The Secret to a Great Email Subject Line

We’ve all probably spent countless hours trying to come up with the perfect subject line – the subject line guaranteed to capture your audience and move them to action. People receive so many emails daily, it can be extremely difficult to stand out from the crowd. After years of struggling to develop a powerful new subject line for each piece of content marketing I sent out, I finally pulled together a helpful list of styles to refine the process and pick the perfect subject line for each email.

Humorous or Joking Subject Lines

We can’t be serious all the time, and I have found that people appreciate a break from serious emails every now and then. However, you have to know your audience well and respect their humor. Creating a targeted, funny opening can win you a lot of admirers. For example, Buzzfeed does a great job of giving its readers a daily dose of sarcasm and humor in one line, like: “Not Cool, Guys”

No-nonsense, to the Point Subject Lines

Use these lines when you have important information that shouldn’t be misconstrued or requires an immediate response. This helps your reader prioritize their inbox without having to spend time viewing the text of the email. Typically, this approach is used for notification emails such as payment reminders or subscription renewals. They may not be the most creative, but they are the most straightforward.

Single Word Subject Lines

One word subject lines stand out against sentences and cater to our short attention spans. If you can use one word to grab your reader’s attention and let them know what to expect in the email, you have won half the battle. While it might not be entirely relevant to your work, emotionally charged one liners have the ability to really increase your open rates. For instance, “Panic” vs “Sale”.

Questions

Using a question as your subject line is a great way to engage your reader even before they open the email. I find using questions primes my clients for the contents of the email and gets them thinking about sales and marketing from the beginning. I want them to be in a place where they can invest time into considering and interacting with the contents of my email. Questions can address the emotion or the more practical, like: “Tough Day at the Office?” or “Need to Increase your Conversions?”

While there are many more styles, use those listed above to give you a good foundation for compiling effective subject lines. You can also check out Hubspot’s list of the 18 best subject lines from various companies for added insight.

The post The Secret to a Great Email Subject Line first appeared on RJM Professional.

How often do you think you are successful at being persuasive? Do you have a good idea of how you influence others? As a sales or marketing professional, you understand the importance of the art of persuasion. Today, I want to discuss the intricacies of the persuasive speech. Whether your speech is given during a sales call or delivered at the annual conference, it is essential to be fully prepared to persuade your audience with finesse and ease.

I find that the most important key to unlocking your powers of persuasion, is to recognize the influence you already exhibit on a daily basis. My experience working with clients over the years has proven to me just how much people underestimate their influence or persuasion. Your’re Already More Persuasive Than You Think, a blog published by the Harvard Business Review, highlights the incorrect assumptions people hold about their own influence. Participants in one study were extremely surprised at how easily they were able to complete an activity that required persuading strangers to do various tasks.

Now, recognizing your own influence will not happen overnight. An important component of this process is building and maintaining your professional confidence. For more tips on harnessing your professional confidence, see my previous blog post here. As you work on recognizing your influence, pay special attention to situations in which you have exerted influence or persuasion and received positive feedback. You’ll begin to notice that you tend to successfully persuade individuals on a daily basis!

Throughout my career, I have found a few persuasion principles to be particularly powerful:

1. Persuasion is not forceful coercion! Do not use your powers of persuasion forcefully, or you will just be manipulating people. Persuasion is an artform that effectively and efficiently provides clients or individuals with the information they need to make informed decisions that benefit you and them.
2. Only compliment sincerely. Compliments are fantastic ways to connect with people and make them more amenable to your persuasion. However, we can all tell when someone is just saying nice things to say them. Don’t give empty compliments.
3. Practice clear communication. You can only be persuasive if your audience understands exactly what you are saying. Clear communication is much less common than people assume. Practice being clear, concise and accurate at all times through all communication channels.

While there are many more principals to help drive influence and persuasion, starting with the above will give you a very persuasive speech. As your work on your influence, be patient, and perhaps most importantly, show your interest in the topic or sale!

