Why AI-Generated Emails Are Eroding Trust With Franchise Candidates
We interrupt your feed of AI-generated posts and your inbox of AI-generated emails for this message written the old school way.
And when I say written, I mean written by hand with a pen in a notebook. Yes, I actually write out thoughts and ideas on paper when creating articles, blogs and ad copy.
And … my sales emails.
Even those are mapped out before they get keyed in. I find the actual process of physically writing makes me focus and helps me find new ideas.
But then, where does ChatGPT come in for brainstorming or feeding me better ideas?
It doesn’t.
I don’t really want to be the anti-AI guy in a world obsessed with AI proliferation. While there are so many fantastic uses for AI tools and assistants, creating your first impression to your important clients, candidates, and prospects is not one of them. Last fall we discussed the growing amount of AI slop in ads, social media posts, podcasts, and articles. The slop now owns your email inbox.
But the skyrocketing number of AI slop emails I’m seeing means many salespeople out there disagree and want to flood the marketplace with as many emails as possible.
Perhaps what they lose in quality will be made up in quantity. That’s fine for selling widgets. It’s not wise for developing franchises.
How AI Emails Look to Candidates
More candidates than ever tell me they are choosing to parter with franchise brands they feel align with their values and culture. In many cases, this is an emotional decision as much as a logical or financial one.
Recently on The Franchise Freaks podcast, franchise marketing agency Thunderly’s CEO Scott White and Creative Director Dan Wiley discussed the use of AI in creative work for franchise development. These two are leading franchising marketing innovation these days and came up with a compelling conclusion: the one thing AI cannot do is emotion.
Stop Overthinking It
To get to that emotional turning point, you must be genuine. Just be yourself and write the way you write. That’s how to build authentic relationships.
An Instagram ad I saw this week selling prompts to salespeople reads as follows:
“Whether you’re doing cold outreach, following up with warm leads or building long-term relationships, you’ll have the templates and insights to craft messages that prospects actually want to engage with.”
If their prompts are going to give you email copy as boring as that ad copy, and also end with a preposition, I’ll pass.
If you’re going to go through the time and expense of improving your AI prompts to create emails, would it not be easier to spend some time improving and rethinking your own genuine writing?
New Email Style
This old school writing and creativity sounds like a lot more work. It is. But here are few simple ideas to stay genuine without using AI-generated emails. The best part is you can still save time and increase engagement in your sales emails:
- Avoid TL:DR. Keep it short!
- Write your emails like you write your texts but with proper grammar and spelling. Most people are reading your email on their phone. Don’t make them scroll.
- Stick to one topic or question. Let the person focus on that one request or task. Asking five questions in one email means you will get two or three answers at best.
- Talk to other sales leaders and franchising people about what’s working for them. They close more deals than ChatGPT or Perplexity does.
