I haven’t ever forgotten that at one time, I was a very disorganized person. I needed a little organizational help in order to get more done. The Excel spreadsheets I had weren’t enough to keep up with the amounts of data and contacts I was making, and reminders on my Outlook calendar weren’t helpful enough to count as a “reminder” of who I needed to call on to make my level of activity really effective.
A few years ago before Salesmanna, a previous employer adopted a CRM system. Surprisingly, most of my coworkers weren’t that excited. It wasn’t apprehension about learning something new, it was the time involved in setting up a CRM and organizing data to make a system work. “How much time is this going to take away from selling?” “What do I do if I need more training and don’t have the time?” We each brought our own apprehensions to the table when we launched a new product. And guess what? The good sellers were right. It took nearly an entire week of training to implement, and even then we still had flaws. If a CRM isn’t user-friendly, the adoption process will take too much time away from selling, and your best sellers will resent the software.
Flash forward to today, where I work with Salesmanna. Here’s a great example of why this software is different. It’s absolutely refreshing that I work with a program that is user-friendly, cloud based, and intuitively designed. I spent a couple of hours learning, and after that, I was ready to go.
I added my email address and calendar, and connected right away. It’s easy to add appointments, meetings, and reminders all in one place. Contact Management gives you the opportunity to work with multiple types of prospects and clients and set up a strategic plan of communication. I can create marketing campaigns without ever having to leave the software. I can mark the time off on my calendar where I need to make calls, and then prepare that call list directly from my contacts. Salesmanna creates transparency within the sales process for myself and my supervisor. The time that I spend with it makes me a better, more effective seller. And when I need help, my local Salesmanna team is right there to make sure I get answers quickly.
What a seller really needs to succeed is a software that is truly designed for them. Salesmanna is great for the seller that wants to get up to speed quickly. They don’t have to spend days in training, because the software is agile. It moves WITH them and aids them at the times they need it most.
Good sellers really do care about the time they spend in the field, actively pursuing leads, and Salesmanna will help them to be more efficient and take them to the next level.
If you’re looking to protect or grow your share of business, you need a customer retention strategy. From an article in Forbes Magazine titled “Five Customer Retention Tips for Entrepreneurs,” a strategy to retain just 5% of your company’s customer base can result in a long-term growth of 75% of profits. How is that possible? It’s not just enough to demonstrate good service, rely on a great product, or demonstrate capabilities. It’s about the opportunity to remind customers of your value through a communications and marketing strategy.
I know what some of you are thinking… My sales team doesn’t have the necessary resources to create effective email marketing campaigns, much less the extra time. Well, here’s where Salesmanna comes in. Because of Salesmanna’s unique feature to create email marketing campaigns from our software and execute communication in an effective and timely manner, your team has the ability to attract new clients while working to keep existing ones.
Salesmanna provides the platform for your sellers to create multiple emails for different client subsets, such as marketing a diverse portfolio of products to select customers. It’s easy to create these marketing emails because the tools are built right into our CRM software. This application interfaces with your clients and prospects lists based on features you select, such as keywords. When creating communication, your team can simply differentiate between campaigns for prospective clients and existing clients to keep your marketing relevant to your customer base. This also ensures that existing customers receive the right kinds of communication… the ones that remind them of the greater value that your goods and services provide.
Reminders to create campaigns can be posted in Salesmanna’s dashboard area to keep regular contact with existing customers and with a level of frequency that makes sense for your industry. You can also track engagement by seeing who has opened their email communication.
The bottom line is that Salesmanna creates the pathway to execute a retention strategy, have consistent follow-through, save you time, and keep your sellers organized…. All in one great software. Isn’t it worth having a CRM software that provides the marketing tools you need to execute consistent communication?
How to Design Emails –
For Marketers who Aren’t Designers
We all agree that sending personalized, well-timed, well-planned emails can benefit your marketing efforts in a huge way. Salesmanna makes it possible to plan out these campaigns well in advance or send quick newsletters at your convenience.
