Shift From ‘I’ to ‘You’: Leslie Venetz on Fixing Seller-Centric Cold Emails

In a recent LinkedIn post, Leslie Venetz discusses a pervasive issue in sales outreach: the overreliance on seller-centric language that often leads to low engagement rates. Venetz highlights that a staggering 87% of cold emails she receives begin with the word “I,” a statistic that immediately signals why many outreach efforts fail to resonate with recipients.

As Venetz notes, this seller-centered messaging is a common pitfall that, while easy to address, is often overlooked by many sales teams.

“Seller-centered messaging is the most common reason outbound stops working and it’s also the easiest to fix once you know what to look for.”

The Simple Audit for Better Email Copy

To combat this, Leslie Venetz proposes a straightforward audit that any sales team can implement to evaluate their outbound copy. The core of this audit involves a simple word count. Venetz advises teams to count the occurrences of “I,” “we,” “our,” or “my” and compare this to the number of times “you,” “your,” or “their” appear. The goal, according to Venetz, is to achieve a 1:3 ratio, favoring the prospect’s perspective.

This ratio, Venetz explains, is a clear indicator of whose viewpoint the message is primarily written from. Seller-centered copy tends to focus on what the seller does, what they offer, and their desire to schedule a meeting. In contrast, buyer-centered copy shifts the focus to the prospect’s challenges, their interests, and the potential benefits of a solution for them.

From Product Description to Problem Articulation

Venetz emphasizes that the shift from seller-centric to buyer-centric messaging is not complex but requires deliberate effort, often undertaken by top-tier sales leaders. She urges professionals to move away from merely describing their products and instead focus on articulating the specific problems their prospects are experiencing.

“Stop describing your product and start articulating the problem your prospect is facing.”

The ultimate objective, as Venetz outlines, is to make prospects recognize their own situations within the message and feel that a conversation with the salesperson is genuinely worth their time. She posits that prospects are not interested in product features unless those features directly address a problem they are already contemplating.

“Prospects don’t care about your product’s features unless those features solve a specific problem they’re already thinking about.”

Ultimately, Leslie Venetz argues that sales professionals are not selling products; they are selling solutions to their prospects’ problems. This fundamental reframing is key to successful outbound strategies.

In conclusion, Venetz prompts readers to consider the impact of their own messaging by asking:

“What one word would your prospect use to describe your sales emails?”

This question serves as a final reminder of the importance of adopting a buyer-centric approach in all sales communications.