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“Work smarter, not harder.”

Chances are, you’ve heard this phrase before — and probably more than once. The philosophy behind working “smart” is to maximize your productivity when you are working so that you can get more stuff done in shorter periods of time. By working smarter, you’ll find yourself with more time in the day to sleep, exercise, be creative, and recharge.

(Oh, and it just so happens that those relaxing things also make you more productive when you get back to work again — and so the cycle continues.)

Most of us use to-do lists to keep track of what we need to do and how much we’ve gotten done. These lists are loose ways of measuring how productive we are: When we’ve successfully crossed everything off our list, we feel really really accomplished. 

The key to getting through your to-do list faster is by working smarter — without sacrificing the quality of your work. How is that done? Here are 11 tips to help you get through that to-do list as efficiently as possible.

11 Tips for Getting Through Your To-Do List Faster

1) Choose the to-do list app or tool that works for you.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m a big fan of good ol’ pen-and-paper to-do lists. But unless you want to carry a physical notebook around everywhere you go, it makes sense to use a to-do list app or tool that syncs across all your devices. That way, you can access your to-do items whenever and wherever you need to, whether you’re at your desk, in a meeting, or on a business trip.

There are a lot of to-do list apps and tools out there, though … so which ones are the best of the best?

Actually, the best one for you depends entirely on your working style and personal preferences. Here’s a list of 10 of the best to-do list tools and apps. It includes descriptions of how they work and which features they include so you can choose the one(s) that fit closest with your style.

2) Write out your to-do list the day before.

When you plan out what you’re going to do the day before, a few good things happen. 

For one, you’ll be able to dive right into your to-do list in the morning, freeing you up to get more done during one of the most productive times of day.

Secondly, planning out your day in advance can help you spot obstacles ahead of time, which can help you reduce the total time you spend working on a project.

Finally, knowing what you have going on well in advance could help you relax and sleep better the night before — and a good night’s sleep is important not only for productivity but also for health and happiness.

Before you head home from work each day, spend a few minutes looking over your calendar for the next day and writing a to-do list — perhaps using that new favorite to-do list app or tool.

3) Separate your work and personal to-do lists.

When you’re in the office, you shouldn’t be worrying about cleaning the oven, feeding your chinchilla, or picking up a birthday card for your mom. Likewise, when you’re at home, you should do your best to unplug and be present in the moment — without worrying about those looming work deadlines. We all know there’s always more you could be doing, but you’ll be happier and more productive if you focus on work when you’re at work and on life stuff when you’re at home.

The simplest way to separate your work and personal to-do lists is by keeping multiple lists separated on the same tools or apps. Or if you find it hard to stay focused on one or the other when they share an app or tool, you might use different tools or apps for each part of your life.

I personally keep three separate lists in three locations: My personal to-do list is in my written planner, my grocery and packing lists are on my phone in the Wunderlist app, and all my work to-do’s are on my computer in the Todoist desktop app. Find the system that works for you.

4) Keep a “to-don’t” list.

Here’s a productivity trick that’ll help you focus on what really matters: Remove any items from your to-do list that you’re not realistically going to do and put them on a “to-don’t” list. That way, you aren’t wasting any time on the things that don’t really matter. This’ll help you prioritize the more urgent list items and get through everything faster.

What’s more, you’ll probably feel less stressed overall without those less important things hanging over your head. I’ll always remember what Arianna Huffington said in her keynote at INBOUND 2014:

‘I discovered early on in life that you can actually complete a project by dropping it,’ she said. And this has been incredibly useful to me. For example, I thought that I was going to learn German. I thought I was going to become a good skier. I thought I was going to learn to cook. And one day, I decided I was actually never going to do any of these things. So I dropped them … You just have to decide, what are you going to put your energy into and what you’re not going to put your energy into, and that’s just as valuable.”

Below is a helpful graphic from my colleague Leslie Ye on how to create a “to-don’t” list:

5) Stay accountable by sharing your to-do list.

