How to avoid a bad email voice in a financial advisor prospecting email

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September 20, 2021

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There is a tiny little voice inside our head that gets activated when we read an email from another person. And it usually assumes the least favorable tone. This article is going to talk about the four ways you could sound bad in a financial advisor prospecting email (nasty, whining, bossy, boring), and how to change the tone to a more favorable one.

For those of you who are new to my blog/podcast, my name is Sara. I am a CFA® charterholder and I used to be a financial advisor. I have a weekly newsletter in which I talk about financial advisor lead generation topics which is best described as “fun and irreverent.” So please subscribe!

Nasty

It seems like every day I get an email from someone being rude to me. I had to create a “Nasty” folder in my inbox to file them into, so that the rude emails don’t hang out at the top of my inbox all day.

Here’s an example of a nasty email I got recently.

I find it interesting that I took the time to respond to you and offered a way to work with you going forward…and yet, you decided to not even respond.
In the future, please do not waste my time.

Come on, bro.

Are you KIDDING me?

How to fix it:

The alter ego (better version) of a nasty email is a straightforward email. Rude sounding emails are nothing more than direct and honest sentiments in disguise. However you don’t want rudeness shrouding these positive traits, because that’s going to turn people off.

Always read the email before you send it, especially if you’re sending it when you’re in a bad mood. Like I said, the person reading it is always going to assume the least favorable email voice. A lot of times rude emails can be softened by adding a little bit of explanatory text.

Whining

The prices of my services are often in flux due to capacity. So I got this email:

Your website says $1500+, but it’s actually $2500? Why don’t you fix your website?

Well, I don’t change the pricing of my CMO services because I’d be doing the 800 yard dash to my tech guy every two weeks.

Whining, complaining emails get read in a nasal tone of voice. The alter ego of a whining email is a curious email. Ask yourself if what you are complaining about is the real issue because it’s probably not. Focus on what the bigger issue is and ask questions about creative solutions that can be applied to solve it, rather than harping on whatever you want someone to change (that they probably are unwilling to change anyways).

Bossy

My calendar is really full all the time so I’m always getting this email when I send people the link to set up the meeting.

You only have end of Aug… Do you have anything earlier?

Underneath it this is a leeeeeeettle bit of a bossy email. Kinda.

The alter ego of the bossy email is the excited email. Whenever you are giving a command to a client or prospect over email, take the edge off by:

Reducing the number of direct commands
Showing your enthusiasm and explaining why you are excited about the requested action being taken
Explaining why the action is necessary

Enthusiasm takes the edge off a command.

Boring

I’m always getting boring emails from you financial advisors. I think it’s cute because you all get so excited about what you are doing without realizing that nobody else outside the industry really cares. Just as a side note, if you’re only getting likes and comments from other financial advisors on your social media, your content is boring to the non-financial audience.

Example of a boring email:

I noticed you recently visited our website and filled out a form for our X product. Did you fill out the form to learn more about our product, or are you looking for a cost-effective solution for your firm?

People read this email to themselves in a stuffy voice and that’s enough to make them ignore it.

Boring emails are often too long and too stuffed with buzzwords. You can reduce email boringness by reducing the length of the email and inserting a question as the second sentence(see my Two Sentence Rule).

Whatever you do, no block text. Use semi-colons and ellipsis to chop it up. Use emojis. But the most important thing is to remove cliches and buzzwords.

Sara’s upshot on financial advisor prospecting email voice

What’d ya think? Was this helpful?

If yes…

Learn what to say to prospects on social media messenger apps without sounding like a washing machine salesperson. This e-book contains 47 financial advisor LinkedIn messages, sequences, and scripts, and they are all two sentences or less.