OK, this is a rant so read on only if you are in the mood.
Yesterday I received the following email. Please take a peek:
----
Subject: XYZCo. - bridgegroupinc Partnership
Hi Trish,
Hope is all well.
This is Couldn't Care-less from XYZCo. I am reaching out to explore possibility of partnership between us. Let me know if this could be of interest and if we can set up 30 minutes call in next 2 weeks.
XYZCo. is the real time, truly integrated lead generation, marketing automation, and sales enablement platform that significantly increases sales and marketing productivity, and improves alignment between the two groups. Over 200 companies are already benefiting from XYZCo. today.
Thanks
Couldn't Care-less
Director, Business Development
www.XYZCo.com
----
On Style
Are you kidding me? How much time, effort and energy was put into this communication? Typos, spacing mistakes, mismatched fonts & sizes, no call to action and no phone number.
On Substance
There is absolutely nothing in this email to show that the sender took the time to learn anything about me or my business. There are no like-customer references, no acknowledgement of my role or business challenges and the email is filled with marketing speak.
Also, the subject line referrences our domain "bridgegroupinc" and not our company name "The Bridge Group, Inc.". This demonstrates the sender's unwillingness to expend 1 click and 5 seconds on the most basic pre-call planning.
On What's In It For Me
So, let me get this straight, you want to talk to me about lead generation, marketing automation and sales enablement and yet your Sales & Marketing processes obviously suck lemons?
Dude, I don't care if your technology could take me to the moon, the only thing you did today was make me feel bad for you and take the time out of my day to write this post on how you sent me the worst email I have EVER received.
Did this come out of the text book for ineffective sales communication? And, to make matters worse, no initial phone call. Just this one-off spam email.
What I'm Asking You to Do
Run don't walk over to your Inside Sales organization and ask to see the last 10 messages they sent to prospects - and that includes those sent via your marketing automation system. You may get a rude awakening!
And end rant - off to do something productive with Clients who care how they are perceived in the market.
PS - If you have recently received a horrendous email and would like to add it to this post, feel free to cut and paste it into a comment. I bet this one will still win the prize!
PPSS - On the flip side, if you think your team does a great job with email communication, pick your favorite and post it in the comments as well. It's OK to brag so give them the kudos they deserve!