Email deliverability holds the key to effective communication and successful business growth. In a digital age where countless messages flood our inboxes daily, ensuring that your emails reach the intended recipients is crucial for building relationships, driving conversions, and maximizing ROI. But how can businesses navigate the ever-evolving complexities of email deliverability?

In this episode of the Predictable B2B Success podcast, renowned marketing and sales expert Ed Forteau shares invaluable insights and strategies to conquer email deliverability challenges. With decades of experience amassed in the realm of email marketing, Ed Forteau unravels the mysteries surrounding this critical aspect, revealing how businesses can overcome hurdles, improve delivery rates, and ultimately achieve their desired outcomes.

From debunking common misconceptions to providing actionable advice, Ed Forteau sheds light on the optimization techniques, tools, and mindset needed to conquer the realm of email deliverability. Join us as we delve into his expert recommendations, learn from real-life success stories, and discover how aligning emails with recipient expectations can forge meaningful connections and drive predictable B2B success.

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About Ed Forteau

Ed Forteau is a client acquisition strategist who blends cutting-edge automation and AI with tried and true tactics of relationship-based selling. He empowers small B2B companies to achieve consistent and predictable growth in an easy grasp and implement way. In the episode, he shares how he successfully transitioned clients from low 3-figure to high 5-figure monthly retainers through trust-building conversations and a focus on email marketing.

Ed emphasizes the importance of nurturing genuine relationships and providing value before pitching services. He also delves into the intricate world of email deliverability, shedding light on the challenges and offering actionable insights to ensure email success.

Navigating Email Deliverability, Relationship Building, and Client Transition Strategies for B2B Success

In a recent episode of “Predictable B2B Success,” host Vinay Koshy sat down with Ed Forteau, a marketing and sales expert passionate about email deliverability and client transition strategies. Throughout the episode, Ed provided valuable insights and practical tips for improving email deliverability, nurturing client relationships, and successfully transitioning clients to higher retainer levels. This blog post will summarize the key takeaways from the episode, focusing on email deliverability, relationship building, and client transition strategies.

Email Deliverability: Making Your Messages Count

Ed Forteau emphasizes the critical importance of email deliverability in the B2B space. He notes that despite businesses assuming their emails reach recipients once sent, the reality is often different. Businesses need help with strict email regulations enforced by providers like Google, Yahoo, and Outlook, leading to lower domain and sender reputations.

Forteau offers practical advice for improving email deliverability, including implementing SPF and DKIM security keys, authentication, and ensuring the activation of DMARC for subscription or opt-in emails. He also stresses the importance of regularly checking the activation status of these security measures to ensure email delivery.

Relationship Building: From Connection to Conversion

Building strong relationships is crucial for success in B2B marketing, and Ed Forteau provides valuable insights into using platforms like LinkedIn to connect with potential clients effectively. He emphasizes the need to be attentive and make meaningful comments on potential clients’ posts to start a conversation and build rapport. Forteau advises against rushing into selling and instead focuses on making friends first, leading to smoother discussions about business opportunities.

Forteau’s standout recommendation is to build authentic, individual relationships over mass email sends. He suggests identifying a smaller, more targeted market and engaging in genuine conversations to address the specific problems of ideal clients. This personalized approach, based on trust and understanding, is key to developing business opportunities on platforms like LinkedIn.

Client Transition Strategies: Moving Towards Higher Retainers

Ed Forteau offers invaluable insights into transitioning clients from lower to higher retainer levels. He highlights the importance of trust-building and emphasizes that clients often start with basic services such as monitoring before needing additional services like email list cleaning and security fixes. Forteau’s approach involves trust-building over six months to 2 years through simple conversations and delivering valuable advice, ultimately resulting in the successful transition of clients to higher retainer levels.

Aligning Goals and Delivering Value

Ed Forteau emphasizes the need to align goals with clients, offering a commission-based approach and a performance-based retainer model. He stresses the importance of providing value to B2B leads and giving something of value before asking them to opt in. This approach ensures that the content aligns with user expectations and gradually moves towards the desired conversation topic, ultimately aligning with the end goal of generating business for the client.