We have been over how to have catchy subject lines that grab attention and that you shouldn’t use all pictures or “salesy” language… But what about how the email looks? Most marketers aren’t designers, and many small businesses can’t afford a full-time designer to send out emails for them.
This leaves us designing emails ourselves. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing, as long as all of the non-designers who are designing these emails can have a basic set of rules.
1. Format
Header
Body
Footer
Try to stick with this tried and true, elementary process of writing. A catchy header, likely including your logo and a catchy phrase or title, at the top will get attention.
The body should be as concise as possible. We can’t say that the body of every email should be short, because there are some really great, beautiful emails with a lot of content. The key is only including the content you think readers will actually want to read.
Don’t put anything unnecessary in the email- you can always put more information in a landing page that you link within the body. I suggest using photos and text, and making it clear to visually navigate. If the email looks confusing to you, I promise it will be less effective!
The footer will usually wrap up what you’d like to get across and have your company’s information as well as social links.
2. Fonts
This is one of the easiest tips to get right! It is extremely simple – only use 2 fonts MAXIMUM. Header text is larger and sometimes a different font. Or you can use your second font to add emphasis to a section of your email.
Whatever you do, please don’t switch to a new font with every line! This is visually unappealing which encourages readers to click away faster.
Another pointer is to keep your body text around 16px. The larger, bolder your body text is, the most it feels like the reader is being screamed at. Nobody wants to be screamed at.
3. Obvious Call-To-Actions
Anyone sending an email knows you need some kind of call to action. Usually this is a button within your email. The button can encourage readers to RSVP to your event, buy a new product, share with friends, or direct them to a new page. If you have buttons on your page, make it clear.
It would be a huge mistake to spend time and effort on a good email but make it harder for the reader to take action! Unfortunately, this is a trend with bad design. If your reader doesn’t know precisely where to click or what to do next, your email is simply informative and has little value to both sender and recipient.
4. Quality Photos
The most effective photos are high quality and relevant. Ideally, you’re using your own photos. If you don’t have your own high quality photos, you’re either buying them from a trusted site online or you’re attributing credit to the source. If this isn’t the case, stop using that photo! To use someone else’s art without giving them credit online is illegal- and it discredits your brand. The good news is that there are tons of great websites that give away high-quality photos that you can use for free or a very cheap price! Here is a list of a few good ones.
Keep It Simple
When in doubt, always refer to the tried and true method of “keeping it simple.” If you read your own newsletter and it seems jumbled and wordy, listen to your heart. Try to condense the message and increase white space. Simplify your headers and photos, make the layout more appealing by simplifying colors and photos.
If you’re still struggling to create beautiful emails, don’t hesitate to contact a marketing consultant at Salesmanna! Together, we’ll help your business send great emails and simply sell more.
It is vital to manage your customer relationships well. This goes all the way from prospect to delighting your existing customers. Check out these steps to improving your relationship management.
Keep track of your customers.
It’s common knowledge to most business owners by now: Successful companies know their customers well. Companies buy information about people and good data on a lot of people can be an amazing tool. Think about how much money is spent on acquiring customer data. This is such a lucrative business because the consumer data is key in knowing how people operate, what they want, and who they are. If your business doesn’t use any type of tracking CRM system, you’re missing out some key consumer data. If you can keep track of the habits of consumers then you’ll be able to spend money on marketing and time on relationships that will be lucrative and spend less time on the ones destined to fail.
Even your customers want to be known, to some extent. They don’t want to receive emails that are completely unlike them. I have little interest receiving emails on expensive boating equipment because I only have so much energy to devote to emails in one day. If I don’t plan on buying expensive boating equipment, please don’t make a sales pitch to me for it. That would waste both of our time and leave a bad taste in my mouth towards your company for not doing your research.
Keep track of your sales efficiency.
