REPLY Method: Guide to increase response rates and set more meetings

Make sure to grab the one-page guide to the REPLY Method here.

The biggest prospecting challenges salespeople share with us almost always relate with messaging.

“What should I say?”

“How long should the email be?”

“Prospects aren't responding.”

Sound familiar?

We created the REPLY Method to help us deal with our own challenges in writing thousands of cold emails for our clients.

We needed a process that was repeatable and got results. The REPLY Method does just that.

REPLY stands for:

• Results. Prospects expect to see tangible results you’ve created for similar companies with similar challenges. 
• Empathy. Prospects want to feel understood. They expect that you know about their job, their responsibilities, and the challenges they're having.
• Personalization. Prospects are inundated with terrible outreach these days. They expect personalized communication.
• Laser-Focus. Prospects deal with more distractions than ever on a daily basis. They expect brief, succinct communication.
• You. Prospects don't care about you, your product/service, or your company. They expect you to make it about them.

Our clients have used the REPLY Method to meet with these brands:

If you're in need of help applying the REPLY Method to your outreach, contact us here.

Results

Goal: Get the prospect’s attention

Prospect needs to go from, “What’s in it for me?”

To… “This looks interesting.”

Results are the universal language in business. Every prospect understands a tangible result related to their job.

Connect your product/service to the prospect in a way that's easy to understand.

Avoid feature dumping. Or talking about your proprietary solution.

Focus on how you can make the prospect's life better.

Checklist for your outbound messaging:

• Don’t prospect to make a sale. Prospect to start a conversation.
• Avoid sharing case studies or social proof with companies the prospect doesn’t relate with.
• Share relevant, tangible results you’ve created for similar companies.

Example:

Empathy

Goal: Show the prospect you're one of them

Prospect needs to go from, “You’re not one of us.”

To…“You’re speaking my language.”

You've heard the old sales adage, "People buy based off of emotion and justify with logic."

We tend to focus most on the logical part of the sale, and give little attention to the emotional part. Which, ironically, is why most people buy.

Empathy helps you connect with the prospect on an emotional level. It shows the prospect you understand what it's like to walk in their shoes. 

Checklist for your outbound messaging:

• Lead with a prospect’s pain points, frustrations, or challenges where applicable.
• Avoid sending outreach that doesn’t address what your prospect is struggling with in relation to your solution.
• If you don’t know your prospect’s challenges or what’s important to them. Do client interviews.

Example:

Personalization

Goal: Show you’re not a spammer and that your outreach was intentional

Prospect needs to go from, “[delete] clearly a mass outreach.”

To…“They did their homework.”

Mass outreach is affordable to everyone now. At the click of a button, spammers can send thousands of emails at a time for a few hundred dollars.

This has desensitized us to cold emails and cold calls.

Prospects are smart. They get automated messages every day and can spot them from a mile away. They're looking for reasons to ignore you.

Make it obvious that you did your research. 

Checklist for your outbound messaging:

• Segment your outreach by industry and persona. Avoid sending the same message to everyone.
• Personalize your outreach to provide the context and a connection to your solution.
• Video is a great way to personalize your outreach.

Example:

Laser-Focus

Goal: Get to the point

Prospect needs to go from, “[delete] don't have time for that.”

To…“Wait, what was that?”

Prospects are busy these days. The average person is exposed to 4,000+ ads every day.

Your direct competitors aren't your only competition. You're also competing with all of the other distractions prospects deal with every day.

Keep your outreach short and to the point—your chances of starting a conversation will dramatically increase.

Checklist for your outbound messaging:

• Keep messaging concise. Less than 120 words or 3-5 sentences is ideal for emails. Less than 30 seconds for voicemails. And less than 30 seconds for your cold call pitch.
• Be clear with your Call-to-Action (CTA). And keep it to just one.
• Does this help the prospect see the results we can help them create, empathize with them, or provide the context through personalization? If not, get rid of it.

Example:

You

Goal: Make the prospect the hero

Prospect needs to go from, “I get it! You think you’re really awesome!”

To…“This could help me...”

Prospects don't care about you, your product/service, or your company. It's a harsh reality many of us learn the hard way.

It's our job as salespeople to make them care. 

But you don't do that by talking about yourself. Or how great your company is.

Prospects want to know what's in it for them. Share what your company does, but show them how it helps make their life better. 

Checklist for your outbound messaging:

• Are you making the prospect the hero? Or your company (or worse...you)? Don’t make it about yourself. No one wants to be Alfred. They want to be Batman.
• Use “you” and “your” more than you use “I.”
• Tell the prospect what’s in it for them.

Example:

Want More?

Make sure to grab the one-page guide to the REPLY Method here.

We talk about the REPLY Method on these podcasts:

• Jason Bay, Jeffrey Gitomer, and Jennifer Gluckow break down cold emails on Facebook live
• Jason Bay and Darryl Praill talk about how to turn up the heat on your cold emails using the REPLY Method
• Jason Bay talks about the REPLY Method for writing cold emails on the Daily Sales Tips Podcast
• Jason Bay and Adam Springer talk about how to get started with outbound sales on the Startup Sales Podcast
• Jason Bay and Marylou Tyler talk about successful (not stressful) prospecting and the REPLY Method on the Predictable Prospecting Podcast