The Best Way To Interrupt Your Prospects

These days, there are a number of ways to reach out to people. But in my experience, few methods of communication are as effective as email. 

If you want to get your prospect’s attention and engage them in a conversation without having to be face-to-face, sending an email is often your best bet. 

That said, there are some things you need to watch out for when crafting your next message so that you don’t come off as overly pushy or desperate:

Takeaways
Interruption marketing can be a powerful strategy to engage prospects.
Effective interruption involves unexpected and attention-grabbing approaches.
Understanding your target audience is crucial for crafting relevant interruptions.
Balancing disruption with value is essential to keep prospects interested.
Consistency and experimentation are key to refining your interruption techniques.

Walk, Don’t Run

There are three main reasons why you should walk, don’t run.

People are busy and don’t want to be interrupted.

You will get more attention if you take time to prepare. When someone calls me on the phone and introduces themselves, I have no idea who they are unless they tell me something more than their name right away (like “Hi, this is Jim Smith from ABC Company…”). 

But when a person walks up to me in person and says hello, my mind immediately goes into “interruption mode” where I’m ready for them to start talking immediately with no introduction whatsoever! 

That’s because walking up gives the impression that there was no reason for them being there other than wanting my attention…which means now I’m giving it!

It’s more respectful than calling someone on the phone–and even worse doing so after hours or during lunchtime when most people aren’t able to answer back anyway.”

Interruption marketing has its complexities, and it’s essential to understand that it doesn’t work in the conventional way. Discover the nuances of this strategy in our article on Interruption Marketing Doesn’t Work the Way You Think It Does to refine your approach.

Reading Email Is Like Drinking Water Through A Straw

Email is like drinking water through a straw. You can’t get the whole picture, you can’t get the context, and you can’t see the body language. You can’t hear tone of voice or facial expressions. And email also doesn’t convey emotions, as well as face-to-face conversations, do.

If you want to interrupt your prospects in a way that isn’t intrusive or cold, try meeting them for coffee or lunch instead of sending an email first this will give you a chance to build rapport before trying to sell them something (or ask them for money).

Text Messages Are More Than SMS Communications

Text messages are more than SMS communications. They allow you to communicate with your prospects and build relationships with them, but they also give you the opportunity to get their attention.

When it comes to interrupting your prospects in person or on the phone, there are many ways to do that. But when it comes to text messages, there are limitations on how much information you can convey in one message and still maintain a professional tone. 

Therefore, it’s important that you don’t use too many words in each message; otherwise, they will lose focus quickly and turn into a confusing jumble of words that doesn’t say anything at all not exactly ideal when trying to gain someone’s trust!

The best way is by sending short bursts of information at intervals so that your prospect always feels compelled to check back for more updates about what he/she needs from your company or business (which may include deals).

Interested in mastering interruption marketing? Our comprehensive guide, Ultimate Guide to Interruption Marketing: How to Do It Right, covers everything you need to know about implementing this strategy effectively and achieving optimal results.

Take Out The Trash

Here is an easy way to take out the trash:

Delete emails you don’t need. You can do this by using filters, or setting up rules in your inbox. When they’re gone, they’re gone!

Create folders for emails that you want to keep but not have cluttering up your Inbox. For example, create a folder called “Donations” and move all donation-related messages there (instead of having them clog up your inbox).

Set up automatic actions for specific types of email messages (like moving them into a folder when they land in your inbox). This is known as creating filters or rules within Gmail; Outlook has similar options available for their email client .

Use Unroll.me: This tool allows users who subscribe to newsletters and mailing lists from companies.

Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Spotify unsubscribe from these subscriptions in one fell swoop without having to unsubscribe individually with each service provider (which can be time consuming).

Stop Sending Emails About Meetings

If you’re sending emails to schedule meetings, you might want to think about switching up your strategy.

If you’re like most salespeople, the chances are pretty high that you’re doing most of your prospecting and scheduling via email. And while there are still plenty of people who prefer to communicate over email (and even those who prefer it over phone calls).

Many others find it much easier to schedule meetings in person or through their assistants. So if this is what your prospects prefer, why not start taking advantage of this preference?

