What emails do you open?  The “From” field and subject line are the first draw for most people and a determinant for gaining a higher open rate.  MarketingProfs.com has an informative article that breaks down examples of awesome and awful email subject lines.  The article is a good read and worth your time.

I’ll skip to the end where the author, Josh Nason, provides a handful of tips for writing effective subject lines:

• Don’t discount the importance of the From name. Keep it your company name and not an individual’s name or drawn-out term. In addition, keep your company name out of the subject line: It’s redundant—a waste of valuable real estate.
• There is no point to using all caps in a subject line. OK? (Unless it’s “OK.”)
• Write a compelling subject line that won’t deceive people. If people aren’t opening it, that’s OK, as you’ll have many more campaigns to intrigue them. If you break the receiver’s trust early, you’ll have to work twice as hard to get it back. Never forget the Golden Rule.
• Most important, have some fun with subject lines! If you’re struggling that much with how to talk to your audience in a single-sentence format, give it to someone else to writes. Just make sure that you don’t explain the task in all caps, please.

And here are a couple of examples from the article:

From: AAA Northern New England
Subject: AAA Newsletter—February 2008

Ah, the dreaded (Company X) Newsletter with the month and date. Fun! When I opened up the newsletter, there were all kinds of great discount offers; but, instead, this subject line reads more “library” than “block party.”

From: Bob Marley
Subject: Comedian Bob Marley Returns To Boston!!

It’s a direct statement that his fans in that area would likely open. Since “Bob Marley” is already in the From line, there’s no need to repeat in the subject line. I’d try “Boston dates coming up soon!” instead. Why waste the valuable real estate?

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The management landscape is changing drastically as more salespeople move to remote/home offices within their territory.  Yet, many aspects of sales seems to be moving more towards relationship-based sales.  Yes, relationships have always been a key part of selling, but it seems to be the greater piece today.  Information flows freely on the Internet so the differentiation between companies is being pushed onto their salespeople.  So we have arrived at the place where relationship-driven salespeople work remotely instead of at the corporate office.

The strain of this new arrangement falls squarely on the sales manager.  The modern-days sales manager has to work with limitations that were less common just 10 years ago.  The greatest impact is in communication as seen in this Wall Street Journal article:

“It’s about relationships and understanding nuances and building trust,” he says.

Working with distant employees makes that process harder, because you can’t see the subtleties of how people react and it’s harder to create a bond with people you can’t grab a cup of coffee with.

The article then brings up a good point regarding technical aptitude for communicating remotely:

Communicate each person’s role and business objectives regularly, and establish agreed-upon ways to resolve conflicts and solve problems early on, says Mr. Eicher. Find out how technically savvy your remote employees are — and get them trained in technologies you plan to use to keep in touch, he says. Remote employees should be comfortable with voice over Internet protocol, or VOIP; video streaming; and instant messaging.

A remote salesperson without a basic understanding of these technologies will struggle…greatly.  The gist of the article states that managers still have to get out and do the face-to-face time.  This approach is especially critical for newly hired salespeople:

“Having that first face-to-face meeting of the team — building relationships, reviewing roles and performance objectives — better enables far-flung employees to work effectively,” he says. And, he adds, that first meeting can help subvert the hesitation people have connecting with and asking for things from people they don’t know very well.

That is true.  We had a customer hire a remote salesperson who they only brought in to the facility one time.  The salesperson ended up getting lost in the onramping process.  The manager was not available and their was no set structure to the communication.  In the end, the salesperson left within 90 days due mainly to a feeling of apathy from the corporate-based sales manager.

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That is how long you have to hook a person on a cold voicemail message according to this article on Salesopedia (my bold):

6 Interesting Sales Prospecting Statistics

1.  In a recent survey 95% of salespeople said they can sell - they just need to get in front of more prospects.
2.  Effective prospecting blends both marketing & selling.
3.  Most salespeople HATE to prospect.
4.  The best prospectors often close more business than the best salespeople.
5.  Nearly 60% of high performing prospectors consider the phone ESSENTIAL to their prospecting success.
6.  Decision makers listen to only 9 seconds of a “cold” voicemail before deciding to press delete?

