3 Simple rules for writing emails to clients

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There are a few simple principles that every good sales person knows well:

  1. Stay in touch with your customer
  2. Secure renewals BEFORE contracts expire
  3. Customer is king so be nice to your customer

Easy right? I thought so too. Which Is exactly why I found this email, from a big name supplier, so shocking.

Emailers to Avoid

The language is so tough it’s almost threatening – a reasonable explanation for why the IT team that received this was so antagonized. They didn’t say anything to the supplier, but they’re already shopping around for a vendor that actually values their business.

It’s not uncommon to see big companies treat little customers badly, or with very poor response times. You’re probably familiar with the experience; you don’t qualify as an “Enterprise” client, so you won’t easily get a real person to talk to you. It’s a fine line, and crossing it means lots of disgruntled customers.

As a small business these are great opportunities. Good customer service and non-threatening emails, are great ways of winning & retaining clients, even against bigger competitors. If I were their competition, I’d be chasing this email mistake with a campaign talking about flexibility & friendliness.

Perhaps the lessons from this email are the most obvious ones:

  1. Apply the 3 simple sales principles when writing emails to clients
  2. Don’t threaten your customers (even indirectly)
  3. Incent rather than penalize your customers for staying with you
  4. Only state the facts, don’t commit to something you don’t know
  5. Invest in your customer relationships, because if they don’t love you they’ll leave