5 Simple Steps BEFORE You Pitch a Sell

Most of the time, I am thrilled to hear from old students, especially when they tell me that they have kept their business going. This time was NOT one of those times. I got one of those e-mails that reinforces in my mind, why I do what I do.

I must forewarn you that the communication skills in this e-mail come across at a 5th-grade reading level, at best. However, the writer of this e-mail is about 26 years old and a college graduate. This is unfortunately, quite common among this new generation due to texting language, IM conversations, etc. See my earlier post: Over 20 Surprising Spelling Mistakes from College Seniors for examples. To this generation, full sentences and punctuation are considered a hassle. Even reaching a pinky finger over to hit the shift key is too much effort.

What is special about this e-mail is it was actually a sales attempt. So I decided to basically ignore the horrendous grammar and pull some sales tips out of this for your reading pleasure. For confidentiality I swapped the company name and details.

Here is the full e-mail:


Hi Colleen,

i took the business plan course with you on 2007 i think. my project was/is www.AAACompany.com it was about converting presentations into digital presentations...i see you are doing what i tried to do back then with the seminars you offered.

how come you arent using AAA Company services???

i was passing thought your website and found it out...please, let me know if there is any chance to do something together.

thank you


My first reaction is that he is completely self-absorbed in this e-mail. He has no interest in me personally - even though he is trying to leverage a personal relationship with me in order to gain a sale. He also isn't quite sure if it was me or not "i took the business plan course with you on 2007 i think." He THINKS? Sigh...

This e-mail could have been SO much better if he would have written it AFTER following these five simple steps:

1. Try to find out what your prospective customer is using so you can offer ways to improve upon their process. I would have been interested if he had looked at the technology we were using and made some specific suggestions for how he could help us function more efficiently. For example:
I noticed in your webinar registration system that you do not have a recurring customer log-in feature. My company could create this for you. This would enable you to track your recurring customer purchases. We would be happy to add this feature and keep the fees you pay your current supplier at the same level if you moved your work over to our company.

2. Be certain of how you met (or at least seem to be). The fact that he is not even sure if he took a class that I taught could be taken as personally insulting. I could think - wow, he doesn't remember me? I must not be special to him. You NEVER want your customers not to feel special to you. Even if you don't really remember - make it SEEM like you DO! In fact, I may not remember YOU so if you tell me we met at a conference, I'll probably believe you. Don't let me know you have doubts.

3. Develop a short and sweet pitch so I know you are good at what you do. Granted, he did try to do this by reminding me what his concept was in my class: "converting presentations into digital presentations." But it doesn't sell me on the company's ability or competitive edge. Since this was a re-connection e-mail, he could have mentioned how much he had grown since 2007 and how happy his clients were with his services. As a former teacher, I would care about his progress - he could have easily leveraged that.
For example:
I am not sure if you remember my company from your class called AAA Company, but we have grown tremendously the past two years. Our digital production service has grown to serve over X clients, some of our big ones have been Y, Z, and A! I would love to have the opportunity to show you some of the progress we've made.

4. Develop a way to ask without whining or begging. His question to me was: "how come you arent using AAA Company services???" Let's just pretend for a moment that the grammar isn't pathetic and just look at what his tactic is here. It is almost a whine. Ever heard a kid having a tantrum say, 'HOW COME?'. That is how this reads. Be confident and ask if the customer would be kind enough to hear your story. Do not ask them to answer a lot of questions. Simply, make it seem really easy for your customer to say yes.
For example:
I would love to take you to lunch and update you on my personal progress and also our company's products and services. Is there a time next week we could meet?

5. Google your prospective customer. This was the kicker. The website he was referring to was actually at a university I no longer work at. He obviously has no idea what I am really up to these days and is actually contacting the wrong person for this.

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