The Power of the spoken word

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The Power of the spoken word

In a previous article I talked about cold calling, this time I wanted to tackle the subject of how we communicate with our customers and prospects. Following last weeks cast I found myself in a debate on one of the Linkedin groups defending a number of areas of selling. The person I was having this debate with was adamant that not only was cold calling dead but also the extensive use of the telephone in sales, they argued that the only way sales people will be able to communicate with their prospects would be via as they called “non intrusive” methods such as social media and email. Whilst they raised some very valid points and I agreed with some of their points I did disagree with the notion that the telephone was no longer a useful way of communicating with prospects, I fully embrace social media and although I think it is one of the more powerful and indeed remarkable developments within the sales and marketing industry, it isn’t a replacement but a welcome addition to our armoury which works well alongside other effective sales communication tools.

Following this discussion the following day I was delivering a session to a group of sales people and the subject of communication was covered and a common challenge facing the group was how to reach their prospects more effectively. The experiences within the group were mixed and varied with some having greater success with emails, some succeeded with more of a social media / networking approach and some succeeded with direct mail but what was clear within the group was that the more successful members of the group were using the telephone in conjunction with email, networking and direct mail to great success. When we delved a little deeper we discovered that that the reason the telephone worked so well when used to follow up or to reinforce this method was that they felt they had more control over the conversation and ultimately the process when they used the telephone or if they were in front of a customer.

Not always the answer

Thanks to modern technology such as email and now more recently social media sites such as Linkedin, twitter etc. sales people have now been provided with a wealth of time saving communication tools to contact and communicate with their clients and prospects and although email is an extremely useful tool for sales people it can sometimes work against us, what I mean is that sometimes it is easier to send an email to a client but is it the most effective method?

Emails can sometimes be misunderstood, sometimes they don’t get delivered, they get lost in crowded inboxes, sometimes they even get deleted but more importantly how many of your clients or prospects place an order via email?

How sure are you?

The next time you need to communicate something to your clients or prospects ask yourself these questions.

Is email the best way to communicate what I want to say?
 
How much control do I have over this email?

Will the customer have any questions?

Would a telephone call or a face to face meeting be a better way of communicating this information?

In the majority of cases having a conversation or a meeting is more powerful than sending an email, you have more control, you can communicate the information you need to in the manner you want to without the worry of it not getting through, not being understood or not being acted upon.

Written by Paul Routley FinstSMM

Paul Routley is an award winning trainer and one of the country’s leading authorities on modern sales techniques.

With over twenty years’ experience in sales and sales management, starting out in sales at the age of 17 and working his way up from trainee sales person to sales director, working for some of the world’s largest and most well-known companies along the way.

Paul has held a number of sales manager and sales director roles throughout his career and has a proven track record in creating and developing extremely successful and effective sales teams in every industry he has worked within.

As a trainer he brings a tremendous amount of experience and invaluable knowledge to all aspects of sales and selling within a variety of industries with a particular flair for telephone selling and a grown up approach to cold calling.
Paul’s training courses are always memorable and renowned for not just being educational and enlightening but also inspirational, motivational and entertaining.

During his career Paul has lived and worked in more than twelve European countries including: Germany, France, Sweden, Estonia, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium and Ireland

Paul is one of the UK’s leading sales trainers and also a fellow of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management

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