Not only is sharing your to-do list with colleagues a great way to collaborate, but it’s also a great way to hold yourself accountable. Having to share your to-do list with others in the first place will force you to spend some time prioritizing your tasks and thinking through which ones you’ll be able to realistically complete. You might find that when it comes to actually knocking them off the list, you’ll feel healthy pressure to get everything done in the time period you promised.

There are a lot of different ways to share your to-do list with your colleagues. Here at HubSpot, the blogging team has a daily standup where we come together briefly in the mornings to, among other things, list out what we’re working on that day. If we find ourselves repeating the same task over a series of consecutive days, it becomes clear to ourselves and our colleagues that we either need to prioritize that task to get it done, or reevaluate whether it really needs doing in the first place. You can also use collaborative to-do list apps like Trello or Wunderlist to share tasks with others digitally.

6) Block time on your calendar to knock things off the list.

When you literally reserve blocks of time in your online calendar to get specific tasks done, it can be much easier to focus and get your work done quicker. Plus, it prevents others from setting up meetings with you during that time. Need to do some last-minute prep for a presentation at 4 p.m.? Block off a 1-2 hours in the morning or after lunch so no one bothers you during that time. Need to do some research before an important call? Block the half hour before the call starts.

Even if you don’t have a specific project you want to tackle, you can still block off time to cross things off your to-do list. HubSpot’s Director of Marketing Debbie Farese told me once that she blocks time off on her calendar and labels it “GSD” (Get S*** Done) so she can work for longer stretches without getting disturbed.

7) Batch similar tasks in the same time frame.

Ever been doing online research one minute, and find yourself writing a one-off email another? Perpetually shifting your focus like that can add up to a whole lot of wasted time. In fact, a study by the American Psychological Association found that shifting between tasks causes temporary mental barriers, depleting our productivity by as much as 40%. 

Instead of completing tasks as they come up, consider doing batch tasking, or batch processing. This is a handy time management hack in which you take similar tasks — like answering email, scheduling out your tweets, and so on — and “batch” them together to get them done faster. For example, you might set aside a full hour each morning to read and write emails. Or, perhaps you dedicate your Friday mornings to writing blog posts.

HubSpot VP of Growth Brian Balfour once said he thinks the worst habit people have is not batching their emails. He typically batches email twice per day: first between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m., and then between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Over the next few days, pay attention to the tasks you find yourself doing on a one-off basis that could be hurting your overall productivity and consider batching these tasks.

8) Physically remove distractions.

Speaking of losing precious productivity when you shift your focus, distractions like notifications, phone calls, and noise in the office can make it much harder to get through your to-do list quickly. Gloria Mark of the University of California, Irvine found that a typical office worker gets only about 11 minutes of work done between each interruption, while it takes an average of 25 minutes to return to the original task after an interruption.

There’s only so much you can do mentally to close yourself off from these distractions. When you see a Facebook notification pop up telling you your friend just posted a new video to your Timeline, how are you not going to look? Remove those temptations by physically removing stuff like notifications (for email, for Chrome, and so on), turning your phone on airplane mode, or even putting your phone in your bag except when you’re taking a break.

If you really need to focus, you might even move yourself to shut out in-person distractions. HubSpot Demand Generation Manager Amanda Sibley told me, “If there is something I must get done in a day — a deck due to our CMO, for example — then I turn off email and shut myself in a room for an hour or so until it’s done.”

9) Work in sprints, follow by periods of rest.

Similar to batching similar tasks together, doing work in regular intervals with breaks in between is another way to check more off your to-do list, faster. There are several sprint-and-rest techniques out there, but the Pomodoro Technique is a favorite of ours. It’s a productivity-boosting technique developed by neuroscientists that can help you concentrate for longer periods, avoid distractions, maintain higher energy throughout the day, and lower your stress levels.

