I understand why e-mail has taken over as the main form of communication and why many inside sales organizations sound more like touch-typing classes rather than a Boiler Rooms. Many execs don’t even have desk phones anymore and if they do they haven’t checked their voice mails in weeks. You can also take your time with e-mail, script your message out perfectly, send or read it whenever you want, delete it without thinking about it, etc. I get it. But, e-mail has its challenges too.

Have you ever misread tone into an e-mail? I did (again) the other day and it reminded me of why I should always take my time before responding to an e-mail that I get annoyed with for whatever reason, or, heaven forbid, call the person who I’m annoyed with and ask them to clarify. I was reading an e-mail from my phone that was seemingly a mistaken ‘reply all’ from a colleague talking about me and I took it the wrong way. It caught me at the wrong time when I was on the edge about making a decision on something related to the e-mail string and it ended up putting me over the edge. I reacted and blasted back an e-mail from my phone that I shouldn’t have. Come to realize his e-mail was written from a Doctor’s office with his pupils fully dilated and he admittedly “didn’t do a good job with the communication.” Needless to say, e-mail communication didn’t do either of us any favors. Here’s how it went down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naleynXS7yo. All this could have been avoided if I had picked up the phone and called him or at least waited to respond until I was in a better place.

There is also some science to back up why phone is so much better than e-mail when communicating with people. A simplified interpretation of Professor Albert Mehrabian’s Communications Model highlights that 7% of the way we communicate is through the words that we use (e-mail), 38% is how the words are said (phone) and 55% is based on facial expression or body language (face to face). This is why F2F selling is so much easier than phone sales. I can say something in front of you, watch your expression without you saying a word and react if necessary. Over the phone I have no idea if you have just put me on mute and are letting me talk while not even paying attention. But, this is why phone is better than e-mail because I’m really only dealing with 7% of how I’m absorbing that information and therefore could easily misinterpret it.

Here are a few take-aways and things you/I can do to make sure we’re leveraging the right communication tools the right way:

• If you get an annoying e-mail from someone the ideal response is to call them. If not, then at least read the e-mail a few times or have someone else read it and give you their thoughts before you respond. At the very least, don’t reply on your phone and wait to you get back to your desk (new rule for me).
• Do everything you can to make the initial engagement with someone (prospect, client, etc) to be a phone call so you can at least have a chance at developing some rapport
• Once you get them on the phone ask them what their preferred form of communication is moving forward.
• Use e-mail for confirming factual things and holding people accountable for what they tell you over the phone.

 

Good luck and happy selling.