The post The Persuasive Professional first appeared on RJM Professional.

The difference between a building a good sales team or a great sales team could mean the success or failure of your latest venture. The foundation of your business will depend on your ability to build and maintain a great sales team. At this point, you probably have a good idea of how to hire the right people. Now, I want to help you bring those people together to create an outstanding, successful team of sales professionals.

Goal 1: Centralize Command

Don’t leave your team wondering who is in charge. As the sales leader, you are responsible for defining and shaping the sales culture of the organization. Strong leaders typically dictate the processes, establish and maintain codes of behavior and delegate efficiently. Exhibiting strong command does not mean using forceful strategies with your team members, rather, a strong sales leader will lead through motivation and success. Create an environment that champions healthy competition, but highlights team success as the most important goal. Within your team, you should be encouraging autonomous decision making that supports and conforms to the goals and objectives set forth by the leadership.

Goal 2: Make Time Management a Priority

I’ve written about avoiding common time management mistakes, which still holds true. However, you will need to make time management one of the highest priorities for your sales team. The more time your sales team spends networking, the less time they have available for sales outreach – the more time they spend with current clients, the less time they have to respond to emails, and etc… Create a systematic time management strategy that can be applied across all members of the team. Don’t forget to give your team the tools and resources they need to increase efficiency. This may mean introducing a new CRM or implementing a process flow chart.

Goal 3: Institutionalize Feedback Loops

Most likely, you have pulled together an extremely capable, experienced sales team. Your team has great insights into successful sales strategies, efficient processes and programs, and positive office culture. By taking the time to solicit feedback from your team and incorporate that information into your goals and objectives, you are cultivating a participatory team that leverages experience and knowledge. The most difficult part of this goal will be creating a timeline and institutionalized process around collecting feedback from your team. Consider collecting feedback specific to the sales process in a way that stresses anonymity. Be clear about how you plan to use this feedback and why this is important for the team.

Final goals and thoughts

A great sales team takes a lot of effort to build and maintain. Be patient with your team members, and listen to their thoughts and opinions. It will be up to you as the sales leader to set the working culture. This is a great opportunity to leverage experience, encourage continued education and delegate effectively. Healthy competition can be a great motivator for your sales professionals as well. Have fun and good luck!

The post The Strong Sales Team first appeared on RJM Professional.

Need to know how your latest marketing campaign was received? Interested in finding out what your leads think about your sales approach? Feedback from clients and leads can be an invaluable source of information for your growing business and the best way to collect that data is surveying.

Far too often, marketers and sales leaders send out long, complicated surveys that fail to gather actionable or helpful data. Creating short, efficient, and simple surveys that people want to complete can be a tricky endeavor.

To make sure you get the most out of your survey, I have put together some guidelines that will help you attract more respondents and ask the right questions in the right way.

5 Guidelines for Creating a Successful Survey

1. Explain why individuals should take your survey
2. You must be willing to convince your respondents that taking this survey is worth their time and energy. We all have a million things on our to-do lists, and rarely have time for surveys that fail to include information about the importance of the information that will be collected. Explain to your audience why you want to solicit their feedback and how you plan to use the resulting data.Take time to create a thoughtful, honest introduction to your survey that conveys your specific objectives. You will find that people are much more willing to help when they understand how important this data will be for your future marketing and sales endeavors.

2. Keep it short
3. I bet there are a thousand things you want to ask your clients about their experience with your business, your marketing efforts or even your competitors. Yet, you must keep it simple and short. Think about how much time you would be willing to give to a survey that was not for your benefit. Typically, people are willing to spend 10-15 minutes taking a survey if you have outlined why the information you collect is incredibly valuable to you. Always show an appropriate amount of respect for your clients time.

3. Include at least one open answer
4. Keeping a survey short, accurate, and effective usually requires using a likert scale for most of your questions. However, it is important to allow people the opportunity to add their own thoughts, and concerns to their survey response. Consider ending with a sincere thank you and the option for respondents to add any additional comments. Also consider adding an open answer option on specific questions where respondents can expound upon their answer.

