Sales lessons by Jim Downton
Know thy product. Find the need. Fill it.
Practical sales lessons for people who sell by email, built on the fundamentals that never changed.
Three steps, every time
Every lesson on this site comes back to the same three steps.
Know thy product
Know what you sell and the problem it solves.
If you can’t say it in one sentence, don’t expect the buyer to work it out for you.
Find the need
Find the person who has that problem, or an opportunity they haven’t spotted yet.
Do your homework first. Guessing isn’t research.
Fill it
Write to that one need, and be specific about it.
Then ask for a decision and let them make it, even if the answer is no thanks.
Why email?
A cold call interrupts.
It arrives when the seller is ready, not when the buyer is. That’s a big part of why selling got its pushy reputation, and why so many people stopped answering unknown numbers.
An email waits its turn.
The buyer opens it when it suits them, reads it at their own pace and decides whether to reply. The decision is theirs, which is exactly where it belongs.
That doesn’t make selling easier.
It makes it more honest. You can’t talk over anyone in an inbox, so the only thing that works is being worth their time: relevant, specific and clear about what you’re asking for.
Respect the buyer’s time and the buyer’s choice, and you’ve earned the right to ask.
Recent lessons
Plain lessons you can use today, starting with cold email.
Cold Email | What Makes a Subject Line Work!
Why a subject line has to be about the reader, not you, and why specific beats clever every single time.
Cold Email | The One Question Nobody Asks!
The one question to answer before you hit send: what will make this person actually open it?
From Cold Calling to Cold Email
Why cold email isn’t a new skill: same skills, different tool.
New lessons by email
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Read it when it suits you, and unsubscribe whenever you like. A cold email guide is coming next, and you’ll hear when it’s ready.