Ryan Dohrn says prospects are 7-10 times more likely to engage seriously on phone calls than email. Video meetings hit 80% of communication (visual plus audio), while email alone misses most of it. His tactic: leave a voicemail asking them to reply by email, then push the conversation to Zoom or GoToMeeting.
Hey friends, Ryan Dohrn here, your global sales and marketing advisor, and here comes your sales tip of the week. Email is great, but it's only one piece of the greater sales puzzle. Grasshopper Research tells us you're 7 to 10 times more likely to have a serious sales conversation via phone. But I understand what's going on out there amidst COVID and everything else that's happening. It's like nobody's picking up the phone, nobody's calling me back, and things along those lines. Friends, Whatever you can do, try to move somebody to a Zoom call or a GoToMeeting call. Try to get them on the phone. There's nothing that replaces in the sales business a good old-fashioned heart-to-heart conversation. Don't give up on the phone. All right, so sometimes— and I've mentioned this in previous tips— I use voicemail to drive an email response. So don't ask somebody to call me back because they're probably not going to. Instead, I say, hey Bill, or hey Bonnie, I sent you an email about such and such if you could give me a quick reply. What I love about voicemail, what I love about the phone, what I love about selling virtually like you're seeing me today is that's when people can hear your charisma. That's when people can see your smile. That's where you relate back and forth. 80-some percent— I forget the exact stat— but 80-some percent of communication is visual. About 40% is audible. So pick up the phone, you're going to get 40% of the way there. Move somebody to a Zoom meeting or a virtual meeting, now you're at 60%. 80-some percent of full communication. Remember, friends, if you're an email-only salesperson, you're only going to reach a certain level of success. Pick up that phone, get good at virtual meetings. All right, I'm Ryan Dohrn, your global sales coach. Learn more about me and what I can do for you and your company over at ryandohrn.com. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and don't forget, friends, if sales was easy, everybody'd be doing it, and they're not because we're crazy, right? Now we found a career that'll feed our families for a lifetime. All right. We'll see you next week.
