Published: 19 May 2026 by Roxanne Opas
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Part 2: Why I Ignore Your Sales Emails (and How You Can Change That)
Following on from Part 1 (Why I Ignore Your LinkedIn Connection Request) if you work in Sales or Business Development in the Global Mobility industry, you’ve probably emailed someone like me in a corporate Mobility role. And again, if your messages went unanswered or declined, the issue probably wasn’t your product, your price, or your company’s brand reputation.
It was your approach.
Because while I always want to hear new ideas, understand emerging technology, and learn about smarter solutions, my inbox is often full of generic sales messaging. And just like with LinkedIn requests, the difference between what I respond to and what I delete almost always comes down to the same three things: effort, respect and relevance.
If these are missing, it’s going nowhere.
So more things that annoy me…
1. Lack of Effort
Put some effort in. Too many sales emails feel like they were written for “Global Mobility Professional #47” on a preset mailing list.
These messages often lack:
- any connection to my team’s remit,
- any awareness of our strategy,
- any mention of our business or footprint,
- any attempt to understanding the maturity of our organisation’s Mobility Program.
Instead, they jump straight to:
“Here’s what we sell.”
“Here’s why you need it.”
“Here’s my calendar link.”
But here’s what good looks like:
They’ve done their homework:
- “I noticed your team covers this region…”
- “I saw your organisation recently expanded into…”
- “You mentioned on a recent panel that x is a challenge…”
They offer value upfront:
- a brief insight on a trend,
- an invite to a genuinely useful discussion,
- a relevant benchmark,
- a case study involving a comparable organisation.
If your first email asks for value rather than offering any, it’s gone.
2. Emails That Assume I Want to Set Up Time With You
If our very first interaction is a demand for time, it does not reflect well on how you would behave as a long-term partner.
My calendar isn’t yours to allocate.
When I receive messages like:
“When can we talk?”
“Let’s schedule a call”
“Let me know a good time to speak this week…”
…it immediately tells me you prioritise your needs, not my reality.
A better approach?
“If this is relevant to you, would you be interested in a short call to discuss how we can help?”
“Please let me know if this is something you’d like to discuss further or if you would like some benchmarking data on this”
Permission-based outreach always wins.
3. Disguised Pitches Pretending to Be Thought Leadership
One of the quickest ways to lose trust is to disguise a sales pitch as something else:
- Invitations to “take part in research” that turn into product demos.
- “Peer roundtables” where the only peer is your sales rep.
- Whitepapers that require email capture and trigger a chase sequence within minutes.
If you say it’s about knowledge-sharing, keep it that way - at least initially. Genuine thought leadership builds trust far faster than forced sales.
4. No Understanding of the Global Mobility Buying Cycle
Global Mobility is not an impulse purchase.
It is:
- cross-functional,
- compliance risk-heavy
- emotionally loaded, with real people, real families
- often tied to procurement and multi‑year contracts.
You all know this. So when a salesperson pushes for immediate meetings or fast-track demos, it signals a lack of understanding of how Mobility decisions actually happen.
If you want credibility, demonstrate you understand the pace and structure of the corporate side.
5. Remember If We Have Spoken Before!
One of the quickest ways to damage credibility is reaching out as if we’ve never interacted when, in fact, we have. In some cases, we’ve met at an event, exchanged details or even had a full meeting, yet your message reads like a cold introduction.
Even worse is when someone contacts me again after moving to a new service provider, using the exact same template they sent me in their previous role.
In Global Mobility, this isn’t just a minor slip. It’s relationship suicide.
Our industry is extremely small. People move companies, but the network stays tight-knit. When you approach me as though our previous conversation didn’t exist, it signals a few things very quickly:
- You didn’t keep notes, which suggests you don’t manage relationships well
- You don’t view our interaction as memorable or meaningful
- You’re relying on mass outreach rather than genuine engagement
- You’re prioritising your sales process over the basic respect of remembering the person you’re contacting.
6. Respect “No Thanks” - It’s Not an Invitation to Chase Harder
I always try to reply out of courtesy to all of these emails, when I can.
If I say:
“No thanks - that’s not something we’re exploring right now,, I’ll let you know if anything changes”
I am not saying:
- “Please follow up every 48 hours.”
- “Please assume I didn’t mean it.”
- “Please come back again with sarcasm to imply something isn’t a priority for me”.
Ignoring a polite “no” and pushing harder guarantees one thing:
You will forever be on my list of people I will never engage with again. And yes, the list exists, in my head, colour‑coded.
Acknowledging a “no” with grace and leaving me alone, or even possibly returning months later with something genuinely helpful, creates far more goodwill.
So my recommended formula for better sales emails:
1. Relevance
Do your homework. Show me you understand why this might matter to me specifically.
2. Value
Offer something useful - an insight, observation, perspective, trend, resource, event invitation - without a pitch and without demanding a meeting.
3. Permission
If relevant, offer a respectful, optional next step.
“If you’re interested, I’d be happy to share more insights about this - no pressure.”
“Would it be useful for me to send across what we’re seeing with other mobility programmes?”
So with a bit of respect, effort and relevance, you’re improved the chances of a meaningful connection and me wanting to engage with what you’re offering.
And lastly, just putting this out there, is there an opportunity to ditch the title of ‘Business Development’? Externally at least.
In my head the title of “Business Development” can carry unintended connotations that don’t position an individual optimally in the eyes of the market. When I’m approached by someone in ‘Business Development’ in a Global Mobility context, I just can’t shake the feeling that our priorities are unlikely to be aligned. Rightly or wrongly, to me it signals ‘Sales First, Expertise and Solutions Second’, and that you’re likely to have revenue-driven priorities rather than client-driven solutions that I need. In an industry built on trust, technical expertise and credibility, a title that implies sales can feel misaligned.
- Anonymous Expat Academy Member