Sales email can be a great, efficient tool. You can send email messages when it’s convenient for you, and your recipients can read your messages when it’s convenient for them. You can take your time composing your messages, and your recipients can stew over what you had to say without feeling like they have to respond immediately like they’d have to in a face-to-face or phone conversation. 

Clearly, email works well in sales, but it works much better for sales reps who learn to be truly proficient at writing sales email than for sales reps who just dash off a quick note and hit send.

You can improve your sales email by avoiding the following five words:

World-Class

What exactly does “world-class” mean? We’re not sure either. It probably has something to do with holding a world record, but that doesn’t usually apply to sales.

The problem with using a phrase like “world-class” is that it sounds too good to be true. The last thing you want to do is to sound like you’re trying hard to make your products and services sound acceptable to customers. Let your products and services speak for themselves. Cut the exaggeration and use hard-and-fast specifics.

There are other words in the same category as “world-class” you should avoid in your sales email:

• Cutting-edge
• State-of-the-art
• Breakthrough
• Groundbreaking
• Market-leading

Value-Added

This is a buzzword that has been increasingly seen in sales email and online, but it’s just a filler word and doesn’t add to your sales pitch. In fact, if anything, it adds ambiguity to your sales email when you want to be offering depth, specifics, and credibility.

Instead of telling your prospects that your services and products add value, just tell them specifically what you’re offering. If you’re offering temporary employment services, explain your services in a straightforward way. This will give them the information they need in order to make a decision. Straightforward information will also help them to think of good questions about how your products and services would fit into their plans, and these questions are the beginning of a fruitful conversation.

Partner

Generally speaking, partners are different from businesses a company hires to provide products or services. The word “partner” implies both equality and a joint goal. While your products and services might be able to help a company achieve their goal, you do not inherently have the same goal. Your goal is to sell your products and services, and your customers have different goals that pertain to their own goals.

Therefore, when you use the word “partner” in a sales email, you come off as false, and that’s the last thing you want to do. Instead of using the word “partner,” consider emphasizing how you can help your customers reach their own goals.

Passion

In sales, you’re always trying to differentiate yourself from your competitors, but don’t differentiate yourself by saying you’re more passionate than the other guy. Yes, it’s good to love what you do, and showing a little enthusiasm for the products you’re offering is appropriate, but business decisions ought to be made by logic, not by passion or emotion.

How would you feel if you were interviewing orthopedic surgeons for your knee operation, and one of the surgeons just gushed about how passionate he is about knee surgery? You might feel a little nervous about this guy and want to entrust your leg to someone who comes across as a little more analytical. It’s the same for your customers.

Full-Service

A good sales email is short but full of essential information. To keep your sales email on the short side, avoid using words like “full-service.”

Instead, explain what full-service means, beginning with the signing of the contract and ending with delivery or maintenance. Embellishing does nothing but breed skepticism.

By avoiding these words, your sales email will improve, you’ll enjoy a more positive response from your prospects.