New here? This is Inbox Hacking, a Free Newsletter for Awesome email marketers eager to increase their Awesomeness. Email marketing insights, tools, & tactics sent twice per week. Someone forwarded you our Newsletter? Please join over 13,225 Email Marketers and sign up for your Free subscription. Today we talk sales worries ahead for 2023 and how to conquer these concerns.
Top of the morning, Inbox Hackers. Looks like 2023 is gonna be a tough one for sales, according to doomsday soothsayers. Smart folks too though.
The brain-trust over at MarketingProfs thinks so and they listed a bunch of sales tactics to help brands survive and thrive. So your personal brain-trust (that’s me) is going to look closer at 6 of their 23 tactics for you. I’ll give you tools and insights connected to email marketing that will help you utilize their tactics. BTW, one tactic is gonna get called out and clowned. Can’t wait.
🕛How to ReEngage 30+% of your dead list. Live webinar tomorrow: February 22, 2023 at 12 pm EST. Register Here (FREE). Don’t miss it.🕛
Disaster Looms 🥱
“Economic uncertainty, digital transformation, supply chain disruptions, the Great Resignation, quiet-quitting, remote and hybrid work, sustainability, the metaverse, and customer experience trends are all affecting businesses across the globe in 2023.” ~Marketing Profs
Don’t forget UFOs.
If we survive alien balloons, the Profs say virtual selling is a skill we best sharpen. You’re reading this newsletter, so you’re already invested in making your email sales channel top-notch.
Are you upping your game when it comes to other areas of virtual selling though?
- Are you comfortable on camera?
- Can you close a deal over Zoom?
- Have you found ways to speed up gaining trust virtually?
Level up:
🎦Camera comfort (blog)
🧠On-camera mindset (video)
The Pipeline
Alaska’s not calling. Keep your day job. Just don’t get lazy about filling your pipeline. That’s our #2 sales tactic from the Profs.
Piling up leads and sales the past few years could’ve been done by any mid-wit. You probably know a few of them.
When the economy gets tight, keeping the pipeline full requires more work, more savvy.
Email’s your pipeline pal:
- 89% of marketers use email as the primary channel for generating leads.
- Segmented email campaigns increased open rates by 39% / revenue, deliverability, & sales leads all increased by 24%, transactions – 18%.
Don’t sleep on SMS either. 2022 saw 23.8% more SMS orders.
In related news…
Follow-ups Fuel Sales⛽
Old tactic, yeah. Because it works. But it’s also work, that’s why people fail to do it.
Hey, some marketers feel they are bothering their leads if they follow up.
The Profs say→ “Don’t worry about reaching out too often. Most sellers don’t reach out often enough.”
I say→ If a product or brand isn’t worth hearing about twice, it’s not worth hearing about in the first place.
Following up about a great product or service is helpful to your leads. It’s the right thing for them and you. Make it a daily sales tactic.
🆘Email automation lightens the load of following up.
→Automated triggered emails result in 8 times more opens + greater earnings than typical bulk emails. (Snov)
→53% of marketers say automation is best for mapping the customer experience.
Sales Tactic→ Add Value (Not Just a Gross Cliché)
I’ve heard “add value” 6.4 million times in the last few years. Threw up twice.
We can’t let cliche-slingers ruin the word value for us though.
“What buyers want from sellers is their expertise. They want to know how you can apply your product to their unique situation.” ~Profs
The web is full of information. Much of it garbage, some fantastic.
Either way, your subscribers and audience can find info easily. It’s on you to devise methods to deliver information in unique ways that also save them time. Even more crucial?
Use what a psychologist told me about offering advice to people. “They won’t listen to the world’s best advice. Not until they feel you give a damn about them.”
Showing you care isn’t much harder than not rushing off from conversations.
I’m Sorry, Were You Talking?
“74% of buyers say sellers don’t listen. How can you…help buyers see how your products and solutions will help them if you don’t understand their current situation, needs, and desires?” ~Profs
74% is real close to 100%. I double-checked.
