Emails are among the most powerful ways to get in front of your clients and prospects, especially during times when most in-person meetings are on pause. However, the competition is extremely steep when it comes to your clients’ and prospects’ inboxes. According to a Harvard Business School study, meetings are about 20 percent shorter now. This means that conversations that used to happen in person are now happening via email or online meetings.

What is a team leader and client manager to do? You should learn how to make a splash in this digital sea of emails. Here are some tips on how to stand out and get a response to your emails. 

Be succinct

To get a quicker response to your email, keep it short. It is best to be clear and direct with your language, showing less formality and using fewer words. The purpose is to make it easy for the other person to consume and understand. You want to consider creating templates for your team to use to ensure short and consistent messaging around certain products or topics.  

Schedule meetings directly from email

You may want to develop email-calendar integrations to reduce back-and-forth in selecting a meeting time. The last thing you want to do is send your clients and prospects an overly wordy email that they may forget to review or read and hit reply. It is better to allow your prospects and clients to choose their preferred meeting time with a single click right in the email. 

Time your messages correctly

Timing is particularly important when you want a fast response to your sales emails. A good rule of thumb is to avoid overly busy days (like a Monday after a holiday) and send your sales mid-week. You could also send your communication in the morning when most people check their email. Deciding on the right time also depends on what your customers want from you. Some clients most likely will want you to be their trusted advisor, and they want immediate responses. Others may not need to hear from you right away. Consider each the relationship you have with each client and plan your emails when it makes the most sense for them. 

Break down information silos

If you send an email and never record the correspondence in your CRM platform, did you really communicate with that account? The information stored in emails can easily end up siloed from other relevant data. When that happens, team members working on the same account may not have accessibility to those communications. As a result, they may make different assumptions, which can lead to confusion and conflict. 

Ultimately, getting a timely response to your emails comes down to making it easy for the recipient. Your clients and prospects are juggling endless requests, and you do not want your email to add to their stress. Be thoughtful in your communication and balance your effort with a reasonable ask. When you can make it easy to respond, your prospects are likely to hit reply. And this will help you thrive.