As our team is preparing to host the webcast "Prospecting Like The Pros", I took a sneak peek at the slides and saw one of the prospecting tips: calling is still king.  With such a focus on marketing automation and low-cost lead nurturing, I had to wonder if this still remains true. Jim Sinai and Michael Cammarata are hosting the webinar and I consider them both experts in this area. However, just because salesforce.com sees better results from calling can’t mean everyone does.

What I found is there are merits for both approaches, but with more voices singing the praise of calling over email. On the one hand, calling can give the prospect a feeling of importance, you took time out of your day to call.  It also conveys as sense of immediacy.

"Unfortunately, emailing a prospect
before calling them only lessens the pain
of rejection but it does nothing to lessen
the pain of missing quota." -Michael Pedone

Everyone is busy.  Calling may be the fastest and best way to reach the prospect.  If your prospect is always on the run, they may be very unlikely to answer their phone.  Unfortunately, it's even easier for someone to ignore an email. 

"I have heard some sales managers say to their sales team that a phone call
is interrupting the prospect and you’re headed down the wrong path
before you even get in the door. Well, I’m here to tell you that is wrong.
A quick phone call is essential for a successful sales system."  -Jeff Master

The benefits of email are more often related to sales rep.  Rejection can be painful, an email rejection can be easier to stomach over speaking with someone live on a call.  Some people don’t like to interrupt busy prospects, emailing gives them the ability to try and reach a prospect in way that doesn’t intrude.  Also, email can be easier to scale, especially for a small company with fewer sales reps to reach.

“Email is arguably the most important sales prospecting tool to come along since the invention of the busienss  invention of the business card.”  -Malcolm Fleschner

What side of the debate are you on?  Are you leveraging calling or email?  Is the one you prefer giving you the best results.  Please let me know in the comments.

Register now to join us for Prospect Like the Pros: Learn How salesforce.com Grows Sales.

Here’s a preview of just a few tips you’ll learn in the webcast:

• Every day you put off calling your lead dramatically reduces your success at a sale
• If you are not calling your leads, your competition is!
• If you leave a voicemail, end with a call to action.
• No one time will work for everyone.  You need to test, test, test!
• Do your calls one at a time in a 1 – 2 hour block