Practical Tips and Tools

Ed Forteau provides practical tips and tools for B2B success throughout the episode. He advises businesses to authenticate emails correctly to avoid being marked as spam or blocked by mailbox providers, which could negatively impact domain reputation. Forteau recommends using demarkian.com to check if the SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are in place and authenticated. He also suggests using services like clearout.io for email verification, emphasizing the importance of avoiding purchasing catchall or unknown emails.

In addition, Forteau stresses the value of content amplification as an early-stage approach to building relationships with potential customers through personalized email communication. He recommends using content amplification as a tool to build engagement and trust with mailbox providers, ultimately ensuring the deliverability of emails.

Mastering B2B Success: The Art of Conversations, Trust-Building, and Email Marketing

In the world of B2B success, the ability to transition clients from low to high-value retainers is a skill that can significantly transform your business. In a recent episode of the Predictable B2B Success podcast, host Vinay Koshy interviewed Ed Forteau, an expert in marketing and sales, who shared invaluable insights on how he revolutionized his clients’ retainers from 3 to 4 or 5 figures through simple conversations and trust-building over an extended period.

Key Concepts:

1. Transitioning Clients: Ed Forteau elucidated the art of transitioning clients from basic services to larger retainers by nurturing trust through meaningful conversations over six months to 2 years. 

Actionable Takeaway: Invest time building trust and having genuine conversations with clients to gradually introduce them to advanced services, aligning the service expansion with their growing needs.

2. Aligning Goals: Forteau emphasized the need to align business goals with the clients through a performance-based retainer model and a commission-based approach to generate business for the client.

Actionable Takeaway: When structuring retainer models, consider aligning the business goals with your clients to benefit from the arrangement mutually.

3. Email Marketing: Ed Forteau highlighted the significance of focusing on email marketing metrics such as open and engagement rates, emphasizing the need to prepare for email marketing and align with email provider requirements.

Actionable Takeaway: Pay attention to email marketing metrics and ensure that your emails align with email provider requirements to enhance deliverability and engagement.

4. Building Relationships on LinkedIn: Forteau stressed the importance of building relationships on platforms like LinkedIn, emphasizing the need to make meaningful comments on potential clients’ posts and gradually transition to business discussions.

Actionable Takeaway: Invest time building relationships on professional platforms like LinkedIn by engaging in genuine conversations and adding value to interactions.

5. Email Deliverability: Ed Forteau shared in-depth insights into email deliverability, emphasizing the need to authenticate emails correctly, fix issues related to email lists and copywriting, and enhance email engagement for improved results.

Actionable Takeaway:

• Implement SPF and DKIM security keys.
• Validate and activate DMARC.
• Regularly monitor the status of these security measures, ensuring emails reach recipients’ primary inboxes.

Conclusion:

This episode of Predictable B2B Success provides a wealth of actionable takeaways for businesses aiming to transform client retainers, master email marketing, and build lasting relationships within the B2B landscape. By utilizing the insights shared by Ed Forteau, companies can position themselves for success by fostering trust, aligning goals, mastering email deliverability, and building authentic relationships to drive business growth in the B2B space.

Some areas we explore in this episode include:

• Transitioning clients from a 3-figure to a four or 5-figure monthly retainer through trust-building and conversations.
• Email deliverability and its importance in marketing strategy.
• Building relationships and converting them into business opportunities on platforms like LinkedIn.
• The critical role of social media in B2B success.
• Developing a more personal relationship with clients to retain them and increase their loyalty.
• Authenticating and setting up emails correctly to avoid being marked as spam or blocked by mailbox providers.
• Building engagement and trust with mailbox providers through content amplification.
• Tailoring individual approach over mass email sends to engage in genuine conversations.
• The challenges and regulations faced in cold email outreach.
• Niche targeting and addressing the actual problems of ideal clients for business success.
• And much, much more.

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Related links and resources

Connect with Ed Forteau

• LinkedIn

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