Generating successful interruption marketing campaigns requires creativity and a solid plan. Learn about 14 Proven Ways to Create Interruption Marketing for Your Business and explore innovative tactics to capture your audience’s attention.

Use Email For Information Sharing

Email is an amazing tool that can be used for a lot more than just sending messages back and forth. If you’re using email to promote your business, it can also serve as a great information sharing tool.

That said, there are some things you shouldn’t do with email if you want to keep up good customer relationships:

Don’t use it for asking questions or making requests. If someone has already subscribed to your newsletter or filled out a form on your website, chances are they’re interested in what you have to say and they’ll likely open any emails that come their way. 

But if they don’t open an email from you (or rarely do), then maybe they aren’t interested in what’s being offered there yet or maybe they’ve changed their mind about becoming customers after all! 

Either way, asking questions or making requests will only make them feel like those offers aren’t relevant anymore and may even turn them off entirely depending on how often this happens over time.”

Build A Routine

This is where you’ll want to set aside a time every day when you’ll be available. This could be once in the morning and once at night, or just one block of time during your lunch break. 

Whatever works best for you, just make sure it’s consistent so that your prospects will know when they can expect a response from you.

When it comes time for the actual sending part of this process, there are a few important things:

The subject line of your email should be short and sweet, don’t use words like “Hi” or “Hello.” Instead try something like “Q1 report,” which gives them an idea what they’re getting without being too wordy or boring. 

You also don’t need to mention yourself in the subject line; that information is easy enough to see later on in their inbox when they open up this message!

When addressing someone by name within an email subject line, avoid using nicknames unless you’re actually friends with them (and even then maybe not). 

If someone has been referred to as John Smith instead of John since birth then go ahead and use his full name because otherwise he might think he knows who wrote it before he opens up his messages!

Navigating interruption marketing to get results can be challenging. Uncover actionable insights in our post on People Don’t Like Interruption Marketing: Here’s How to Get Results and find out how to make this strategy work effectively for your brand.

Schedule Time For Responding To Email

The best way to interrupt your prospects is by scheduling time for responding to email.

Keep all communications short and succinct. Don’t send another “quick question.” It’s not quick, and it won’t ever be answered in the same way. 

Instead, schedule time for responding with a concise answer that has enough information in it that they can move on with their day while you can move on with yours and then stick to that schedule!

If you get interrupted in the middle of an important task (like writing this article), turn off all notifications for now so there’s no chance of being distracted by them later when you’re ready to get back into work mode again…

Don’t Send Another “Quick Question”

Here’s a novel thought: if you want to interrupt your prospects, don’t send another “quick question.”

Why? Because this is an interruption. The more you interrupt, the less likely it is that they’ll ever talk to you again. 

If they’ve already told you no and even asked for the conversation to stop, then there’s really no reason why they should receive another message from you unless it’s time sensitive or extremely important.

Get Your Email Inbox Down To Zero Every Single Day

One of the biggest problems I’ve noticed when it comes to email is that people don’t set aside specific time to answer emails. 

They open up their inbox, see a few things that need attention, and then spend an hour or two answering questions and scheduling meetings for later in the week. 

This is a horrible way of doing business. You should get your email inbox down to zero every single day, whether that’s by deleting old emails or creating new ones (or both!).

To do this, you need to schedule out your day with blocks of time where you’ll work on different tasks. Here are some examples:

• 5 am – 7 am: Email checking and data entry
• 8 am – 11 am: Writing blog posts and sending pitches
• 12pm – 3pm: Working on proposals/contracts/etc

Don’t Use The Phone To Interrupt Someone When It’s Not Important

If you have an important message, it’s best to send an email or make a phone call. It’s not the right time to interrupt someone when they’re busy with something else.

We all know how annoying it can be when our phones ring and we have no idea who’s calling or why. We don’t want to take the call because we feel like there might be something more important going on in our lives at that moment (or there could be). 

Your prospect may also interpret your interruption as disrespect for their time, which could hurt your relationship with them in the long run.

PR and marketing have distinct roles, and understanding their differences is crucial for success. Discover why these two functions should never meet in our thought-provoking article, Why PR and Marketing Should Never Meet, and gain insights into maintaining clear boundaries between them.

