Don’t you just love email? It’s so easy to fire off a quick sales email message, and so much more convenient for you than picking up the phone to call a prospect. While it can be a real time saver for you, have you taken a second to consider the ease of use for the recipient?
Think about this:
- Over 108.7 billion business emails are sent and received per day.
- By 2018 it’s forecasted that business emails per day will be >139 billion.
- A typical business email user receives an average of 121 emails each day in 2014. That’s expected to grow to 140 emails per day by 2018.
That quick email was very convenient for you, the seller, but it may not be as convenient for the recipient, your prospect. Think about your own inbox. How easy is it to slog through all the email you receive each day? Something has to really stand out or be from a VIP to capture your attention. That brings up another issue: all the competition you have in the inbox to capture that prospects attention. You are one out of over 100 vying for the recipient’s time and attention today.
If you want a more immediate response from a prospect – especially one that contacted you first via the web or email, call them back. They may not answer – a lot of people let calls go to voice mail if they don’t recognize the number. However, your voice mail may only be one of ten or less fighting for that prospect’s attention. Your email will be one of 100 or more. That’s not to say that you should abandon email for cold calls and voice mails. It means you need to master and utilize all of the tools available to you.
Use Email for . . .
- Sharing promotions or offers
- Product updates and company news
- An auto responder that the prospect’s inquiry was received
- Drip campaigns to help nurture a lead that isn’t ready to buy
Use the Phone for . . .
- Follow up with that online inquiry as soon as possible – even with an auto responder email, your call or voice mail will stand out
- Answering specific questions that a prospect may have – even if the prospect emailed you, try a follow up call
- Building a more personal relationship with the prospect
Regardless of what you may have heard or believe, cold calling is alive and well. It has evolved thanks to all the new ways you can warm up those calls – email, social media, webinars, etc. When a prospect initiates the conversation, what better way to kick off the relationship than a personal, one-to-one call?
If you want to improve your cold calling productivity, start your VanillaSoft free trial today. It combines a great set of features that help you reach and nurture prospects through email, voice mail, and phone calls.
