How to Write Irresistible Emails and Start Conversations – In Just 7 Minutes with Kendra Lee

Resources/Links:

• Email PowerProspecting Guide: Proven email strategies to get better sales leads and more of them: Discover a multitude of email prospecting strategies you can apply immediately to break through the delete barrier and reach top prospects. https://www.klagroup.com/doemailright/

Summary

Despite starting her sales career in accounting, failing IBMs entry-level sales exam and being told she couldn’t sell without an engineering background, Kendra Lee entered sales and proved those nay-sayers wrong. She turned her knowledge of numbers into a lead generation approach that propelled her to the top 1% of sales professionals. She founded KLA Group, wrote two books, and is here with us today to guide you in mastering prospecting emails.

In this episode, Kendra shares her journey as a prospect attraction authority who uses email to shorten time to revenue. Discover a multitude of email prospecting strategies you can apply immediately to break through the delete barrier and reach top prospects.

Check out these episode highlights:

• 01:23 – Kendra’s ideal client: We work with business owners who are actually the principal salespeople within their organizations. Or they have a very small sales team and they’re trying to figure out how the heck can they get more customers.
• 01:55 – Problem she helps solve: usually what their issue really is, is that they’ve tried all these different activities but they can’t seem to get any leads, they can’t figure out how to do it consistently. And so, we come in and we help them put together a lead generation strategy, and then implement that strategy to the point where either we’ll coach them or we actually will do the lead generation for them.
• 03:01 – Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Kendra: It’s usually that they’re not being consistent in their lead generation approach. And one of the primary approaches still to use is email because you can reach a whole group of people quickly. We absolutely still want to pick up the phone, we still want to do social media and all those other activities. But what they’re finding is they’re not getting consistent leads, and they’re not getting responses to the lead generation activities that they’re doing.
• 04:06 – Common mistakes people make when trying to solve that problem: they’re not doing anything consistently. They’re not just sticking with it; they’ll try lots of different strategies.
• 06:10 – Kendra’s Valuable Free Action(VFA): Keep your emails focused on the prospects that you are sending it to. You’ve got three seconds to get a response, to get their attention. And so you have to be focused on what they care about.
• 07:37 – Kendra’s Valuable Free Resource(VFR): Email PowerProspecting Guide: Proven email strategies to get better sales leads and more of them: Discover a multitude of email prospecting strategies you can apply immediately to break through the delete barrier and reach top prospects. https://www.klagroup.com/doemailright/
• 07:40 – Q: ‘Why use email when you could do social media or other strategies?’ A: Because it’s one of the easiest ways to gain direct access to someone and if they reply to you, you can instantly start a conversation and begin building a relationship.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“Keep your emails focused on the prospects that you are sending it to. You've got three seconds to get a response, to get their attention. And so you have to be focused on what they care about.” -@KendraLeeKLA Share on X

Info about our correspondent host: Travis has a background in sales, marketing, and strategy, and left the corporate world several years ago to start his own agency. As a copywriter by trade, his biggest skill is putting the right words, in front of the right people, at the right time. Travis has developed go-to-market strategies for grassroots apps to Fortune 500 and helped optimize up to $50k per day in Facebook Ad spend for one of the biggest startups in Asia.

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Travis Bennett:0:09
Hi everyone, and welcome to another edition of Marketing The Invisible. My name is Travis Bennett, and I’m rocking it to you out of Yangon, Myanmar, proving you can build a successful business from anywhere in the world. I’m joined today by Kendra Lee. Kendra, a very, very warm welcome.

Kendra Lee: 0:23
Thank you for having me today, Travis.

Travis Bennett 0:25
It’s a pleasure. And where are you coming to us from today?

Kendra Lee: 0:28
I am in Denver, Colorado.

Travis Bennett 0:31
Lovely, lovely. And for everyone listening. If you don’t know Kendra, I’d like to introduce her really quick. She started her sales career in accounting, and despite all the naysayers, turned all of her knowledge of numbers into a lead gen. approach that’s propelled her to the top 1% of sales professionals. Kendra, it’s our pleasure to have you on the show today. And welcome, thank you for joining us.

Kendra Lee: 0:53
Well, thank you for having me. I am looking forward to talking with your community and with you. We’re having such fun.

Travis Bennett 1:00
We are, we are. For everyone listening, we’re very delayed in getting this out because we’ve just been chatting for like half an hour already. Kendra, it is so great to have you on the show. We’re going to be talking about, “How to Write Irresistible Emails That Start Conversations.” And Kendra’s got seven minutes to explain everything. I’m going to hit go on our timer. Kendra, question number one, who is your ideal client?

Kendra Lee: 1:23
We work with business owners who are actually the principal sales people within their organizations. Or they have a very small sales team and they’re trying to figure out how the heck can they get more customers. What’s the lead generation or the sales prospecting that they need to do to do that?

Travis Bennett 1:44
Gotcha. And for these sales professionals, while they’re figuring out what they need to do, what’s the key problem that you solve for these guys, and girls, or pronouns?

Kendra Lee: 1:55
All of them. Well, usually what their issue really is, is that they’ve tried all these different activities but they can’t seem to get any leads, they can’t figure out how to do it consistently. And so, we come in and we help them put together a lead generation strategy, and then implement that strategy to the point where either we’ll coach them or we actually will do the lead generation for them.

