We rely way too much on email for communicating with our clients. This is hurting our selling efforts. What happened to using the phone and actually calling customers? Do you know how many times I have asked a sales rep how a customer responded to our offer only to find out that the rep didn’t actually speak to the client, instead, the “conversation” was via email. It amazed me how salespeople would paint this picture of what the customer said but when I found out that no actual conversation took place and it was just an email exchange, it would blow me away! The rep would often elaborate giving me his version of what the customer said and it wasn’t even over the phone, it was via email!
You should get into the habit of using your phone a lot more. Emails are slow, often cryptic, and responses can be misunderstood. Do you know how much time is lost in a sales cycle because of waiting on an email? And what’s worst is that every time you email instead of call, you lose out on yet another opportunity of building trust, credibility, and rapport with your client.
Here’s a great piece of advice- when a customer emails you, as soon as you get the email, call them on the phone, don’t just reply back. Think about it, your customer is thinking of you at that exact moment because they just sent you an email. They are available now. So why not call them and respond to their email over the phone? Especially if that email has follow up questions about your product that could potentially make or break your sale, or questions around pricing, another sensitive topic.
Also, you should never negotiate via email. Most salespeople will do this! But if you want to go to the top, always negotiate via phone or in-person. Here is the common trap… the customer emails you asking for your best price or a concession, or a discount. I cringe when I find out that the salesperson actually fell for this and negotiated back, via email, with an offer. Once they hit the send button on their response, they have lost control. Now what happens? The salesperson sits in front of their email all morning, maybe a day, maybe two days, waiting for a reply back. So then what happens? No response back so the rep tries calling the customer (what they should have done in the first place) only to get a voicemail. And now the games begin and a whole week passes by before hearing back from the customer.
All of that nonsense could have been prevented with a phone call. When the customer emails you for a better price, you pick up the phone and call them. You could also reply back to their email, saying “I will call you in two seconds to discuss” and then call immediately, don’t wait.
Email is easy and everyone relies on it too much. Go back to using the phone and watch your results soar.
-Happy Selling!