Today's post is by Sales SheBang speaker Kendra Lee, author of Selling Against the Goal. She's presenting a breakout session on "The Art of the Consultative Conversation."
There's no question that email is an important communication tool in the business world. During the past few years, it has become apparent that email has evolved to a primary customer interaction tool, rather than the supplement it once was to phone and face-to-face meetings.
While email can never replace verbal communication, it has evolved to the point that more people are using it as a key communication tool. As a sales rep, it's important to be aware of this trend, and understand some of the dilemmas you might face.
If you're like I was, you believe email should be answered after hours when you are not on the phone or in customer meetings. This is how I handle proposals. They can't be written during valuable customer "face" time, but should be saved for that time of day when customers are not available.
But, expectations and how email is used have changed. Many customers now expect you to hold whole conversations via email, sometimes with emails flying within minutes of each other, just as if they were instant messages or a phone call. With these changes email is now as important as face-to-face meetings and phone calls.
Here are some tips to consider when making email a primary customer interaction tool:
- View email as the new prospecting tool. After you leave a voicemail, follow-up with an email, giving prospects two easy ways to respond. Remember, your goal is to connect with the person. Even if they respond "no", you have connected and can respond.
- Keep the sales process moving forward using email to ask requirements gathering questions, get referrals, make recommendations, and provide updates.
- Respond to all emails with action items promptly. You return phone calls within 1-24 hours. The expectation now is that you'll return emails within 30 minutes - 12 hours. If you can't respond completely, send an email setting expectations about when you will send a full response.
- Think - and proof - before you send. Sometimes it's best to draft a response, then wait 30 minutes before sending. You may choose to soften, shorten, or otherwise change your response.
- You may need a hand-held device such as a Blackberry to keep up. Consider what tools you need to add this new customer interaction approach and make the investment.
- Schedule daily time on your calendar to respond to emails. Consider this equal to customer meeting time. If you are holding complete customer conversations via email, you really are holding a meeting. Give it equal time for a well thought out response with a request for next steps.
There are many benefits that can be realized by using email. This includes ease of connection and a better way to communicate in certain circumstances. For example, I recently had a prospect that was interested in having us do some training development work for her firm. She emailed me and explained exactly what she needed and requested a quote.
When I requested a phone meeting to learn more, she declined. Because she was the decision maker, I asked her all my questions via email and prepared a proposal based on her answers. With my proposal in hand, and without a single verbal conversation, she not only accepted it, but increased it by 20% to cover any changes in scope.
While this situation is unusual, it is becoming more and more common for customers and prospects to prefer to answer questions and move opportunities forward via email communications, limiting meeting time. Be prepared and you'll soon find yourself reducing your sell cycle and closing opportunities via email!
Kendra Lee is president of KLA Group. Specializing in the IT industry, KLA Group helps companies rapidly penetrate new markets, break into new accounts and shorten time to revenue with new products. For more information, contact the company at +1 303.741.6636 or [email protected] or visit www.klagroup.com.
Link to original post