Remember That Effective Communication Requires Feedback

In the same way that you need feedback to know if your prospect is understanding what you’re saying, they need feedback to know if they are being understood. 

Ineffective communication occurs when one person speaks and the other listens, but doesn’t give any indication that they understand. 

This can be frustrating for both parties involved in a conversation and will result in an unhappy customer or client.

Effective communication requires two-way street feedback. This can be done verbally (for example: “I see,” “That makes sense,” “Oh really?”) or non-verbally (for example: nodding). 

If you feel like a prospect isn’t listening to what you have to say, it may help if you ask questions about their thoughts and feelings instead of just continuing on with your speech until the end of time without stopping for air!

Think Twice Before Picking Up The Phone

• Call to set up a meeting. This is the most common reason for salespeople to call prospects. It allows them to introduce themselves and determine if there’s any mutual benefit in getting together.
• Call to ask a question or request information from your prospect, such as:
• A quote or price list (if you’re calling a competitor)
• Additional details about their products or services before reaching out via email
• Ask for favors don’t be afraid of asking for help! You may need specific information from your prospect, such as how they found out about you or what they liked about working with another company like yours in the past. 

If you can get these answers ahead of time, it will make it easier when writing other emails later on down the line; 

Plus, it also shows that you were considerate enough to ask someone else before assuming something related directly back toward them (which could potentially cause hurt feelings).

Keep All Communications Short, Succinct And Informative

The best way to interrupt your prospects is to break down each message into short paragraphs. A paragraph should contain no more than 3-5 sentences. Each sentence should be clear and concise, with a single idea or thought. 

Avoid long sentences that are hard to understand and easy to get lost in. You must avoid language that is overly technical or jargon specific to your industry. 

Long emails can make it difficult for the reader to find what they need quickly, which will cause them to lose interest in reading further or even deleting your email altogether! 

If you are using text messaging as an interruption method, then keep the message brief no more than one short sentence per text message! 

Also be aware that people tend not to read texts thoroughly because they’re on the go most of the day; this means keeping things short will help ensure that they actually take time out of their busy schedule in order do so

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many ways to interrupt your prospects without being pushy or annoying. If you’re trying to get someone’s attention, walking right up to them is a great way to do it. 

The best way to get their attention when they’re on the phone is by sending an email or text message instead of calling them directly, making sure that all communication is short and concise so that they can read through it quickly before responding back. 

And if all else fails? Well then maybe it’s time for an old-fashioned phone call!

Further Reading

Explore more about pattern interrupts and their impact on sales and cold calling:

How to Use Pattern Interrupts in Sales Short Description: Learn effective techniques for incorporating pattern interrupts into your sales strategy to capture your audience’s attention and drive engagement.

9 Pattern Interrupts That Will Transform Your Cold Calls Short Description: Discover nine powerful pattern interrupts to revolutionize your cold calling approach and make a memorable impression on potential clients.

The Power of Pattern Interrupts in Sales Short Description: Dive into the concept of pattern interrupts and their role in sales, and gain insights into how they can enhance your sales conversations.

FAQs

What are pattern interrupts in sales?

Pattern interrupts in sales are techniques or strategies used to break the predictable flow of a conversation or interaction. They aim to capture the recipient’s attention and disrupt their automatic responses, creating an opportunity for engagement.

How do pattern interrupts work in cold calling?

Pattern interrupts in cold calling involve using unexpected or unconventional approaches to grab the prospect’s attention, leading to more engaging and productive conversations.

Can pattern interrupts improve sales effectiveness?

Yes, pattern interrupts can enhance sales effectiveness by making your communication more memorable and impactful, fostering better engagement and increasing the likelihood of positive outcomes.

What are some common examples of pattern interrupts?

Examples of pattern interrupts include using unexpected humor, asking unconventional questions, sharing intriguing anecdotes, or employing unexpected pauses during a conversation.

How can I incorporate pattern interrupts into my sales strategy?

To incorporate pattern interrupts into your sales strategy, identify moments where you can introduce unexpected elements, such as interesting anecdotes, thought-provoking questions, or humor, to break the pattern of the conversation and capture your audience’s attention.