Good points all of them.  If you only have 9 sec., does it make sense to spend it stating your name and contact information?  My thought is that it makes more sense to take an approach that buys you another 9 seconds.  Whatever your approach, know that your window is smaller than you may have expected.

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This tip comes from the Selling Power archives:

Never ask a question without first explaining why you’re asking.

Nirenberg says, “Just asking a question puts the listener on the spot. However, if you let him know why you’re asking, it makes him a partner,” Nirenberg goes on to explain, “People with sales backgrounds often avoid asking questions because they think that the talker controls the conversation. That’s not true because the listener can always tune you out. In fact, you’d be surprised how often you’re talking to yourself during a sales call.”

That is a good tip.  Asking good qualifying questions is crucial for successful selling.  However, most people have experienced a salesperson who takes this approach to an obnoxious extreme.  I have seen them rattle off question after question like a machine gun.  You could just see the prospect shutting down.

The key is to soften the questions before asking them.

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The Northwest-Delta airlines merger is the talk of this town as you might expect.  There has been much posturing up here as people and politicians realize that Northwest will probably leave this town as Atlanta becomes the new company’s headquarters.

I was reading an article on the merger in our local St. Paul Pioneer Press when I came across this quote (my highlighting):

As for the covenants Northwest signed with the state in 1991 on maintaining a certain number of jobs, the airport hub and Northwest’s Eagan headquarters, Anderson said “we think we can get to the spirit of the original covenants that were struck.”

That is a fat-worded, or fuzzy-worded, phrase of the highest order.  Somehow I don’t think they are thoroughly committed to the original covenants.

If this was a sales qualifying situation, the sales rep would have to ask Anderson what he means by the phrase “get to the spirit.”

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I abhor office politics which hasn’t really helped me in my work career.  This Wall Street Journal article starts out supporting this fact:

Some people prefer not to get involved in politics at work, but most career experts argue that playing the game is crucial to your career success. By avoiding it, you may find your talents ignored and your success limited, and you may feel left out of the loop, says Louellen Essex, co-author of “Manager’s Desktop Consultant: Just-in-Time Solutions to the Top People Problems That Keep You Up at Night.”

I agree - I have experienced that fact first-hand.  So, you have to play the game at some level.  Here are 6 tips from the author:

Observe how things get done in your organization.

Don’t be afraid to toot your own horn.

Determine strategic initiatives in the company.

Don’t align too strongly with one group.

Learn to communicate persuasively.

Be true to yourself..

Those are all good tips with more information contained with each point in the article.  But allow me to quote the final point in full:

Be true to yourself. After analyzing the political landscape in your company, if you decide the game is one you can’t play, prepare to move on. It’s not typical, but some companies actually condone — even promote — dishonest, ruthless or unethical behavior. The game of office politics in this situation is not one worth winning.

This is the area that tweaks me.  I was in a culture that did promote unethical behavior and I did not subscribe to it.  I was fired.  However, I did feel slightly vindicated years later when the CEO went to jail based on his transgressions.

Nonetheless, the points are all worth reading in detail.

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Selling Power.com’s Sales Management newsletter provides an excellent article that addresses a common issue in sales management - how do you move from salesperson to sales manager?  One important aspect of this move is becoming a coach for your sales team.

The suggestions in the article are worth the read, but this one is especially remarkable:

Keep questions open. Most managers know they should ask open-ended questions in a coaching situation, but closed questions still crop up far too often. Closed questions can be answered in one or two words – yes, no, good, okay. Open-ended questions, on the other hand, require the responder to think and elaborate and help paint a more complete picture of a situation. Starting questions with “will,” “did,” and “have” will likely lead you into a closed question, warn the authors. Rephrase those questions using words like “what,” “who,” “which,” and “how.” For example, instead of, “Did you check all the requirements?” try, “Which of the requirements most concerns you?”

That advice is applicable to sales qualifying, coaching, candidate screening and more.  Yes/no, or closed questions, lead you into a box where you are forced to ask another question.  Open-ended questions also lead to more detail in the answer.  As a sales manager, this detail is needed to be an effective, efficient coach to your team.