The Pomodoro Technique is all about taking advantage of our natural rhythms of energy and fatigue. Here’s how it works: You work in 90-minute intervals, followed by 30 minutes of rest between each interval. Why? These time frames are based off our ultradian rhythms, which are the 120-minute biological intervals our bodies operate on throughout a given day. These 120-minute intervals are broken into a series of peaks, when we’re feeling energized, and troughs, when we’re feeling fatigued.

When you work in 90-minute intervals, you’re working when your energy is highest, and resting when your energy is low so you can recharge and get back to being productive.

The point here is to not fight the times of day when we naturally feel exhausted. Instead of working against our bodies by loading up with caffeine, eating sugar foods, or just simply “biting the bullet” and working through the fatigue, we’re working with our bodies to take rests when we need them.

You can keep track of the time by just keeping an eye on the clock, but if you prefer to use a desktop timer, my colleague Scott Tousley suggests using Pomodoro One for Mac or Tomighty for Windows. It’s as easy as pressing start and stop.

10) Reward yourself for completing tasks.

If the break alone isn’t enough to keep you laser-focused during periods of work, try using a rewards system. Once you knock three items off your list, or once you finish a particularly grueling task, you can allow yourself to check Twitter, eat a snack, or go to the gym.

Sometimes, I plan a break with coworker where we agree to grab coffee together once we’re done with a task on each of our lists. It’s a less direct way of keeping each other accountable than standup or sharing our to-do lists, and the reward — a nice break with a friend — is much sweeter.

11) Try the “dead battery countdown.”

Here’s a handy productivity trick from my colleague Ginny Soskey, who manages HubSpot’s Marketing Blog. Bring your laptop with you to a remote location without your computer charger, and aim to get your to-do list done by the time you leave. This is a way of gamifying your productivity, and it works: The pressure of a looming deadline can do wonders to keep you focused and working smarter.

What tips do you have for getting through your to-do list? Share with us in the comments.

You meticulously tweaked your resume until it was 100% perfect. You spent hours writing (and rewriting) a compelling cover letter. You researched and prepped for that phone screen — and knocked it out of the park. Now, you’re getting ready for an in-person job interview. How do you prepare?

Turns out, what you do on the day of the interview will contribute a lot to how well you do in the interview itself. For example, how much sleep did you get? What are you planning to wear? And what are you going to eat to make sure your mind and body are properly fueled?

When you eat well-balanced, nutritional meals and snacks before your interview, you’ll feel more alert and focused, be able to recall facts and experiences more easily, and will generally be more equipped to impress your interviewers.

So, what are the best things to eat before a job interview? Check out the infographic below from StandOut CV to learn the best foods to eat (and why), which foods to avoid, and some ideas for tasty, brain-boosting meals. (And read this blog post to learn more about the best foods for high productivity.)

It’s an exciting time to be a content marketer. But it’s also a challenging time.

As more companies continue to jump on the inbound marketing bandwagon, the influx of content seems to be turning into a bit of a traffic jam. And few things have the power to cut through this noise like data storytelling.

Combining the visual appeal of images with the trust engendered by raw data, data storytelling is a force to be reckoned with. Marketers are using data storytelling to support every part of the buyer’s journey, from attraction and consideration to conversion and delight. What better content to offer a consideration-stage buyer than a comparison chart between your services and your competition’s?

Not a data analyst? No worries. Check out the list of tools below. From data collection to design, this roundup of resources is designed to make it easy for anyone to get started with data storytelling.

Download this free guide and learn to design enticing charts and graphs that are easy to understand.

Tools for Generating Ideas

Not sure what data story your audience would want to read (and share)? These tools may spark an inspired topic.

• Portent’s Content Idea Generator: If you need an eye-catching headline, try this. When we entered the word “data,” this happened: “6 Insane (But True) Things About Data.” Compelling, right?
• HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator: Have an idea of what your audience might be interested in, but don’t know how to frame it? Plug a few relevant nouns into this tool to generate a ton of topic ideas that can be used for any project, not just blog articles. 
• Cubeyou: Which story topics will interest your target audience most? Cubeyou’s social-data-driven platform makes it easy to collect insights on your specific segment.

