Team leader: “have you spoken to Mr Prospect about that proposal we sent him?”

Sales person: “sure have, I emailed him this morning”.

Boom! There you have it, right there. That’s the bear-trap we’re talking about and it happens way too often.

If there was one thing I could get sales people to change it would be what we just witnessed there: selling by email.

My advice is: don’t do most of your relationship building and selling by email; pick up the phone and speak to them instead.

Of course, email has its place but you shouldn’t use it all the time and here are 10 reasons why: –

  1. It’s easy for people to ignore emails.
  2. They can take ages to answer the email, if at all – you’ve lost control.
  3. It’s much easier for them to say “no” in an email than on the phone.
  4. It’s very easy for people to misinterpret the words of an email.
  5. If it’s not the answer you want it’s difficult to turn it round.
  6. Selling by email significantly slows down the sales cycle.
  7. Building relationships is much easier by phone than by email.
  8. Some things are really hard to convey in written form unless you’re Shakespeare.
  9. It’s incredibly difficult to convey or read emotions in an email. A big part of any purchase is emotional.
  10. The client often prefers a phone call over a lengthy email exchange (and you’ll learn more)!

If you want to speed up the sales cycle, build stronger relationships and ultimately increase your revenues think before you send that prospect an email “should I pick the phone up instead”. 

You’ll be glad you did.

I know I always ask but I’d REALLY appreciate you leaving a message on this post, please. Thoughts, experiences, opinions?