E-mailing Prospects
by Dera DeRoche-Jolet

Just like everyone else in business today, you're probably flooded with e-mails and try to deal with the avalanche of messages as effectively as you can. Keep that in mind when you market your alarm company and stay in touch with customers. E-mail is a great means of communication but there are a number of important things to keep in mind when using e-mail.

If you have a web site, many customers and prospects may be using your e-mail address to get information or to ask questions. These prospects and customers chose to use email because they are busy and don't want any interruptions. They may want a quick and easy answer about an alarm system or maybe a new service you’ve advertised. At this point, they don’t want to talk over the phone (unless they specifically ask for you to call). With that in mind, here are some guidelines for e-mailing.

Reply to both prospects and customers as soon as possible. While you might not be able to reply to them instantly, you do need to respond quickly. Try to answer within the same day, or at least in 24 hours. When you respond quickly with the information they asked for, it makes them more likely to do business with you.

In your answer, always make a reference to your prospect's original message. This will help them remember what you are responding to. Make it as simple as possible for your prospect to know what your message is referring to. If they are receiving a lot of e-mails, this will help decrease the possibility that they might delete your message before reading it.

Keep your e-mails brief, but thorough. Your prospects want information, but they don't want to spend a whole morning reading your message. Write just enough information to answer their questions but don’t overwhelm them with too much information. You can always give them more information in following e-mails.

Remember to include your contact information. Even though your prospect will have your e-mail address, always include your phone number, fax and address as well. An easy way of doing this is to create a signature file. A simple click will include all of your information without you having to type it each time. You can even have another signature file that gives readers a tip such as “Remember to update your contact list.”

Answer e-mails promptly. What good is it if you answer a week later? Most likely, the sender has likely forgotten the question. If they do remember, they probably won’t be very happy with your company or its customer service. Can you blame them?

Take whatever time is required to be sure you understand the question. Then in addition to answering as soon as possible, answer completely. If your answer is incomplete, you’ll have to respond again and clarify your first response. That just creates confusion.

At the same time, don’t be too quick to respond, especially when faced with an angry customer. E-mails are like words. Once you hit the “Send” button, you can’t take it back.

So answer professionally, grammatically and with style. Use simple language. Say enough, but not more than is needed. Above all, remember that e-mails are written words. Anyone reading your message won’t have the benefit of hearing your voice, noting your facial expressions and understanding your tone of voice. It’s easy to be misunderstood so watch your manners, especially when dealing with someone who is upset.

Here are a few more small tips:

Use your name in the “From” field, followed by your email address in angle brackets.

Be sure the first three words in the Subject field get right to the point. Often the full subject is not visible.

Get to the point in the first line of the message. Even a busy person who doesn't recognize the name at first may read the first line. But they won’t go any further unless you have grabbed attention.

In that case, your message will be sent to the trash. Worse, you might be bombarded back with replies that say, “Please remove my name from your list.”

E-mail is a revolutionary tool. A grand leap ahead in communications. But "communicate" has two sides to it. You need to accurately state your message. And the person who receives it needs to understand it quickly and easily. Otherwise, there is no communication, and no point in having sent it in the first place.