Tools for Gathering Data

Whether you leverage your own data (like OKCupid’s fascinating dating trends blog) or tell stories using data collected by others, finding the right numbers can be a treasure hunt. These tools will help you dig.

Tools for Collecting Your Own Data:

• Google Analytics: Web analytics and reporting.
• Crazy Egg: Find out how people are clicking and scrolling through your website.
• Qualaroo: Behavior insight surveys for better A/B testing.
• App Annie: Mobile app ranking, analytics, market intelligence.
• SurveyMonkey: Ask a broad range of people any question you want.
• Import.io: Web data platform and free web-scraping tool that turns web pages into data.

Tools for Finding Public Data:

• UNData: The United Nation’s statistical database covering issues like crime, education, energy, finance, health, industry, and technology all over the world.
• Pew Research: Public opinion polls, demographic research, media studies, social and political trends. Their “Fact Tank” has great inspiration for data visualization and infographics.
• The Data Hub: Currently listing more than 9,673 open datasets on everything from British Music to the ontology of beef, this site has everything.
• Google Scholar: Books, studies, whitepapers, theses, abstracts and court cases are all easily searchable.
• Google Finance: Real-time stock market data.
• Google Public Data Explorer: Datasets on worldwide economic development, human development, and global competitiveness.
• The World Factbook: Information on people, places, history, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, and military. Still confused about Greece? This will tell you everything.
• Data.gov: “The home of the U.S. Government’s open data” has information like housing price indexes, student loan data, health care provider charges and more in its more than 157,302 datasets. Of course, there’s also Healthdata.gov, and CDC.gov.
• Social Mention: Real-time social data with sentiment analysis.
• Amazon Public Data Sets: A repository of public data sets that can be integrated with AWS cloud-based applications.
• r/datasets: A subreddit of datasets for data mining and analytics.

The important thing to remember when using other people’s data is – other people’s biases. Numbers don’t change according to social or government agendas, but how they are presented does. Be a good journalist and never trust your source 100% until you have thoroughly checked out the data and its origins.

Tools for Design

The design of your data visualization is nearly as important as the data you show. While you may choose a simple bar graph or line chart, you’ll still have to think of color schemes, supporting graphics, background images, and typography to create a visually compelling data story.

Tools for Color Schemes:

• Coolors.co: Fast color scheme generator that is very hip.
• Kuler by Adobe: Create color schemes with the color wheel or browse thousands of color combinations.
• Pictaculous: Upload a photo to turn up recommendations for colors to use, including their HEX codes.

Tools for Supporting Graphics:

• The Noun Project: Thousands of glyph icons from different artists. Some icons are free and require attribution and some are available for a fee.
• Graphicstock: More than 300,000 graphics, photos and illustrations, royalty-free.
• Picmonkey: Freemium and premium accounts come with access to fun, current graphics.

Tools for Background Images:

• TheStocks.im: Royalty-free stock photos in one place.
• Unsplash: Royalty-free high-resolution photos that are absolutely beautiful and thought-provoking.
• Free Range Stock: “Good photos, totally free” says it all.
• IM Free: Curated collections of free photos available for commercial use.
• Negative Space: 20 new free stock photos every week.
• Death to the Stock Photo: Submit your email to receive a fresh serving of photos to your inbox, monthly.

(Want more options? Check out 17 of the best free stock photo sites here. Or, download 160 free business-themed photos here.)

Tools for Typography:

• Typogui.de: A fun version of “Typography 101” for non-designers. 
• Dafont: Downloadable fonts, some of which are free, though most require fees for commercial use.
• Google Fonts: A directory of downloadable, open source web fonts.
• Font Squirrel: Hand-selected typefaces presented in an easy-to-use format.
• Tiff: Can’t decide between two fonts? Compare and contrast different fonts using this tool.
• WhatFont: Quickly identify fonts on a specific web page in just one click so you can use them for your own project.