4. Take your own survey
5. After you have put the finishing touches on your survey, sit down and take your own survey. Ask yourself these questions:
   • Have I built a compelling case for why someone should take this survey?
   • Is this the kind of survey my respondents will realistically start and finish?
   • Are all of the questions I’m asking critical to my objectives?
   • Does the language in this survey take into consideration the language that my respondents use and understand?

5. Close the feedback loop
6. It would be a horrible business practice to ignore a customer after they had converted from a lead, just as it would be a horrible survey practice to fail to tell your respondents more about the information you collected. The more your share with your respondents about how they responded and what you plan to do with the data, the more likely they are to participate in your next survey. Respondents love to know that you are actively using the feedback they provided. This timely and honest sharing of information creates a strong foundation for future feedback loops.

These tips should give you a solid foundation for soliciting feedback through a survey. If you have additional questions, feel free to contact me directly. Happy surveying!

The post Surveying your clients first appeared on RJM Professional.

Part of my daily routine is to spend time reading my top 5 sales and marketing blogs. These blogs cover a variety of topics, and I find they help me stay on the cutting edge of sales and marketing discussions. In order to serve as a thought leader in the sales industry, I need to know what the top sales leaders are discussing and the strategies they are employing.

1. Sales Hacker –  This is a great starting place for B2B companies and sales reps. The Sales Hacker community is dedicated to presenting actionable and timely topics. I find their blogs to be interesting, and full of good advice. Blogs are typically written by individuals working in the sales and marketing sectors, so they tend to be relevant to my work. Don’t forget to check out their other resources!
2. Sales Loft – One of the best highlights of this site is the Q&A series with top sales leaders. I find it insightful to hear from individuals doing similar work. I can read about different strategies and comment on their various approaches. Consider signing up for their newsletter to stay on top of their latest sales developments and leadership info.
3. Digital Marketer – I am constantly impressed by the marketing blogs on this site. Each time I search for advice or strategies related to digital marketing, Digital Marketer seems to have just the thing. The site is operated by marketers who have their own products and services to sell and can highlight valuable and effective marketing techniques.
4. HubSpot – While they are largely known for their sales and inbound marketing software, Hubspot has a great collection of blogs. I find the material easy to read, relevant and written by knowledgeable individuals. You’ll be able to find blogs about sales, marketing, agency, and even web design.
5. Salesforce Blog – Salesforce is quickly establishing itself as one of the most influential sales brands. You’ll find real time information from their leading sales developers and great marketing tips from their extensive marketing team. In addition to sales and marketing, you can find information about small business and customer service practices.

How about you? What do you read on a daily/weekly basis? I could always use new, great reading material to improve my sales efforts!

The post My Top 5 Sales and Marketing Blogs first appeared on RJM Professional.

1. Become an expert – One of your greatest strengths as a sales professional will be understanding and articulating your products and services. The more you understand the service, your clients and how they use your services to solve their pain points, the more prepared you will be to address challenges.

• Practice patience – Becoming an expert does not happen overnight or even in months, be patient, and ask a lot of questions. Learn from your mistakes and never make the same mistake twice. Additionally, your colleagues and managers can serve as excellent mentors – seek out someone that has been at your company or in the business longer and regularly meet with them.
• You’re not a know-it-all – The very best people in every role (athlete, doctor, CEO, and salesperson) continue to improve through education, coaching, and more. Don’t be afraid to express your knowledge.

2. Take accountability and respond decisively – Sales leaders begin to diffuse the challenge the moment it happens by taking accountability and addressing the issue. Responding decisively will leave little to no room for doubt, and you will be viewed as confident, capable, and composed.

