There are 10 Reasons Most Prospecting Plans Don’t Work. Today I’m giving further explanation on reason #5:
Relying on email as your primary tool to prospect.
Email is the lazy person’s prospecting crutch. Far too many salespeople use the excuse that email is the only way to reach prospects.
I’ll tell you why salespeople say this. It’s because they don’t want to have to work, and they’re scared of actually having to pick up the telephone!
It’s not that email isn’t a great prospecting tool. I use it all the time! But it’s just one of your prospecting tools. What becomes a challenge is that because it’s so easy to use, it becomes way too easy to use it too much.
One of the biggest problems salespeople make with using email for prospecting is they think just because they read the email that their prospect will too. It’s time to throw that myth out the window!
First, your prospect may not even see your email because their spam filter may have blocked it. This often is the direct result of a salesperson who thinks they will reach the person by sending them a blitz of emails over a short-period of time. Sorry, this was a bombing strategy used in World War II. It’s not a strategy to be used today.
Sending more than 3 or 4 emails in a 45-day period is asking the spam/junk filters to exile you forever.
Second, just because you wrote your email on your computer doesn’t mean the prospect is going to see it on their computer. Chances are they’ll view it on their smart phone. And even if they do that, it will be based on what the title says as to whether they will read it or delete it.
Today there are as many barriers to sending emails as there are barriers to trying to reach someone on a telephone; it’s just that we don’t see the email barriers.
Email works as a prospecting tool when the message is tight, short and beneficial to the person receiving it.
Your objective is to assess the role email plays in your prospecting process. Make email one of the tools you use, but not the only tool.
For all the posts in this series on why most prospecting plans don’t work, check out:
Do You Rely on Email as Your Only Prospecting Tool?
Why You Must Segment Your Prospects
Not Enough Time to Follow Up with Prospects?
Do You Have TOO Many Prospects in Your Pipeline?
Are You Using the Same Prospecting Process for All of Your Prospects?
Do You Think Social Media is Your Answer?
Are You Committing Enough Time?
Your Prospects Really Don’t Care About You
Are Your Messages About the Prospect’s Needs?
The Telephone is Still a Great Prospecting Tool
For more information on prospecting techniques that get results, check out Breakthrough Sales University.
Copyright 2015, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.