All-in-One Tools:

• Visage.co: Allows you to create high quality visual data stories efficiently, and at scale. When you need to create a lot of visual content, it’s an excellent option.
• Silk.co: A place to publish data and create interactive visualizations with their tools.
• Alteryx: A tool that does data preparation, analytics, reporting, and spatial design for you.

With these tools, you’ll be able to find compelling, accurate data. You’ll be able to design an eye-catching visualization. And, you’ll be able to craft your story to speak specifically to your target audience – and be heard above the noise.

What are your favorite data storytelling tools? Share the ones we missed below.

This post originally appeared on HubSpot’s Sales Blog. To read more content like this, subscribe to Sales.

Research has shown sleep might be the most important factor influencing our productivity. In fact, not getting enough sleep is similar to being drunk, according to studies.

Every so often, though, you’ll have a counterproductive day at work and need to pick up the slack before bed. But this situation raises an important question: If you’re going to stay up late working, how do you stay productive?

Below are 21 tips to help keep you productive into the early hours of the morning.

21 Tips to Stay Productive When You’re Working at Night 

1) Practice yoga or meditation.

Practicing yoga helps alleviate both stress and mental fatigue, resulting in improved productivity and a relaxed mindset. Studies have shown that stress can make us less productive. In light of the data, spending a mere 15 minutes meditating can make an immediate difference in nighttime productivity.

2) Take a break before starting.

Research has revealed that taking regular breaks prior to starting a new project can result in improved productivity. After the work day is over, a small 20-minute relaxation period can play a major role in your productivity during the next few hours.

3) Set a hard deadline.

According to Contently, working on large goals with a tight deadline results in our best work. For example, starting a project at 7 p.m. and establishing a hard deadline of 1 a.m. will improve productivity versus saying, “I’ll get this done tomorrow.”

4) Write down your goals.

Writing down our goals, according to research, immediately makes us more likely to achieve those goals. Prior to your long night, jot down the two to three most important tasks ahead of you for improved productivity.

5) Have a well-timed meal. 

While caffeine can give us a mental boost, it’s food that has a direct impact on our cognitive abilities during the last stretch of a day, according to studies. Not eating can set us back cognitively, resulting in less-than-excellent work due to lack of energy.

(Here is a list of foods to eat for max productivity.)

6) Create a productive playlist. 

Several studies have found that music can play a direct role in our productivity as it makes repetitive tasks less annoying, and drowns out the distracting noises of our offices and homes. There are several options for a playlist, but classical music is most likely to improve cognitive functions.

(Check out our six productivity playlists here.)

7) Don’t work in your bedroom.

Working in your bed can make your brain associate your bedroom as a place for work, not sleep, according to Lifehack. This association can result in lost sleep in the future and an inability to turn off when we go to bed.

8) Avoid watching television while you work.

Watching television while we work requires our brain to multitask, which can lead to decreased performance and an underwhelming project. Our brains work best when we’re focused on one thing at a time and giving the task at hand our complete attention.

9) Exercise before beginning.

Not a yoga person? Studies have shown that all forms of exercise can increase our cognitive abilities and overall energy. With more energy and a clear mind, we’re likely to produce better results and be more productive.

10) Drink water.

While caffeine might be tempting, a recent study found that drinking water can increase our productivity by as much as 14%. The study found that drinking water helps expand the grey matter in our brains which is key to being more productive.

11) Leave your low effort, low impact goals for the evening.

Instead of trying to accomplish an extremely challenging task at night, focus instead on knocking out small goals as you build up momentum for the day ahead. Prior to your day, run your tasks though an impact versus effort analysis to determine which tasks require little energy but add up in value.

12) Be honest about what you can achieve.

Setting overly ambitious goals can put us on a path for failure, which results in lost productivity and drained willpower. Setting realistic goals allows us to accomplish the tasks, resulting in improved morale and enhanced productivity. In short, don’t bite off more than you can chew at night.

