Overheard my neighbor's kid say email templates are 'old school'

I was at the park yesterday watching my dog chase squirrels and this kid maybe 20 years old was on the phone saying email templates are for boomers. He said clients want texts or DMs now. Made me think about my whole pitching system I spent 6 months building. Has anyone else noticed younger clients ignoring polished emails and just wanting quick replies on their phone instead?

3 comments

3 Comments

waderamirez7d ago

I read somewhere that Gen Z actually prefers email for serious stuff like contracts and invoices, they just hate the "hey let me follow up" fluffy templates we all use. The quick texts and DMs are fine for intros or casual check-ins but when money is on the line they want something they can forward to their boss or save for later. Your 6 month pitching system probably still works fine, you just need to lead with a text that says "check your inbox" instead of sending the whole proposal cold. That way they get the instant reply they want and you still get to use your carefully built structure.

adam1867d ago

My cousin in real estate tried that text-first approach last fall and it worked great until a client forwarded her the text instead of the email and she had to re-send the whole attachment anyway. She still does it but now she puts the price right in the text with a note saying details in the email. Works about 7 out of 10 times from what she told me.

noahwood7d ago

My buddy Mike runs a small landscaping crew and he told me last Tuesday he lost a $3,200 patio job because he sent a full PDF proposal to a guy in his 20s. The guy replied 3 days later saying he went with someone who just texted him a one-line price and a photo of a similar job. @waderamirez is right about the hybrid approach though. Mike now sends a short text saying "pricing in your inbox" with a link to his form, and his close rate went back up. The templates still work, you just gotta treat the text like a doorbell instead of knocking the whole house down.