Getting a good response rate on your prospecting emails is a challenge in any industry - not just recruitment - so you're not alone. But there are a few things you can do when writing your emails that can massively increase your chances of getting a response.
Plus, we share our brand new email template tool to make your life that bit easier!
Take the following 6 guidelines on board each time you send a recruitment sales email and you’re sure to increase your reply rates substantially...
1. Stagger your goal
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When taking your first step in reaching out to a prospect, what’s your goal?
At this early stage in the game, remember your goal is not to pull in new business, but simply to get a reply.
So, focus your initial email on opening up a discussion with your prospect. From there, you can then tailor the goal of each successive email in a way that suits the natural flow of the conversation.
Don’t rush things to much - slow but steady wins the race!
2. Don’t be too forward
There’s a fine line between being powerful with your communication and demanding a busy person’s time (in which case, your email will be disregarded even just out of principle).
Don’t jump the gun. Try using the foot-in-the-door technique and you’re 136% more likely to get the prospect to agree to meeting with you, never mind reply to your email!
3. Be cautious of pronouns
We’ve written a lot in the past about the dangers of making your emails all about your own goals and the company you work for. You might find it interesting, but you can be sure the prospect doesn’t really care.
Instead, make sure you focus the discussion on them, using the ‘you’ pronoun as much as possible (particularly at the start and end of your emails) and avoiding ‘I’, ‘we’ and the company name whenever possible.
4. Ask high-value questions
High-value questions are those that create a learning experience either for you and/or your prospect. And as they’re always open-ended, they're much more effective in provoking a response than those that require a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.
High-value questions get better response rates because people are often taken aback by genuine attempts to get know more about them, and they generally make for a more positive, personal experience for everyone involved.
5. Keep it short
Shorter emails will always get a better response rate (remember that decision-makers are busy people!).
While you might feel like you need to give your prospect more information to convince them it’s worth their time to reply, it’s more likely they’ll actually do it if it feels like less of a burden to do so.
6. Download our email tool
Finally, we’ve put together a brand new business development email tool for recruiters that includes templates for various different stages of the prospecting and hiring processes.
Click to download below!