One other piece of advice from the article:

Keep questions forward focused. It’s all too easy for an employee to get caught up in rehashing a meeting or event that went poorly. And while a certain amount of emotional venting may be helpful to that person, your job is to help them avoid getting stuck there. One of the best ways you can keep the conversation forward focused is to avoid asking questions that begin with “why.” If you’re asking, “Why did that happen?” or “Why did you say that?” you put your employee on the defensive and keep the conversation focused on the past. Rephrase your questions in a way that encourages a look to the future. So instead of, “Why didn’t you contact IT?” ask, “What are the things you need to do to bring the project back on track?”

Exactly.  We tell sales managers to avoid using “why” in their questions with their direct reports and with prospects.  As effective as why is, it often carries a negative emotional aspect. Imagine in your youth hearing an upset parent ask, “Why did you do that?”  Or maybe it was, “Why didn’t you…”  Be careful with your use of this adverb, especially with your sales team.

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Bob Rosner has a unique perspective on managing employees in his latest Working Wounded post - Stop Workplace Whining.  The setup:

A study by In Touch asked employees, “Why don’t you speak up at work?” More than 1 in 4 said they remain quiet because “there isn’t a good way to speak up” or “management doesn’t care.” I’ve outlined below three dos to reduce pressure at work and have everyone engaged in the problem-solving process. For more, check out Rant, Repair, Rave on workplace911.com.

I’ll leave the whale example at the beginning of his post for you to read on your own (it is funny and disgusting all at once).

Here is the suggestion I thought had some merit:

Rant. We know what you’re thinking, “Let my people rant at work. Are you nuts?” Trust us, they already are ranting! Why not move it past murmuring whispers and give them a safe way to voice their concerns and challenges? After years of counseling people in the Rant technique, we find it works best when rants are kept under two minutes. Another important guideline here is “do no harm.” Employees should be truthful in their rants, but not hurtful.

“They already are ranting!” is true, isn’t it?  It would take a particularly strong manager to be able to handle a meeting that allows rants.  I like the idea.  I have sat through meetings where individuals (myself included) went on a spontaneous rant.  After the meeting, I was called into the boss’ office and told if I ever did that again I would lose my job.

I ceased all rants (in front of that manager) from that point on.  But my rants continued with fellow employees.

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Here is an interesting article from Selling Power regarding predicting trends of the future.  Specifically, this one caught my eye:

We’ll return to real, thoughtful communications. In this era of text messaging, blogging, and email, we’ve become lazy in our communications. We tend to dash off notes without proofreading them. We tend to use generic catch phrases like “seamless solution” and “superior service” that sound good but don’t really mean anything. Why do we do it? Because it’s easier and quicker than taking the time to think, write, edit, and edit again until our message is clear, compelling, and precise. There’s going to be a backlash against today’s generic, rushed communications and it’s coming soon. The future of sales will demand that reps put thought, care, and creativity into every message they compose.

I think there is something to that prediction.  Resumes and cover emails are typically one of the most formal forms of writing in business.  The quality of writing I am encountering recently is borderline pathetic.  Informal, error-filled and cliche-driven documents are far too prevalent today.

I am convinced that editing is a lost art.  I hope the aforementioned prediction comes true.

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JustSell.com offers a list of words to avoid in your qualifying activities (both written and spoken).  This is a pet peeve of mine so I was elated to see such a comprehensive list.  A few of my favorites, or should I say least favorite?

a lot
better
cheap
close
early
expensive
in a minute / second / while
occasionally
probably
soon
sort of
very

I would add “really” to the list.  Ok, why is this important?  I’ll let the JustSell guys explain:

Asked, “When can you have that for me?” in a business setting, a specific date and time is your best answer. Anyone in a leadership role will tell you that “soon”, “later”, or even “next week” doesn’t help them understand when you’ll have that for them. Say, “Tuesday before 10 am.” That’s helpful.

This is a tough one (your tough is probably different from ours, we understand). But minimizing your use of relative words can help you become much more effective and a better resource to your prospects, customers, and colleagues.

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