• Timing is key – Don’t wait until 3 days have passed before taking accountability – this will serve no purpose except to make you appear lazy or too busy to deal with the challenge at hand.
• Responding decisively does not mean irrationally or frivolously – It is important to understand the sales challenge at hand. Have a good idea of the timeline for your potential client, their pain points and how the challenge or issue came about. This will help you follow the necessary steps to problem solve and come to a mutually beneficial solution.
• Anticipate challenges and issues before they arise – By paying attention to the challenges that might loom with certain clients or the pain points that might cause issues, you will be ready to address such things as they arise. You will use far less time trying to analyze the situation if you have even a tiny indication of what challenges might arise and how you would address them. These things will ensure you act in a timely, decisive manner.

To learn more about scheduling time for me to come and talk to your sales leaders about maintaining professional confidence or any of the other many topics I cover, send me an email.

The post Professional Confidence first appeared on RJM Professional.

Your sales pipeline is probably an integral part of your sales process, but how well is it managed on a daily basis? I have clients that spend far too much time simply staring at pipeline reports, unsure what to make of the information, and others that admit they don’t know how to successfully manage their sales pipeline. If you hope to close more sales, successfully manage your sales team, and attract more prospects you’ll need to start managing your sales pipeline much more effectively. The following three strategies will be extremely helpful as you begin to reevaluate how to manage your pipeline.

1. Commit time daily and/or weekly to review and manage your sales pipeline – Don’t be afraid to allocate time to review and adjust your pipeline daily or weekly. Your sales pipeline is an incredibly important part of your sales cycle, give it the time it deserves. Reviewing your sales pipeline requires analyzing the robustness of your opportunities – are you constantly adding to your pipeline without closing sales? A slim, well thought out pipeline tends to produce stronger, more significant sales. Spend time with your sales team going over successful pipeline opportunity examples and strategies for maintaining a slim pipeline. If you are having trouble finding the time to incorporate daily sales pipeline management into your schedule, be sure to avoid these common time management mistakes.
2. Analyze results – In order to understand how your pipeline is working (or not working), take the time to analyze both your wins and losses. This will help to paint a clear picture of who typically moves through your timeline, and the strategies that closed the sale. Start by looking at your results twice weekly. Use these metrics to set up consistent, regular data comparisons.

• Number of opportunities at each stage
• Average size of the prospects in your pipeline
• Average number of opportunities that make successfully make it through your pipeline
• Average amount of time deals stay in each stage of your pipeline

3. Designate a member of your sales team to be the Pipeline Manager – A pipeline manager will be able to pull metrics every week or so, analyze the results, and commit time to pipeline management. If your team is small, consider rotating the management position. This will allow your team to participate in the management and analysis of your sales pipeline without taking too much time away from sales calls and activities.

Starting with these steps will create a good foundation for your pipeline management. For more information on sales success, download my 10 Tools for Sales Success and get started today!

The post 3 Strategies for Managing your Sales Pipeline first appeared on RJM Professional.

It’s time for summer vacation! With your summer schedule packed full of vacation time and evening events, why not reevaluate your time management approach to make sure you don’t miss that epic BBQ, the Warrior’s game, or your kid’s soccer championship. Make the most of you time this summer, work efficiently and smart, and avoid these all too common time management mistakes.

1. Skipping prioritization – Sure, that expense report is easier to complete than the comprehensive sales strategy you promised to create, but the expense report won’t move you as far towards your goals. During your most productive times of the day, focus on your most important tasks.
2. Failing to set daily goals – Be realistic and formulate your daily goals based on your weekly and monthly goals. Always leave room for flexibility, you never know when that elusive client will call with a special request.
3. Succumbing to distraction – Ever spent the day checking email, reading the news, or surfing the internet instead of working? We all have. No doubt you will get distracted throughout the day, however, it is essential to set aside times when you shut off your email, close your internet browser and tuck away your phone. After your work is complete, reward yourself with a 10 minute internet session.
4. Neglecting to take breaks – Far too often, I have tried to work through the day without stopping. I end up being less productive, and more stressed. Take time to recharge, grab a coffee or go for a short walk. I think you’ll find these breaks help make your day more enjoyable, and more productive.
5. Multi-tasking – On paper it sounds like a good idea, but in reality it produces less than stellar results. Check out this article on why you should start single tasking.
6. Failing to reevaluate your schedule – When you start your day, take time to look at your schedule and run through your goals. If you no longer need a meeting, cancel it. This will help you prioritize, schedule breaks, set daily goals and avoid having to multitask. If you are flexible, you’ll be better equipped to handle the unexpected client call at 4:45pm on Friday.

