constantly developing digital content in a way that makes it that needs to be very accessible to our learners.
25:43
Tab Norris
Right. And this company could actually be somebody.
25:46
Tom Stanfill
To do that if they would have started off with, I know you have these digital products, and I can see how we potentially could solve. And if he listed the problems that we have, the challenges that we have with this environment, I mean, there's so many things they could say that you would go, I don't know what all that other stuff is, but that. I know I have that problem. But like you said, it's lazy. Because they're coming themselves.
26:08
Tab Norris
Yeah. Because even if they didn't know that, at least they understood sales training in general. They could go, what? We're fine. Even if it's not perfectly tailored. Like, if it was, like, I know that these are two major challenges in your industry that would have been better.
26:26
Tom Stanfill
Yeah.
26:26
Tab Norris
Because he had, like, eight, and there was one tucked in the middle of the eight. And that's really important. That's an exact example what we're talking about. I want to get them all out there. Well, I don't even see the one that's actually relevant because it's couched around all this noise.
26:40
Tom Stanfill
That's a really good point, tab. When we talk about solve the problem, it's singular. If you want to solve because it's so difficult to break through the noise, you need to narrow it down to one was a great example of this. I was at target, and I wanted to buy some energy bars. That's just like, I'm on the go. I want to eat an energy bar for breakfast because just, I always like to keep a couple of energy bars. So I go down, look at the island. Literally it was 20ft long, four shells high of energy bars. And I'm just kind of like. And the kind bar, true or false? I don't know. It says least amount of sugar. That was their position. Low sugar. It didn't go taste it didn't go anything. It just said low sugar. I'm like, got it done.
27:32
Tom Stanfill
Because I don't want candy. That's just one thing. So you picked a position because it's in a noise. And so I think if we think about our email or messages being delivered with all of the other companies delivering them at the exact same time, if you don't pick a Lane, which is picking a solution, I mean, picking a problem and picking a unique solution and narrow in your message will never get you because they won't get it. And I know it's so hard because we all love all the stuff we do and it's hard to pick, but you can always send another message, right? Pick a problem, low sugar, that's what you need. Pick a position and then the next one you can pick up something better and you can pick up maybe if that one doesn't work.
28:14
Tom Stanfill
But I think that's a great point. All right, I want to end with a positive. Yes, let's end with a positive. Then we can talk about subject line. Okay. This is an email written in a very crowded market. Like a lot of competition, lot of noise, very difficult. It's employee benefits million a. Let's probably overstated a little bit, but it's a very effective email. So starts off John, I spoke with Susan briefly about. This is something one of our clients developed. I spoke with Susan briefly about a healthcare plan you are currently offering your 43 employees. Okay, that's about me. Okay. So if somebody writes me an email that says I know the number of employees that you have and you're referencing somebody I know, then I know you. I know who you are.
29:07
Tom Stanfill
I may not know specifically who you are, but there's a connection. Right? And I think the word to talk about when we talk about who you are is context. There's some context. Again, is this generated by an AI bot or is this a human being? Is it human? Then they talk about the recipient's problem. John's problem with your aggressive growth plans, growth goals, hiring and keeping talent will be critical. I like he's speaking with authority.
29:34
Tab Norris
Strong statements.
29:35
Tom Stanfill
Yeah, speaking with authority. Here's what we've learned by working with other EPC firms. Okay, so EPC firms are a specific type of firm, engineering, procurement and construction. So they're like, we understand your market. I'm not using jargon. That's, you go, okay, well, this is not, you obviously wrote this for me. And that means you've also demonstrated you've got some unique expertise. You could potentially solve my problem. And here's where they also demonstrate what we call a disruptive truth. Benefits, not comp, is the number one criteria of 69% of architects and engineers. So they're like, you think it's comp? It ain't comp, it's benefit. The reader is going, okay, and so here's an important thing. If you're trying to move up the ladder and talk to real decision makers, they don't meet with sales reps.
30:26
Tom Stanfill
And the reason they don't meet with people they think are sales reps because they can't solve their problem. I don't have time if we need to meet with sales reps to talk about what they do and what they chart, I have other people to do that. But the real decision makers don't meet with sales rep. So when you say things like this, they go, oh, wait, you're elevated in my mind. You're somebody that I need to work with. You know, things that I don't know. I'm reaching out to share a simple way of potentially beefing up your benefits package without increasing your cost.
30:59
Tab Norris
Yeah.