13) Cut off the wifi.

While the internet can be enticing after a long day, blocking it will allow you to tune out distractions like social media and hone in on what matters. If you’re struggling with this, extensions like StayFocused and BlockSite can help.

14) Stand up.

Several studies have found that standing while working results in better concentration, more energy, and fewer headaches. By finding a place to stand and work at home, you can knock off your evening to-do list with ease.

15) Dress in work clothes.

Pajamas might be tempting, but studies have revealed that dressing for work actually heightens our attention and makes us more focused on the task at hand. Instead of sweatpants, try some business attire for max nighttime productivity.

16) Block out distractions.

Although it can be difficult, it’s important to stay in a work mindset to produce the best results. By avoiding the regular things we do at home for the night — i.e laundry, cleaning the bathroom, watching TV with family — we’re able to stay in the right mindset to be successful.

17) Have an established work space.

If you’re working late at night, it’s important to have an established work space so you don’t confuse home space with work space. Having a dedicated workspace allows our brains to associate the space with work, according to Wix, which makes us more productive.

18) Use the right kind of light.

Studies have found that our circadian rhythm can be triggered by blue light, increasing our awareness and giving us more energy. The circadian rhythm is what determines our body’s natural energy level. By looking at a blue light, we can give ourselves an energy boost.

19) Take a cold shower.

Although scary at first, a cold shower, according to research, can improve energy levels, help our body rebuild key muscles, and make us feel renewed and fresh. If you can’t bring yourself to take a cold shower right off the bat, try the 911 challenge.

20) Crank up the thermostat.

A study from Cornell University discovered that warmer temperatures decrease the amount of mistakes employees make while improving their output. Cold temperature is mostly associated with sleep, so by turning the heat up, you’re more likely to be alert at night.

21) Reach for some lemon tea.

If all else fails and life hands you lemons, make lemonade (or lemon tea). Studies have shown that the aroma of lemon improves our mood, and stimulates our bodies.

Every once in awhile we can have a slow or distracted day, requiring us to work late. While this isn’t ideal, there are a multitude of strategies we can use to ensure we retain our productivity even after the work day is over.

Have you tried any of these out? Tell us about what keeps you productive when you’re working late in the comments.

This post originally appeared on HubSpot’s Sales Blog. To read more content like this, subscribe to Sales.

Communication is the lifeblood of sales and marketing. Successfully closing deals, providing value, explaining complexities — they all rely on your ability to express yourself clearly and persuasively.

The outreach email is a special breed of writing. You only have a very small window of opportunity to capture your reader’s attention and convince them to move one step closer toward a purchase or intended action. Use these writing techniques to ensure your emails pack the most punch.

7 Powerful Persuasion Techniques to Use In Your Next Email

1) Know your audience.

Okay, so this isn’t exactly a writing tip. But it’s the foundation upon which your email’s effectiveness is built. If you don’t understand your audience — whether it’s someone who’s hesitant to buy, or a happy customer you’d like to upsell — you won’t be able to write persuasively.

2) Leverage social proof.

Why it works: Social proof describes the tendency to make choices based on other people’s decisions, because we believe those decisions reflect the right choices. You’re already leveraging the concept of social proof through customer case studies and social proof, why not extend these efforts into your emails?

How to use it: Reference high-profile customers or the size of your customer base. If you’re trying to move a potential customer towards a purchase, try pointing out how many of their competitors and peers use your product. 

Examples: 

• The McDonald’s slogan “Billions and billions served” calls out the company’s giant customer base.
• Yelp’s success is a result of its user-generated content: Crowdsourced reviews that leverage the power of social proof.

3) Get your foot in the door with a small ask.

Why it works: Once someone says “yes” to a small ask — the proverbial foot in the door — they’re more likely to agree to future requests.

How to use it: Ask your recipient a question that they are unlikely to say no to.

Examples:

• If you sell software that tracks target accounts’ trigger events, an easy way to get a first “yes” is to confirm that their sales team wants to improve their prospect outreach.