Travis Bennett2:23
Oh, wow. So then, I mean, that’s a very good thing because some people want help but some people actually just don’t have the time to do it themselves. So, they need somebody to step in and kind of take that position so they can focus on everything else.

Kendra Lee: 2:37
Exactly. Exactly. At that size company, they often don’t have a lot of different people that they can pass things through. And so that’s where we step in. And for today’s topic, email is one of the key areas that we usually work with them.

Travis Bennett2:52
Okay. So then question number three, what are the typical symptoms that people experience? So, when they’re not getting the leads in, what does that mean for their business?

Kendra Lee: 3:01
Well, first, it’s usually that they’re not being consistent in their lead generation approach. And one of the primary approaches still to use is email because you can reach a whole group of people quickly. We absolutely still want to pick up the phone, we still want to do social media and all those other activities. But what they’re finding is they’re not getting consistent leads, and they’re not getting responses to the lead generation activities that they’re doing.

Travis Bennett 3:31
Okay. Okay, which isn’t good, because they’re spending all their time trying to bring these in, but the people aren’t coming back to them, right? They’re not replying.

Kendra Lee: 3:38
Right. And they’re not growing their business, right? And that’s the number one symptom is that they don’t see their business growing at all. And it’s because they don’t have leads that they can then call and follow up on.

Travis Bennett 3:53
Perfect. Perfect. So, we’ve got four minutes 20 seconds on the clock. We’re actually doing really great for time. Question number four, when people try to solve this problem themselves, what are the common mistakes that they usually make?

Kendra Lee: 4:06
The number one thing that we see is that they’re not doing anything consistently. They’re not just sticking with it; they’ll try lots of different strategies. And when we talk about email, specifically, because it’s the first place that people tend to go, business owners, when they’re trying to do a lead generation strategy, they aren’t writing from a perspective that will get people to respond to them. They’re using bad subject line. So, they’re writing all about themselves. They’re writing from a position of fear. So, they’re making all these mistakes, and they’re not getting any responses. And then they get frustrated, and they say, “Okay, that strategy doesn’t work. Now, I’m going to go and I’m going to do search engine marketing,” or, “Now, I’m going to go and I’m going to hire an appointment setter,” but they don’t stick with any one thing. And so, they don’t have an opportunity to see anything work, because they’re not giving it that chance.

Travis Bennett 5:07
Perfect. So, it’s kind of like you try a little bit, but you don’t try hard enough to actually excel in that. And then they give up and move to the next one without giving it a chance to develop.

Kendra Lee: 5:17
Right. And if you think about sales, sales is all about consistency, right? And prospecting, you’re going to keep prospecting. Well, lead generation is the same way, we can’t give up on it just because we don’t get a response in a quarter, or even in a year. You know, you’ve probably seen the same thing, we’ll get responses to email campaigns that we’ve done, and somebody will call in and say, “I’ve been following you for nine years.” And I’m like, “Nine years? Taken you nine years to reply to me?”

Travis Bennett 5:51
There’s like 47 different touch points every single month, yeah.

Kendra Lee: 5:55
Exactly. But you have to be consistent, and it’s that can consistency that makes it work.

Travis Bennett 6:01
Okay. Right. So, we’ve got two minutes left. Question number five, valuable free piece of advice we can give everyone listening in today.

Kendra Lee: 6:10
Keep your emails focused on the prospects that you are sending it to. You’ve got three seconds to get a response, to get their attention. And so you have to be focused on what they care about.

Travis Bennett 6:25
Gotcha. Gotcha. So, a minute and 30, we’re okay, we’ve got time. A valuable free resource we can send our listeners to where they can learn more about you and maybe get some more advice on doing this the right way.

Kendra Lee: 6:38
There is so much that I could tell you about email and how to write one more effectively. We have an email power prospecting guide. That is the free resource that I wanted to tell you all about today. Go get it, it’s free. And it tells you all the different things that you can do to improve your emails. We have had people who’ve used it, and then send me an email and said, “Oh my gosh, this person has never responded to me, and suddenly I got a response.” So, the strategies, and it work.

Travis Bennett 7:10
That’s great. And that’s klagroup.com/doemailright. And that will get you full access, you can download. I think it’s 39 pages of advice on doing your emails better, which is amazing. I’m actually going to download after we get off this call, because I can probably use some help too. And the last question, Kendra, question number seven, 33 seconds, what’s one thing I should have asked you that I haven’t yet?

Kendra Lee: 7:37
Why use email when you could do social media or other strategies, because it’s one of the easiest ways to gain direct access to someone and if they reply to you, you can instantly start a conversation and begin building a relationship.

Travis Bennett7:55
Awesome, powerful stuff. Everyone listening, that’s it for today. Go to klagroup.com/doemailright, get that guide. Kendra, it’s a pleasure. Thank you so much for joining us.

Kendra Lee: 8:06
Thank you for having me. Everybody, go do your email right.

Travis Bennett 8:10
And do it right now. Thank you for listening. It’s a pleasure to talk to every one of you listening in today, and have a great day wherever you are. Cheers.

Tom Poland: 8:19
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.