All Things Sales

[leadqueen1 Occasional Contributor]

This topic has been on my mind allot recently. As someone who has been in "cold-calling" field for 10+ years I depend on my knowledge around working the phone to make a living. For the last year I have moved to a company that is more of a "commodity" sale... ( Making a value prop more difficult).

Thus making the cold calling experience a little more painful then it already is!

Bringing up the topic Cold Calling VS Cold Emailing which is better for this type of company and why!

Here are my thoughts:

Cold-Calling is and will always be something I depend out to connect to prospects. I truly feel it is the fastest way to get an answer from a prospect and build a valued relationship, HOWEVER it has become harder and harder to get people to answer the phone this is where an experienced cold-caller would know "tricks of the trade" be it voice mail surfing or internal transfers to get this prospect to answer. Know who you are calling - do your research, stand out - value the time they are giving you! THIS IS NOT JUST A SALES CALL.

Cold-Emailing- This for me is a hard one, but I do know it to have a high success rate if you are good at it. I think that the biggest obstacle you would face with this method would be competition , why should they open your email they get 10000 other's just like it! It only takes a few seconds to delete an email if the subject line doesn't catch their eye or if they don't know your company. Technology allows company's to now block emails that have links or formats that look like a Marketing or Sales email. How do you make yours stand out ? My thoughts in conclusion to this would be

* Be Relevant and have a great subject line

* Bring value quickly to the company you are emailing.

* DO YOUR RESEARCH on the company show you are knowledgeable quickly

*ALWAYS FOLLOW UP WITH A CALL.

The truth is cold calling is not dead, you just need to utilise all of the tools given to you to contact the prospect properly! Cold Emailing can make Cold Calls more of Warm Calls. But most importantly never give up! What are your thoughts feel free to share them below, I would love to know how others are prospecting!

[anilorac]

It's preferrable to master both, but most people are better at one or the other.  

In my market, most don't want a call, except when they request it.  Otherwise, a brief email introduction with clear WY/WYN is expected.

[Faneros]

Neither one works that well.  Emailing is a dead end, most times, IMO.  The person on the other side can either delete, or respond, most times its delete.