One of the joys of my consultancy role is that I am often asked to review the first ‘touch’ emails from a range of professional services, consultancies and other firms.

You know what it is like, you have met someone for the first time, are trying to get a meeting, networked a way in or been referred and you send that opening email which introduces you and what you do.

So often these opening emails hide the value of the connection, hide the link and the value that joins the individual with the success they desire. The example that spurned this blog was an email from a consultancy company that started with “I am a consultant working for a world leading organisation that provides market leading XX services”, after three paragraphs of similar “we are fabulous” text they got to the punch line which was “we help you make XX percentage of savings, often over £XX, for our clients year on year on their XX services” three lines before the end.

When I asked the employees what they thought, they all said (without fail) that they had been given it on entry and had used it with some success.

Now I don’t profess to be an email expert but I do do digital relationships.  When I asked them to forget that they worked for the company, forget their role, sit in the clients’ seat and read it again quite a few of them went quiet and pale.

They had fallen into a trap of talking about their role, the company and its services for three paragraphs before they even mentioned what they could do to help the client, to make a real tangible difference.

They made it really difficult for the potential client to see what they really did for the client, what value they put into the client’s business, it was all about them! You don’t buy your own services – the clients’ do so focus on them, what they want, their needs and how you can help them to get their outcomes before your get your income. Simple really isn’t it? What interesting examples have you seen?

Share this article