This is the opening sentence from an email caught by my junk filter:
Sorry for not having the pleasure of knowing your mindset before making you this offer as it is utterly hell confidential and genuine by virtue of its nature.
“…utterly hell confidential” is a new construction for me. This example is anecdotal – the larger issue is the prevalence of email communication in selling. The days of cold calling are receding while initial email communication is advancing. This fact adds another factor to successful sales hiring.
The ability to be effective on the phone will always be important in successful selling, but the email approach is replacing the cold call. In our business, we’ve worked hard to attract interest in our services. The attraction piece, where prospects contact us, has moved to a 50/50 phone call vs. email split. When we started this company over 5 years ago, almost all of the initial contacts were phone calls.
Unfortunately for many salespeople, writing ability seems to be a less common skill in today’s world. Ridiculous sentences like the one listed above are becoming more common.