When you’re trying to elicit a response from a client who seems to have fallen asleep, it’s useful to take a look at your approach in the email or letter.
Ask yourself: Are you opening up a new possibility for them or preventing them from missing an important opportunity?
It’s a subtle, but important shift. Sometimes, when we’re bored or restless or looking for new options, and we react to possibilities. Other times, we’re too busy for new opportunities, but we respond to someone who prevents us from missing out or making a mistake.
When you find your message isn’t getting through to a client or contact, you might find that changing gears from a possibility approach to a prevention approach will catch their attention.
Most of this work is done in the subject line or first sentence of a letter. For example, here are two different email subject lines on the same event:
Possibility subject line:
New luxury lakeside condos open Sunday
Prevention subject line:
Limited reservations remain: Luxury lakeside condo preview Sunday
In the possibility subject line, a new opportunity presents itself. In the prevention subject line, there’s a possibility they’ll be locked out of a special event.
Experiment with a variety of possibility and prevention styles. It’s always a good idea to alter your approach to keep your messaging fresh.
