Ryan Dohrn explains why prospects say "I'll pass" and how to fix it. Use a three-word subject line and three-sentence email with social proof, a prospect-focused value prop, and a 5-10 minute ask. Keep it brief and tease the value instead of dumping details.
What's going on, friends and fans? Ryan Dohrn here answering your listener questions sent in to ryan@ryandohrn.com. And whether you're watching the videos on YouTube or listening to the podcast, be sure to subscribe down below so you never miss an update. All right, next listener question comes from James of Wisconsin. Hey, James, it's cold in Wisconsin right now, isn't it? Here's James' question. Hey, Ryan, appreciate your podcast and everything. Love some advice on I'll pass. Meaning I'm getting replies from my customers saying, thanks, James, I'll pass. What am I doing wrong? So James, I don't know that you're necessarily doing anything wrong per se, but let's talk about some strategies so that you stop getting I'll pass. So there's 2 sides that could— 2 things that could potentially be going wrong. One is they're not seeing enough value to get a reply from you, or number 2 on this side, you're giving them too much information. So let's talk about value. Always be asking yourself, James, and everybody else— I do this every time I leave a voicemail, every time I write an email— why should they reply to me? Like, what email, what value are they going to get by replying to this email? If you're saying something like this, hi Bonnie, love to chat with you about X, got some ideas for you, and don't— you don't give them any reason to reply, and you're not creating enough value to get them to reply. Okay, so your email should always be structured. We've talked about it before. 3 words in the subject line, 3 sentences max. The way the structure of the email goes is 3 pieces of value. Start at the top. Hi Julie, I'm working with Company A, Company B, Company C, and they're loving it. Okay, a lot of value in that, like, oh wow, I should be working with you too. Second sentence is your value proposition, not about you but what you can do to help them. Julie, I saw on your website you're featuring this. Love to help you with that. Really? There's value in me replying to you. Julie's value comes that, hey, maybe he could help me too. Then the third sentence though, which everybody overlooks for some reason, there's value in time. So if you're not saying, I'd love to meet with you for 5 minutes to talk about this, the default is, oh, he wants to meet for 60 minutes. So we want to make sure we're mentioning other people we're working with. We've got a value proposition that's clear for them, not, not your— not your elevator pitch. Nobody wants to hear that. And the third is asking for 5 or 10 minutes. Okay, that's over here on the value side of things. Maybe you need to create more value, James, to get them reply— to reply. Okay, other side of the coin. I'm guessing maybe you're giving them too much information. So for example, like in my world of marketing, if I said subject line, um, home guide coming up next month, deadline tomorrow, or the body of the email was like, hey, we got a great home guide coming up, love to get you included, we got some special rates for companies like yours. Well, there's not a lot of value in that. It really just basically is a solicitation, and you've given them so much information that quite honestly they can make a decision like, I'll pass, right? So what we want to do is go back to the value conversation. You want to be brief, you want to be teasy, you want to tease them, you want to kind of get them enticed to have a meeting with you. And so you really don't want to give them so much information that they can make a decision. That's That's why I'm so against just blindly sending solicitations with PDF attachments or links. I just feel like you're giving them so much information, they're like, nah, I'm good, I'll pass, and you never even had a fighting chance. So James, either one of those sides of the coin could potentially be working against you. If you fix both those things and you're still having problems, drop me another email and I'm going to always give you 30 minutes for free, friend. So if you want to jump on the line, James, I'm happy to sort out that with you as well. But just remember, All the emails we do, friends, need to be rich in value. What's the value they're going to get for replying to that particular email from you? So James, good luck out there. Never forget, friends, sales was easy, everybody'd be doing it. And they're not. We're not crazy. This is a great career. It'll feed your family for a lifetime. Love to motivate your team? Head over to ryandohrn.com and love to come and make a big impact upon your sales team and your business life as well. ryandohrn.com. We'll see you next time.