How many cold calls before you make one sale? Is there a leading salesperson in efficiency? If you can’t answer these questions, you need a better system for data tracking. Some businesses have several sales members on their team. Some businesses are too small to hire a salesperson. Both of these businesses need a way to track who they’re calling, who is making sales, and how efficient your method of selling is. Cold calls might be falling flat while referrals are working better. If there is a way to track this you can estimate what to do next and stop wasting time on a “standard” sales goal or plan.
Learn what interests your contacts.
Do they want a discount? Or do they just want to be in the loop with new products?
This is something that I am personally thankful for marketers doing. There is one company that I am subscribed to and they see what I’ve been watching, and email me when it’s on sale. Sometimes they’ll see that I’ve been looking at a certain product and then email me next week with other looks that are similar. Sometimes it is the price that keeps me from purchasing, so their email coupons are what push me to pull the trigger. Other times it is the product I just don’t love. Then when they send me similar products I see one that is exactly what I wanted! Their email marketing is genius. It causes me to purchase more from them as a company. If every company could fine-tune their marketing email communications, I believe they could create lucrative relationships with their customers.
These aren’t overnight fixes for most companies. They require someone’s attention and the use of tools created specifically for Customer Relationship Management. We, along with Forbes and many other successful businesses, believe it is well worth the investment to know your customers well.
We would love to hear if you’re tracking with these tips! Contact us to provide feedback.
It is harder than ever to get recognition in email campaigns. Attention is at a premium, and you are fighting the noise of emails from every direction. Here are some quick tips of how to inspire opens with your email campaign.
DO
Provide something useful to the recipient
People enjoy things that are beneficial to read. Imagine how many emails you get that you don’t read before you delete. If you find value in an email, you’ll read. This can be something funny, informative, or an offer from your business. Secrets, exclusive information, and unique articles are all beneficial to the recipient.
Personally address the recipient
We’ve gone over this before, but it is worth noting again, and again, and again. Don’t send mass emails and ignore the target audience. Include first names in the email. Address the person receiving your email as well as telling them who you are. Don’t send it from some mass email name. Send it from YOU, and even sign the email if you’d like.
Provide timely information, whether it be promotions or news.
There is nothing more annoying to me than getting an email about a news story that was popular 2 weeks ago. If you can’t do more than dig up old stories that caught our attention before, please don’t send your email. If the article still has an active conversation (say, like the Apple / FBI drama), then it’s still fair game. Also, don’t send outdated coupons or discounts. That is just useless information and may cause more unsubscribes than opens.
DON’T
Offer a lot of FREE stuff and DISCOUNTS for ACT NOW clicks. It looks bad.
When your email looks gimmicky, people spam you. If it looks like it’s coming from a hacker I will delete it before I even see who it was sent from. There is nothing entertaining or beneficial about a lot of CAPITALIZED coupons YELLING at me to TAKE ACTION NOW. If you truly have a deal worth taking, and an email worth looking at, your subscribed recipients should read your email and take the offer without being screamed at. Think about it- these people are getting almost 100 emails a day. Why yell at them for choosing to read yours?
Forget to work on your subject line
I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for a punny subject line. There are several retail companies that do a great job at this. Some senders, like the NYT Cooking Email, has a small snapshot of what their email includes. It might say “8 easy weeknight recipes” or “The Best Salmon Recipe” and since I know they are true to their word, I will open almost every email they send. If the subject line says they are telling me about salmon, they’re telling me about salmon. Please, please, whatever you do, don’t try clickbait subject lines and forget to deliver what you just promised.
Miss the spell check step
Have you ever seen a magor typo in an otherwise professional email? It makes them look bad. (Did you catch that?) It discounts the validity of the email, as well as making the sender themselves look bad. I usually click “delete” when I see a typo. Not because typos are the end of the world, but because it screams “you’re not important enough for us to proof read” and that is disappointing. I have too much to look at and read on a daily basis to spend time on someone that doesn’t care about my time.
Please reach out to learn more about email campaigns with Salesmanna!