Hopefully, being aware of these common time management blunders will increase your productivity and help you enjoy more of the fun things this summer.

The post Avoid These Common Time Management Mistakes first appeared on RJM Professional.

How can you stand out in the crowd if you don’t know what the crowd looks like?

Last week, I focused on the importance of clearly defining your target audience, and provided guiding questions to help you clarify your client personas. Since you’ve taken the time to define your target audience, it is wise to now spend some time defining and analyzing your competition. The competitive landscape within your sector is likely packed with people and companies doing similar work, with similar clients, and with similar objectives. By defining and analyzing your competitive landscape, you’ll be able to identify your strengths and areas for improvement, and position yourself to excel within your market.

As you begin to look at your competitors, it will not be enough to simply identify your competitors, rather, I recommend completing an analysis of the landscape and creating a company profile that compares your company to those of your competitors. The first step to creating your competitive landscape profile is to clearly define the market in which you will be working. This will allow you to account for new businesses entering the market, and changes to your products and services.

Once you have set the market parameters, I find it easiest to create a chart or other sort of visual representation to allow for simplified comparisons. Your competitive landscape profile should include:

• Products and services offered by each company
• Strengths and weaknesses of each company
• Marketing and sales strategies of each company

Compiling this information will take some time, be patient and focus on creating drafts that can be adjusted as you find more information. When you’re finished creating the first draft, you and your team will need to draft a plan for utilizing and updating this information. How will you use this to improve your strategies? How can you address the areas that your competitors miss?

The post Demystifying the Competitive Landscape first appeared on RJM Professional.

Even to the most tenured professional, it may seem like an obvious step to define your target audience, yet, more often than not companies and individuals don’t know their potential customers as intimately as they should. As you continue to reach out to prospects and build your business, you’ll need to gather as much information as possible about your target audience. To get started, use the following questions to define your client personas.

1. What’s their job title? What does that mean within their company? – Recognizing what your clients do and understanding their role within their company or business will go a long way in helping you talk to the right people each time.
2. What are their demographics? – Are you targeting women, teenagers or only people that meet a certain income threshold? When you have detailed information who you want to reach, you’ll be able to identify the most appropriate avenues for contacting them.
3. What are their values? What is their “why”? – Connecting with your audience means connecting what you both value. Understand what they value, and why they do what they do – then, use this to create a bridge between your values and theirs. This will ensure your partnership is productive and meaningful to both of you.
4. What are their pain points? – You will not be able to increase the value of your services until you understand your clients’ pain points. You have to understand how they have tried to solve these problems in the past, and where they attempted to find those solutions. With this information, you will be primed to address their concerns, and explain how you can create a beneficial partnership.
5. What, if anything, will stand in the way of them doing business with you? – If your potential clients have a strict budget that your services exceed, or they cannot legally work with corporations outside of their home state, these might be nonnegotiable barriers to working together. The important thing will be to recognize the barriers that are negotiable and work to render them insignificant.
6. What are their preferred media channels? – Does LinkedIn top their list of most visited sites or do they prefer to engage in short Twitter conversations? Know your clients media choices and you will better understand where and how to engage your leads.

After you have spent time collecting all of this information about your target audience, think about creating particular client personas that you can use to segment your audience. This approach can be beneficial for executing target marketing and sales, and keeping each client persona up to date with relevant information and messaging.

Did you know that I address this topic in the 10 Tools for Sales Success? If you haven’t previously, I highly encourage you to download a copy of the 10 Tools now. Just click here and it’s yours, for FREE!

The post How well do you know your target audience first appeared on RJM Professional.