31:00
Tom Stanfill
What? So that differentiates in the market. So this could be something I offer. Notice that they're not solving the problem. They're not getting into how they're focusing on what the problem is, their unique approach to it, but they're not getting into the details. We could also talk about a creative way to provide coverage for your independent contractors. Nice. Another additional benefit. Wait, why would you cover independent contractors? That's demonstrating they understand the business. Does it make sense to set up a brief introductory meeting? That's the next step. In the meantime, if you would like to learn more, here are a few highlights that you might find interesting about the solution. So again, we want to offer either a link to something or attached to something, or even can put it in the body of the email because they've got to get there.
31:53
Tom Stanfill
It's not going to slow them down. If they want to keep reading, they can, they may skip it. Also, all these emails, when you look at them, they can be as short as yours, which was probably, I think your positive email was maybe 75 words. 75 words. 150 words. Again, you can break these up and deliver them in sections.
32:15
Tab Norris
That's what I'm learning the more I do this, even the one you just did, I loved. But I would have saved the independent contractors for my next drip.
32:26
Tom Stanfill
Great point. You can do that. And by the way, you can always break this up. You can say it altogether. You could break it up and say it again.
32:31
Tab Norris
Yes. But I'm with you, and I'm starting to just feel like the thing that I loved about yours is. I think it's probably the one. The biggest takeaways of this whole deal is make it human and real to where you stand out from all the noise.
32:51
Tom Stanfill
I totally agree. And remember the raz. It's a real thing. It's a part of your brain. We are all so overwhelmed. We cannot filter all the messages. And there's only two types of messages. You get through something you don't understand surprises you. That's why disruptive truth is so important. It's a different way to think about something. And by the way, disruptive could be a video. Like, I got an email from somebody that it was a video from the office or parks, and I think it was parks and recreation. And so the person was, like, walking around their desk, and the guy kept spinning in the chair trying to avoid her, and it just kind of was a gift that just kept rotating. That's just cute. It's funny. I liked it.
33:34
Tom Stanfill
Now, the message, the email didn't compel me enough, but I like the use of it. So that activates the raz. But what also activates the raz is saying something people already know they need. So prospecting and getting people's attention is not about creating a need. It's about aligning to what they're already thinking and then saying something unexpected about a better way to solve the problem.
33:56
Tab Norris
Yes. That's good.
33:57
Tom Stanfill
Beautiful.
33:58
Tab Norris
Hey, I know we're running out of time, but I did have a question, because I get it asked all the time. You already alluded to it. Talk to me about subject line.
34:09
Tom Stanfill
Subject lines are hard, I know, but we got to remember the Ras, so it's got to be human, and it's got to say something kind of unexpected, but kind of create some interest. One of my favorites is a rep selling to pharma.
34:31
Tab Norris
Okay.
34:34
Tom Stanfill
They said this was a great subject line. You can't say flex dose in an email, but I can.
34:40
Tab Norris
Oh, that's really good. For people that understand pharma. They get that.
34:45
Tom Stanfill
So Pharma world is all about compliance, so they can't say things about their product. Flex dose is the product. One of the hot products that this pharma company that the rep was reaching out to, that was one of their products, so it was relevant to them. It was like, and that was a, was so that was like, you must know us. So I think that's where they're kind of unexpected. I've got some other examples of, I like this one, tom, a quick know. I'm like, well, I've got to read that because if I met with you.
35:19
Tab Norris
Because it use your name in it.
35:21
Tom Stanfill
It also uses my name if I met with you. The recap can be legitimate because they're recapping the last email they sent me. So it doesn't mean, but it's not lying. They're not lying and that's something we got to be. One of them got my attention is white flag.
35:37
Tab Norris
Now why did that get your attention?
35:40
Tom Stanfill
What is it.
35:43
Tab Norris
That'S so funny? This is why subject lines are so hard. That got your attention. I would delete that so fast, it wouldn't even. So that's what I'm saying. It's just like, it's so, yeah.
35:57
Tom Stanfill
It got my attention. I kind of figured out, well, it probably because I'm in this business, but I think they were basically saying, should I give up? And it kind of drew me to them. Here's one I kept, and I read this one. When I say golden arches, you say, I like that.
36:17
Tab Norris
That's pretty funny. That just makes me laugh.
36:19
Tom Stanfill
It just made me laugh. I'm like, all right. I say McDonald's, what's, another subject line got my attention is speak at. That's, I'm like, well, okay. Well, I'd love or have you spoken at Harvard? I don't know that got my, also, I also wrote down some bad ones. Tab introduction to ABC company. Yes, I'd love an introduction to a company. I'm not familiar with anything that seems like it's a salesy technique. Tom, quick question.