Look. Anyone can paint a house. My dad was able to charge way more than most painting companies though. The secret? He spent lots of time chatting with homeowners in their driveways about paint, house issues, and life in general. They valued his expertise, presence, and patient listening.
It’s easy to think we’re better listeners than average marketers. Not hard according to the stat above. But if you seriously amp up your listening power, could you not dominate the competition?
Empathy / better listening:
- Women more empathetic to pain (clinical study)
- Journaling increases empathy
- Active listening techniques
- Recall conversations (memory science)
- Phones have OFF switches 🤯
*Are you maximizing email listening via surveys, AMP, & replies?
Sales Tactics for 2023 Wrap-Up
One more great sales tactic listed was “address and overcome objections.” For this one, I suggest The Brain Audit (book).
Nope, not letting the Profs off the hook. Read their full 23 sales tactics – they’re solid, well, 22 are. The weak link? “Don’t Give Up.” This one pops up on lots of tactic lists.
It’s plagiarized from Old-Man Churchill. He stole it too. I suggest anyone writing lists, replace “Don’t Give Up” with a link to David Goggins acting like David Goggins.
Quick recap. 6 sales tactics we covered:
- Improve your virtual selling powers
- Fill your pipeline
- Follow up
- Make your expertise more valuable
- Rise to the top 10% of listeners
- Address & overcome objections
Hot stats and 411 below 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼
Knowledge Base
Knowledge is power, but first, unreal surfing motivation.
Why you’re not getting much anything done (survey).
Private company data and ChatGPT (ALT ways AI can get you fired😅).
Link previews save time writing emails (*only w/ suck-free site previews).
Manage your email list without making a mess.
iContact’s design trends (+ 10 more trends).
EMAIL MARKETING: How to resuscitate “dead” email subscribers and bring them back into the purchase funnel. Inbox Mailers empowers re-engagement. They leverage a unique engagement trigger system that we have seen more than double open rates. Book a Free Demo.
Self Help
Some studies say personalization is going outta style.
Only way to know for sure is to test and monitor your email metrics.
However, you can gain insights from your own inbox behavior.
How? Review emails you opened. Not work emails, you open those so you can pay car payments and buy eggs.
For other emails you open – check the subject line. How many were personalized?
Look closely, personalized doesn’t only mean the brand used your name.
If it wasn’t personalization, what made you open those emails? Habit, timing,
curiosity?
Handy information for writing your next campaign.
*Shout-out to Inbox Hacking Subscribers →
🥙Kristen at Clark Associates (Food service)
🚵🏼♂️Emile at Treko (Outdoor eats)
Facts and Stats
- 18.3% of e-Learning businesses favor email for prospecting (Email Insider))
- 13.9% of business consultants prefer email for prospecting (12.6% omnichannel)
- Wrong pain points → cited by 12.7% of email marketers as to why leads go nowhere
Bonus: Email Marketers proven 41% better looking than Twitch Influencers.
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Step 1: Inbox Mailers identifies when your subscribers are checking their inbox.
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Marketing Musings
Noisy world.
Even for sharp, creative, perhaps devious Inbox Hackers like y’all.
It’d be easy to get discouraged if you’re not getting the attention your organization deserves.
The fact is – it has never been easy to stand out.
It’s sorta how standing out works. Or doesn’t.
Think of it like a Zen koan. Or plain ole common sense.
Point is→ you can stand out. If you’re willing to stick your neck out.
Use these guerilla marketing examples to fuel your efforts, and yes, many on the list are doable regardless of company size.
I’m about to go dig giant mysterious footprints in the sand. (Dear Boss, my beach trip won’t delay next week’s newsletter. Unless I find true love… or BOGO margaritas).
Get Hacking
You already know.
Take a chance. Draft an email that’s connected to a guerilla marketing tactic. One that you actually take action on.
Has to be:
- Something you’ve never tried
- Doable in the next 30 days
- (Partially) plays out in the physical world
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📝Please take survey below. Not you, Tina in Indiana.
