Let's go plant a tree!

I was recently offered a tree planted on my behalf if I agreed to a demo.

Is this type of approach:

- Brilliant?

- Bonkers?

- Creative?

- Desperate?

It was the fourth email in a sequence.

It got my attention and made me laugh, but not that ‘laugh out loud' belly laugh, more a mirth of confusion with a hint of irony.

I have nothing against original ‘out the box’ ideas - but the first three emails did nothing to reference any problems I might be having.

It was just assumed I’d be interested in their platform to generate x number of new leads each week.

This assumption is the first thing that turns a potential buyer off.

Maybe I don’t have this problem.

Perhaps I’m working at full capacity.

They didn’t ask.

Instead, they took the route of 1) Product pitch 2) Calendar invite 3) Product pitch to 4) ‘Sod it - let’s just plant a tree’

I did have visions of planting this tree together and walking into the sunset…and then a thought occurred to me:

“How about leaving your product out and entering your prospect’s world with what bugs them day–to-day?”

“Hi X, I typically work with these types of companies and help solve these three problems – any of them sound familiar?”

Instead, it’s more like:

“Hi X, my software can generate X number of leads for you in a week, look at these testimonials from ‘big co’ ‘multinational’ and ‘big co’ (none of whom I can relate to). Let’s jump on a demo!”

No thank you.

Another salesperson asked me to take part in a quiz in their third message.

If someone hasn’t responded to your first two messages (all about them) I’m not sure why they would then take part in a quiz?

I'm not here to name and shame anyone, so I use these anonymous examples to illustrate that sales really shouldn’t be this way.

It’s obviously noisy out there.

But bring it back to basics.

Don’t lead with your solution.

Enter the world of your prospect by leading with their problems.

No quizzes.

And definitely no trees.