Jan 12
31
Good timing may be the difference between sealing the deal and going big or completely missing the boat. Timing is especially important when attempting to reach corporate level executives or decision makers of a company.
Let’s look at increasing probabilities of business communication with two of the most important methods and the simple steps I used to create success.
When I was head of marketing overseeing more than 20 venues around the world, email was the critical form of communication. One tool I utilized numerous times was a feature which allowed me to create an email and send it at a future date and time. This tool allowed me to effectively communicate with senior management and staff by timing my emails. For example, if I needed information from tomorrow’s report, I would schedule my email to be delivered to the manager during the time they’re doing paperwork. I know they’re doing paperwork at that time and will have information readily available to increase the odds of them quickly answering my email.
You can apply this same tool when reaching out to an executive or decision maker.
Schedule your email to be delivered between Tuesday through Thursday shortly after 10 am. Why these specific days and time? If you’re like most people – Mondays suck. But, for an executive, the loathsome feeling of Monday is magnified ten-fold. They’ve come back from the weekend to a full inbox, reports from the weekend, unresolved issues from the prior week and tasks of planning and organizing the upcoming week and beyond. Simply put, Mondays are not a good time to reach out to C-Level executives. Instead, write your emails on Monday and schedule them to be delivered after 10 am in the next couple of days. After 10 am, most executives have already drank their morning coffee, cleared their inbox, resolved previous issues and have started new tasks for the day.
If you use Thunderbird, one application you can use to send emails at a future date is called ‘Send Later’. You don’t need your own email server to run this program, just simply have your computer on and Thunderbird running when you schedule to send your email. Draft all your emails on Monday and schedule them to go out during the week.
Also consider timing when attempting to connect with corporate personnel over the phone. The best time to initiate contact is between 10 am – 10:30 am. You want to contact them early in the day when they’re still fresh and working on that day’s tasks. If you can’t call them at that time, wait until after 1 pm. After 1 pm, most executives are back in the office from lunch and will be relaxed from taking a break from their workday.
Most importantly, it’s essential to learn about your prospects, their trade and any information about the person you’re needing to get in contact with. Not all businesses work from 9 to 5 and some people prefer to be contacted first thing in the morning before they get busy. Do your research.
We have several clients in the Las Vegas entertainment and hospitality industry. These people work hardest when the town is busiest, which means they work Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. This also means their days off are Sunday and Monday. This makes Tuesday the start of the work week for these clients. Because they work nights, calling them at 10 am will not be ideal. Get to know your prospects and if they have a different schedule, alter your days and times as necessary.
High level executives and decision makers are always inundated with solicitations and have secretaries trained to shield off sales calls. Give yourself the best chance of establishing communication by strategically timing correspondane with C-Level personnel to successfully get past the first step to closing the deal.
