“It’s so hard to get a follow-up meeting.”
“I sent the information they requested, now I can’t get ahold of them.”
“No one answers their phone anymore.”
Sound familiar?
Frustrate you beyond belief?
Feel like your life?
Drive you crazy?
Day in, day out inside salespeople are tasked with virtually building relationships and trust with clients.
It’s the job and you must make it work – at least sometimes – or you’d have given up and left or been fired by now.
Yet that doesn’t mean it’s any less frustrating. Sometimes salespeople give in and take the road that appears, at the moment to be easier.
I’ve done it. We all have.
I’m here to tell you (again – if you’ve been reading my stuff for a while) …
You can’t build relationships
OR get important questions answered
reliably… consistently… via email!
Someone I admire very much recently made a comment that it seems like people are looking to take offense when they read online posts and she thinks it’s starting to extend to email. Especially when you’re asking questions.
My reply was: why aren’t you having a conversation so they can hear your tone of voice?
She is the one who replied with “No one answers their phone anymore.”
BEST PRACTICE: of course, would be to set your next appointment while you’re on the phone with each other.
- Set up next steps for everyone involved
- Agree to the timeframe to get things done
- Have everyone look at their calendars and pick a time/day that works
- Send the meeting request RIGHT THEN
OOOPS that meeting didn’t get set…
- Send a meeting request for a time that works for your team AND a note with a couple of alternate times if that doesn’t work for your customer’s team.
Get an email request and have questions…
- Pick up the phone! Call them.
- They didn’t answer? Ok, send a note saying, “when do you have 10 minutes to discuss?”
Please stop hiding behind email – come out; front and center – share your tone, your passion, your enthusiasm. Use your voice. Create a connection.
Seems funny to write this, to ensure I’m not hiding I’ll make a video next week!
Lynn