When and how can email support cold calling campaigns?
Email is effective in a support role in the appointment setting process. Here’s how.
Email is good for the following things:
- Increasing the number of ‘touch points’ 1 in which the target sees and hears our key themes and messages
- Long term territory building (this assumes we continue to pursue this target over time)
- Reinforcement of a verbal message
- Finalizing (once a game of phone tag has begun regarding the time and place for an appointment, or to confirm an appointment
- Delivering attachments that support the messaging
- Delivering web links that support the messaging
- Provide a way for target to communicate back (even if they say no thanks)
- A few of our targets actually prefer to communicate that way
Bad uses for email in appointment setting:
- Sending without a voicemail first as the only vehicle to deliver our message
- When a conversation would be better (like when trying to set an appointment)
- Closing a sale – appointment or P.O.
We believe that the biggest advantages email can supply is being a quick and inexpensive, yet personal and reinforcing communication. So use it to support develop a warmer list to call for an appointment.
It should go without saying therefore that using email as our primary vehicle for setting appointments is ineffective.
1 The advertising industry rule of thumb is that it takes approximately 7 touches or touch points for a target to just recognize our name. So assuming we make 8 dials per year (4 per Cycle x 2 Cycles) including a voicemail and an email on each, we’ve touched this target 16 times with multiple messages (assuming each attempt in a Cycle has a different advantage to our solution/message).
Caponi Performance Group and Contact Science jointly market the telephone prospecting and cold calling solution called The Prospector’s Academy™ under the brand name Coldcalling101. It is the only comprehensive solution to solving the biggest barrier to success in most selling organizations – the inability to secure enough Initial Appointments to begin the selling process. We accomplish that through simultaneously addressing both the efficiency and effectiveness of the process. We can be reached at 214 483-5800 or at barry@coldcalling101.com.
August 5th, 2010 at 7:51 am
[...] unless we’ve already had a conversation or gotten into a game of phone tag with our Target (see February 10, 2010 blog). It can, however, be occasionally effective to set up an Initial Appointment or to set up [...]