Ryan Dohrn walks through email sequencing for sales prospecting. Send a 5-email sequence every 3 business days with unique subject lines, using his "rule of 3 and 3": 3-word subject line, 3-sentence email with social proof, relevance, and a 5-10 minute ask. Tools like Mixmax and If No Reply automate the work.
Hey friends and fans, Ryan Dohrn here answering your listener questions sent in to ryan@ryandohrn.com. All right, here's another listener question. Debbie in Woodstock, Illinois. Debbie from Woodstock, Illinois. I know where Woodstock, Illinois is, so that's great. Hi Debbie. All right, Debbie's question. Hey Ryan, I've heard you talk about email sequencing in the sales prospecting process. Could you talk a little bit more about that? Sure, Debbie from Illinois. So there's a couple of pro— there's a lot of programs out there that'll do sequencing and email automation. So let me just give you a couple, and these people that I'm going to mention, you should be a sponsor of these videos and the podcast, just so you know. Okay, so the one that I— there's 2 that I use a lot. One that I use is called Mixmax. Mixmax. Another one that I use and my clients use, specifically built for Gmail, but I think it works for Outlook as well, is one that's called If No Reply. Okay, so let's talk about email sequences. Now that's different than mass emails, which is actually a question that we'll cover later on from Marty in Nevada. But Debbie, sequencing is me as a salesperson recognizing that probably sending one email to somebody is probably not gonna get me a response. So what we know from companies like Sales Driver, Sales Donut, companies like that, what we know is that typically a prospect is gonna delete you or say no 4 times. Before they say yes on that 5th attempt. Okay, so all the sequences I do are unique subject lines, unique bodies in the email with different information. I'll explain. I set my sequence to go out every 3 business days. So what you would do is logging into Mixmaxx, IfNoReply, other companies that are like that— some of your CRMs will do it as well— is looking at the 5 emails that I'm gonna send and make sure that they all contain some similar themes, like only asking for a 10-minute meeting or something like that. But my emails all follow good old Uncle Ryan's rule of 3 and 3. Okay, am I old enough to be your uncle? Uncle Ryan's rule of 3 and 3: 3 words in the subject line, 3 sentences max in the email. Now remember, every subject line is going to need to be different every email. So remember, we've talked about subject lines. I like subject lines with a question. Like, your advice? Any thoughts on this? Have you considered this? Then the email's gonna have 3 sentences in it. First sentence will be social proof. Second sentence will be your point of being relevant. Third point will be your ask, okay? First sentence is social proof. Hi Bonnie, we're working with Company A, Company B, Company C, and they're loving it. Okay, that's social proof. Second sentence, mentioning something from LinkedIn, from their Facebook, you've seen on their website, a press release. Something there that proves that you're relevant to them, that you've been doing some research and you're not a generic salesperson. Okay, third sentence is your ask. When could I get just 5 or 10 minutes? Now remember, coming back to my training and all the training we do together, I only ask for 5 or 10 minutes. I don't ask for a 60-minute meeting. And now, will 10 minutes turn into 60? Sometimes. But the reason I don't ask for 60 minutes is because most people don't have 60 minutes to give, especially just to a company or somebody that they don't know. So that's how the sequencing works, Debbie. 5 emails in the sequence, 5 unique subject lines, usually with a question. I follow the same format, although I'm going to be mentioning different things, mention different companies, social proof, whatever it is that's a point of relevancy, change that for each email. And the third thing is your ask. So now remember, with Mixmaxx, with if no reply, With most automation tools, you're writing customized emails. I'm going to send them every 3 business days. I might vary the time of the send. I'm always going to vary the subject lines. But as soon as somebody replies to the sequence, make sure you choose a tool like one of these, which stops the next email from being sent within the sequence. Hey friends, I'm not trying to create lazy salespeople. I'm just trying to use technology to help me do my job a little bit more efficiently. Friends, never forget, if sales was easy, everybody'd be doing it. And, and they're not. We're not crazy. This is a great career, friends. It'll feed your family for a lifetime. Love to come and speak at your national sales meeting. Get your team all fired up out there. Reach out to me over at ryandohrn.com. We'll see you next time.
