Are we human..or are we dancer?
Welcome to Commission Breath! The quick weekly newsletter that makes sales reinforcement enjoyable. If you’re reading this but haven’t subscribed, you can do so here.
Happy Monday y’all!
Couple quick announcements before your regularly scheduled Commission Breath:
Next Monday I’ll be taking a break from your inbox for Labor Day 🇺🇸
I’ve received some great submissions for the first Monthly Community Edition that will go out at the end of September. To participate, submit your favorite little-known sales tool - can be absolutely anything that helps you in your day-to-day duties!
Today’s Edition:
Sales: Humanizing through vulnerability
Headlines: General Mills’ Big Announcement
Food for thought: A Tribute to Chadwick Boseman
Let’s get to it!
Human vs…Dancer
I’ll focus on the human part, and let The Killers figure out the dancer part.
Why? Because our job gets a lot easier when it’s clear to prospects that a human-being, not a commission hungry robot 🤖, is on the other side of our emails and phone calls.
So how can we humanize ourselves?
Being Vulnerable
Not just being vulnerable, but borderline volunteering yourself as tribute.
Being vulnerable signals that you’ve dropped the expected formalities that typical sales people follow, and usually results in a less defensive and more comfortable prospect.
Now this doesn’t mean pour your heart out over the phone or in an email, but you can put yourself out there in more subtle ways:
1. Up-front Contracts
We discussed this last week, but giving the prospect permission to tell you to buzz off if they aren’t interested is a good start to being vulnerable.
2. Calling Yourself Out During Cold Outreach
Check out of the below email👇
cc MarketingExamples.com
Not only does the writer call out the fact that it’s a cold-email, but he lays it all on the line and puts the unsubscribe link in the body of the email (let’s not get any ideas for this newsletter tho 👀).
Doing this shows emotional intelligence and breaks the predictable pattern of sales emails.
So Bucks, You Really Think This Crap Works?
Yes I do! And before sending this edition I went ahead and tried my own version of it.
Check out my results below from a recent email campaign.
Yes I’m shamelessly plugging myself, but the overall statistics and the individual responses offer validation that being vulnerable works.
Opening Line to Establish Vulnerability:
Hi [First Name],
I'm never quite sure how to start off a cold email and covid definitely hasn't made this easier - but hope you are doing as well as possible given the current circumstances.
Campaign Results
Individual Validation
Idk about you, but I don’t think the typical sales email will ever generate a response like that.
And while that particular reply didn’t lead to a meeting, it shows the vulnerability in the opening line caught my prospects attention, and led him to read the whole email.
There’s still lots of room for improvement, but these early results have been encouraging.
Cheers to being vulnerable 🍻
That’s it for this week’s sales insight 🤑 If you enjoyed it, I’d appreciate you forwarding it to a colleague, dropping it in Slack, or sharing in any other way!
Job Titles: SDR, AE, Team Lead…
Precisely what we are 🤝
Real Headlines
Lucky Charms Finally Gives The People What They Want 🙌
No need to eat the cereal bits first anymore, General Mills is selling packs of JUST the marshmallows. Brb as I time travel to high-five my 7 year-old self
KFC Suspends 64 Year-Old Slogan Due To Covid
Turns out finger lickin’ good doesn’t quite meet CDC guidelines…
USPS is Selling Swag To Stay Afloat
From dog costumes to magic kits, people are buying branded merch to help save the Postal Service
Internet Explorer Still Exists...But Not For Long
2007 called and they want their web browser back! Jk, but Microsoft DID end support for it on Aug 17th. God bless the poor souls still using it in 2020 🙏
Other Finds
The Stock Market’s Collapse and Recovery In Less Than 1 Minute (Visual)
Why The World’s Most Confident People Create Alter-Ego’s
Food For Thought
“Oh, what we could accomplish if we treated life like the limited resource that it is”
Chadwick Boseman, the actor who is most famous for playing Marvel’s Black Panther, passed away over the weekend after a 4 year battle with cancer.
I’ll be honest, I haven’t seen a single Marvel superhero movie since Tobey Maguire played Spiderman…so yeah, I’ve missed a lot.
However, the reaction to Boseman’s passing was palpable over the Internet, and a particular reaction on Twitter stuck out to me, so I thought I’d share it:
Something to keep in mind. Have a great week and see you all in 2 weeks ✌️
-Buck$
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🎧 In my headphones:
P.S.
Have any topic suggestions, questions, or constructive feedback? Reach out at pdbuck15@gmail.com, or click the button below. I’d love to hear from you!
Who are you again? Hi 👋 my name is Patrick, but most of my ppl call me Bucks. I’ve been in sales since I graduated college in 2016. Commission Breath is a quick weekly newsletter for sales people so that we can explore strategies and get better at sales. It’s a quick read, and also provides some bonus content to make it even more worth your while.