4) Include a headshot in your email signature.

Why it works: When we make eye contact with people, we feel a subconscious sense of connection. In one Cornell University study, researchers edited images of the Trix rabbit mascot, then asked adults to pick between several cereal boxes bearing different versions of the image. Participants most often chose the box where the rabbit was directly looking at them.

How to use it: You can’t make actual eye contact through email, and by no means should you include a massive photo of yourself in the body of an email — that’ll just make people uncomfortable. But it can be easy to forget that there’s a person on the other end of your emails. Including a small headshot of yourself in an email signature is a subtle way to remind people that you’re human, too.

5) Agitate and solve the problem.

Why it works: Even if the person you’re emailing is already aware they have a problem in one area or another, it doesn’t mean they’re prepared to solve it. But emotion is a powerful thing. Whether it’s subconscious attachment to the old way of doing things causing inertia, or fear of making the wrong decision, your prospect won’t always warm to your product immediately.

To convince them, you’ll often have to talk about the problem in emotional terms, then swoop in with a solution to demonstrate how you can help.

How to use it: While you should never attempt to over-exaggerate a business pain or spin one out of thin air, use the agitate-and-solve technique when it’s clear they haven’t fully conceptualized the cost of inaction.

Find out what matters to them. Is it personal professional achievement that drives them forward? A desire to grow the business’ bottom line? Then show how inaction will only worsen their current situation, and demonstrate why your product would help.

Example:

• An office supply salesperson could seek out its competitors’ clients who had been impacted by late shipments. She should probe into the significance of these delays, getting prospects to talk through the immediate and ripple effects. Then, she can describe her own company’s efficient service and customer support.

6) Include a reason.

Why it works: Giving people a reason why you need something — no matter how ridiculous — makes it far more likely they’ll do what you ask.

Psychologist Ellen Langer conducted a study in which experimenters asked to skip ahead in line at a Xerox machine. When they asked, “I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?”, they were allowed to skip the line 60% of the time — not a bad outcome.

But when they asked, “I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?”, 93% were allowed to skip the line.

Despite the fact that everyone else in the Xerox machine line needed to make copies, they complied with the request simply because the experimenters provided a reason.

How to use it: We wouldn’t recommend making up ridiculous excuses to get your prospects to sign a contract — that’s not good for anybody. But even providing a simple explanation — “I’d like to set up a meeting with you because I can help with X strategy” — could pay huge dividends.

Example:

• Instead of writing, “I’d like to set up a conversation so we can discuss your project management software strategies,” try this instead: “I’d like to set up a conversation to discuss your marketing strategy because we’ve seen similar companies increase their lead generation by 40%.”

7) Remind prospects it’s their choice.

Why it works: Nobody likes to be told what to do. And even if you’re not being pushy or aggressive, many people will still chafe at the suggestion that you know what’s best for them.

A simple reassurance that you’re not attempting to push your preferences or worldview onto them is powerful. Across 42 psychology studies involving 22,000 subjects, it’s been demonstrated that using a phrase like “But the decision is yours” could double the chances that someone would say yes to a request.

How to use it: You don’t want to overuse this one — tempering every recommendation you make by reminding prospects they have no obligation to listen to you isn’t a great idea. But when you’re asking for a larger commitment or are dealing with a jumpy prospect, dropping in a reminder that you’re not here to force them into anything can be a powerful technique.

Example:

• A software salesperson could write this message to a prospect skittish about switching platforms: 

When we last spoke, you mentioned that you were worried about migrating your system from your current tool to ours. Sales Engineer Sally put together this this high-level overview of the process, which is designed to be as easy on our customers as possible — we can discuss this on our call tomorrow. In the meantime, based on our previous conversations I strongly believe this switch is the best long-term solution for your company — but of course, the decision ultimately rests with you. Let me know what you think.”

How do you make your sales emails more persuasive? Let us know in the comments below.