Online interactions continue
to impact the way we do business -- and as we move more of ourselves
online, we are also moving away from human interaction.
Sales, the oldest business practice, isn’t exempt to the impact that the Internet of Things
has had on the industry; it’s completely changed the way we sell and do
business in today’s world. Even in our world of apps and iPads, an
integral part of sales is building a relationship with your prospect.
The ways in which we build that relationship, however, has shifted
dramatically.
Instead of spending 45 minutes making a pitch to potential
customer, we can send an email to thousands of prospects with just a few
clicks. This makes it possible to contact more people at a faster rate,
which has led many of us to start substituting something personal (such
as a phone call) for something that is more efficient in the short
term.
Technology has made some parts of the sales process easier,
enabling us to close a sale without ever seeing a prospect's face, or
talking to them over the phone. But are we selling ourselves short? Are
we forgetting the most effective way to make a real connection and close
a prospect: human interaction?
Email: Prospecting As a Numbers Game
We’ve come a long way in the world of email since it was
first developed. Now we can segment our email lists based on the
customer’s buying behaviors, preferences, and demographic data to better
target our sales efforts. However, even with the best targeting, email
isn’t as powerful as a real-time conversation. A personal connection
goes a very long way when you’re building a deeper relationship with
your potential customers and with email - it's more a numbers game.
While email may be the quick, easy way to do things, it’s certainly not the most efficient way. One study
shows that 57 percent of people who receive these kinds of emails
believe it to be spam without even opening the email. The majority of
the people that you send your emails to likely won’t even end up reading
them. Can emails really be better than making a pitch over the phone or
in person?
Of the following,which would you think would likely lead to a bigger and faster sale?
1. A highly targeted email with interesting and
relevant content to the customer(s), but more than half may consider it
to be spam without opening
2. A personal phone call where you learn through casual
conversation, and one that has clear, specific plans and points that
were custom designed for each individual buyer
Typically, a phone call will get someone’s attention much quicker than an email, and you’re able to customize your sales pitch.
With email, you’re stuck making guesses at what the most-likely
customer pain points could be. With actual, real customer interaction,
you will be able to pinpoint the problem by asking specific questions,
and offer the prospect a solution. This is one of the many ways that
email can never replace human interaction.
The Benefits of Picking Up the Phone
When the word “sales” and “phone” are mentioned in the same sentence, most automatically think of the cold call.
It’s obvious that closing sales with cold calls can—and likely will—be
very difficult, but when you get past that first barrier and begin to
engage with a buyer on the telephone, the cold calling doesn’t always
seem to be so frigid.
Believe it or not, the success rate of cold calling has actually proven to be higher than many people would think. One small business website
has found that cold calling has a 6% response rate, much higher than
the response rate of email, direct mail, or internet displays. Another company found that without cold calling, their company would be a third of its current revenue size.
Warm up your cold calls by adding an element of human
interaction. Similar to face-to-face interaction, your goal with a cold
call is to discover the pain points by customizing your message to fit
the potential buyer’s needs. Before you even pick up the phone, do your
research so that you can completely understand the buyer’s possible
wants and needs.
As you do your research and get to know your customers,
your calls will become more successful, and you’ll be getting more sales
than you would by sending mass emails.
Another study showed that telephone outreach out-converted emails by a significant margin (8.21% vs 0.03%)
Even cold calls, when done correctly, are by far a more effective way of selling your company and your product. Fit your pitch to every individual and company that you call, and you’ll notice a significant difference in your success rate. The personal touch that a phone call provides may be enough to give you the extra edge in your selling.
Tempering Technology
There’s no doubt that technology has helped all kinds of
businesses make significant leaps in their efficiency in reaching as
many prospects as possible, but we cannot forget the importance of human
contact.
There is an intangible trust that comes with human
interaction that email simply cannot articulate - no matter how many
words they use. Consider limiting business emails to a subsection of
your prospects, and start relying on phone calls and in-person meetings
for making your sales pitches to prospects that are most-likely to
purchase from you.
If your sales strategy relies too heavily on automated
emails, you’ll need to start challenging yourself to break away from
that technology. Don’t just target and assume that your emails will be
effective, much less read.
You need to make an effort to create genuine connections
with your customers, either through face-to-face meetings or over the
phone. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that human interaction actually
works in sales: after all, salesmen have been around much longer than
any computer has been.
