7 steps that'll guarantee your e-mail promotions generate the clicks, hits and sales you need
Thanks to e-mail, online business owners have the option of instant and repeated communication with an audience of potential clients and previous customers. Not that this is news to you: You're already well-aware that e-mail gives you the power to contact people again and again, promoting your products, your service, your Web site, whatever you like...for free!
Unfortunately, too often this power goes to the heads of newbie marketers. And this is where the trouble begins. A poorly designed e-mail campaign is a dangerous thing. You can enrage 90 percent of your e-mail list . . . you can be accused of spamming . . . your ISP can cancel your account . . . the list goes on.

If you have any pride in your business whatsoever, then I suggest you consider the information I'm about to present to you very carefully. I'm about to share the key steps you'll need to follow to guarantee the success of any e-mail marketing promotions you send.

Step 1. E-mail a targeted list of people who will be interested in your offer. Perhaps the most critical step in guaranteeing the success of your e-mail promotions is to e-mail a targeted list of opt-in subscribers who have specifically requested to receive information on a particular topic from you. You'll be wasting your time and energy if you don't.

Remember that your job is not to sell your product to everyone--not everyone wants your product. So focus your energy on the people who do. Those who have opted-in to your mailing list, your customers and leads, and individuals who have requested information from your autoresponder are all excellent prospects.

Step 2. Personalize each and every e-mail. People are more likely to read (as opposed to delete) e-mail that addresses them personally. For example, by sending your subscriber "Bob Smith" an e-mail that presents his e-mail address directly in the "To:" field instead of the BCC (blind carbon copy) field, Bob will know that he's given you his e-mail address. He'll be less likely to assume you're some spammer or scam artist trying to sell him another widget he doesn't need.

And by addressing the e-mail "Dear Bob" as opposed to "Dear Everyone" in the salutation, Bob automatically assumes you know him, making him even more likely to read your e-mail. In various tests we've done, we've discovered that personalized e-mail increases the response we receive by 64 percent. So I'd advise you not to underestimate the power of this seemingly simple technique!

Step 3. Write benefit-oriented subject lines. When doing e-mail promotions, your subject line can literally make or break your success--a critical point the majority of marketers miss. Think about all those e-mails you're probably getting on a daily basis with subjects like:

"MAKE $75,000 EVERY WEEK GUARANTEED!"
"EXPLOSIVE STOCK PICK AT $0.45!!!!"
"newsletter"
"THIS IS NOT SPAM!"
Do you open these e-mails? Because I know I sure don't! The subject line makes it obvious the e-mail is spam, that it's from someone you don't know or that it doesn't offer a clear benefit that makes you want to read it.

Now let me ask you a question: How many of your legitimate newsletters and e-mails are mistakenly deleted by your subscribers who read your subject lines and assume it must be spam! How many potential sales could you have saved simply by rewriting your subject lines? Obviously I can't answer these questions for you. However, I can teach you how to write subject lines that will compel your subscribers to open and read any e-mail you send them.

When you write your subject lines, you basically have three choices:

You can make an announcement or give news (for example, "IMC shows subscribers how to write killer subject lines")
You can make the reader curious (for instance, "IMC gives subscribers this secret marketing strategy...")
You can emphasize how the reader will benefit from opening your e-mail (such as, "Discover tips for writing subject lines that will increase your sales")
Out of these three techniques, you'll always be most successful if you write subject lines that state a clear benefit and tell the reader exactly how they're going to save money, save time, make their life easier and so on by opening and reading your e-mail. If you can state a benefit and create curiosity (for instance, "Discover this proven marketing strategy that will increase your sales!"), so much the better.

But again, the key when writing subject lines is to emphasize benefits by considering your product or service from your customers' point of view...

How will they benefit from taking the time to read your e-mail?
What will they learn?
Is your product or service going to save them time?
Is it going to save them money?
Or is it going to improve their lives in some way?
Write subject lines that emphasize these benefits and I guarantee you'll dramatically increase the number of subscribers who open and read your e-mail.

By Corey Rudl

Sales Management Training - Know How To Close the Deal

Sales Management Quote
"Success demands singleness of purpose."
Vincent Lombardi

Suggested Reading:
The Management of Sales Training
by National Society of Sales Training Executives.

Proactive Sales Management: How to Lead, Motivate, and Stay Ahead of the Game
by William Skip Miller

A case study of sales management training programs
by David A Erickson

The Fun Factor: Games, Sales Contests and Activities that Make Work Fun and Get Results
by Carolyn Greenwich

Sales Training Handbook
by Jeff Magee

The Greatest Sales Training In The World
by Robert Nelson

High-Powered Sales Training Activities
by Garry Lennon

Training for Retail Sales and Profit
by Judith J. Howe