37:00
Tab Norris
Yeah, quick.
37:04
Tom Stanfill
A, sorry I missed you. Forgive my tenacity.
37:08
Tab Norris
Oh, I get that one. That's the most widely reused of me. Forgive my persistence. I'm not giving up on you. I'm pounding away. It's just like, oh, my gosh, just let me go. Run away.
37:23
Tom Stanfill
I think also, if you know something about them, that's the best one, like my good email referred by Susan. That was the subject line for that.
37:34
Tab Norris
I'm almost to the point where I'm just going, just find out something that some reference, talk to a coach, talk to somebody. The more you can have a reference like that. One you said about that had your name in it, even did something.
37:49
Tom Stanfill
But see, now and again, some of these are older, but I know now everybody is. It's all automated.
37:57
Tab Norris
I know now they're starting. I don't know if you've noticed this, like, where I went to college is showing up using that now in the subject line. Even so, I'm thinking at first I was like, oh, man, these are like friends from college. And I'm like, no, this is like AI generated pulled from my LinkedIn profile or something. I don't know.
38:18
Tom Stanfill
Yeah, and if there's a bait and switch, like, I got your attention because I said something and then it's like, it's not relevant at all. I would void know. You're better off. Just work hard to come up with something that's creative. You can do it and you can leverage it over and over.
38:39
Tab Norris
Can I say, and I wanted to get your opinion on this, Tom, but what I'm feeling like is a big part of effective now. We talked a lot about the four questions, right. That I think are critical. But I think another thing to talk about, and this is my opinion, I want to get your opinion, is it's a process, and we've kind of alluded to that, but just I think it's not one email. I think a lot of people think about, like, I've got to have the email. This is it. This is it. But it's a cadence, like you said. You try this, you try that. You don't just keep paying them the same thing because I get that, too. I get the same email six times with a little bit of a change. That just annoys me.
39:31
Tom Stanfill
I've kept up because I want to see, I've just been watching it. There's another person, and honestly, I don't understand what they do. I think it's some sort of. It's like a company that takes over your employees.
39:48
Tab Norris
Oh, you outsource them.
39:50
Tom Stanfill
Outsource employees. So your employees are no longer your employees. I don't really know what they do, but this rep has reached out to me at least ten times plus, and it's probably more. They've given me books, they've said things about my books. They've left me treats they constantly. And I've never once said what they do or how they can help me. Yeah, I've gotten voicemails. It's just take all that energy, so it's good. You're going to have to do. What they're right about, is it takes a while to.
40:22
Tab Norris
So the process. So they had the process. So they were done that, but they weren't. Got the four questions.
40:27
Tom Stanfill
But the process should lead to better quality.
40:29
Tab Norris
Yes.
40:30
Tom Stanfill
So you're coming to my office, you're walking in. You're not learning anything. So what is it that we do and connect my problem with what you do and say something compelling. Do the work there. Don't drive places and go buy gifts and spend money. Spend time looking at what the company does, call somebody and spend energy there, and then keep making the messages better, which will also make the messages to the next decision maker better.
40:59
Tab Norris
Yeah, I agree.
41:00
Tom Stanfill
So you've got to do less, but do more.
41:03
Tab Norris
Yeah. All right, let's wrap it up. Let's kind of pull it all together. So the four questions were, who are you?
41:11
Tom Stanfill
Are you a human? Are we connected? What's the context? It is so easy to create some sort of context by making a phone call or just going to a LinkedIn profile. Number two, can two, can you solve my problem? Right. Who are you? What do you offer that's unique solve. Like, can you demonstrate that you know something about a better way to solve my problem? Prove it to me somehow. And it doesn't have to be a long email. It's just you're communicating it. And that's the challenge, is to demonstrate that you can without saying a lot. That's the challenge. That's where the work is. And then problem, you've got to focus. Lead with the problem that you solve, not the solution. What's next, and how do I learn more? Yep, those are the four.
42:02
Tab Norris
Good stuff, Tom. Good stuff.
42:05
Tom Stanfill
Hi, my. If, if you want to send us emails.
42:11
Tab Norris
Yeah.
42:13
Tom Stanfill
Comment, let us know what works. If you've got emails, you say, hey, this email or this message or strategy that I implemented on LinkedIn, we'd love to hear about it. Obviously, we'd love to hear your feedback on how we can better serve you. Always looking for topics that are interesting to our audience. So thank for joining us for another episode of sales with Aslyn.
