The Power of Picking Up the Phone
I can’t recall the number of times I’ve e-mailed individuals, companies, potential clients etc and never received a reply. It may be my wording, it could be my approach, but in my experience e-mail isn’t cutting it if you want new business.
Recently, I’ve been working alongside another business owner to try to gain new contracts in a mutual area of business. We both e-mailed a firm and never heard back, yet I got in touch with their London HQ and now we may have the opportunity to work with one of the biggest companies in that industry.
It took me a couple of minutes to get an instant interest where as writing an e-mail and tapping your desk waiting on a reply is not only tedious, it is painful. Often your message gets sent to the wrong person, ends up in a junk mail folder or is simply discarded.
So, my tip of the day / week / month is to get over being shy, pick up the phone and speak to the right person first time. Follow it up with an e-mail if required and make sure you leave a good impression.
One day e-mail will get there, but for now the telephone is top!
