Cold email or Cold Call that is the question.

Quite honestly I prefer neither. What I would prefer is that I know you or knew you from someone else that referred me to you.

Recently I was reading, The Consulting Bible, by Alan Weiss , and in it he outlined a clear message for anyone is sales, "Referrals are the lifeblood of our industry". That is to say, instead of doing the really hard work, re-think your strategy and make sure that you ask your existing clients to refer you to people they know.

Actually outline a plan at the beginning of the projects you work on and let clients know that, "Referrals are the lifeblood of my industry and I would like to ask you in 30 days for you to recommend others you know will benefit from the value I am bringing you."

Then deliver what they want and in 30 days ask them for referrals. In this you are connecting with their contacts in a very clear way and when you call these people make sure your client has already called them so they are not surprised.

There is tons more information in that book.

Hope this snippet really helps!

Shawn

PS - If you were to do one over the other, I would change your strategy and make your cold calls, information calls...that lead into email... I.e. Mr. Customer I know you are super busy and would prefer I send you information in an email, which I will but if you have 3 minutes to chat now, I would love to tell hear about your business...

True, referrals definitely are the most sought after way to get new clients. They create trust before you actually meet but if you have a small client base than relying on referrals for business is pretty unreliable. I do like the idea of asking for referrals if the services you provided were satisfactory. Also, I do like your idea of "blending" the email in with the cold call. It is definitely something I am going to try.

Do you want quick feedback? Then call.

Do you want to avoid interaction with people? Then email.

Jason,
I don't think its a matter of avoiding interaction with people if you email. Emails have detailed information that many people including myself would rather receive as oppose to a phone call where the person being called is forced to come up with questions right then and there on the spot. Emails are also read when it is convenient and in a way you bypass the "too busy right now" excuse that you often times get cold calling. As to feedback, yes cold calling is better because the "no" or "tell me more/yes" happens quick but how many of those NOs are only because you called at an inconvenient time?

Both. Build a sales network (marketing plan) rather than a sales funnel. Use them together..could be as simple as emailing them ,then a week later 'following up' with a call. This gets your foot in the door when it comes to the gatekeepers..

Call. Just setup a cold calling process for SEO services and hired a woman to do the calls for me and she setup an APPT from a cold call. PM me if you want to hear the call.

I Prefer email if I'm doing it from home. Otherwise I would get out there onto the street and meet the business owners in the mornings.

But for me its email. Get 100 emails send them all out early morning get a few replies.
Not sure how long a 100 calls would take, but a 100 emails takes me about 30 minutes to get the emails and send the email.

Send them email and then call them. This way you won't cold call because you will call to talk about email that you've sent. Better response and closing ratio.

Start talking the potential customers language and your close ratio will go up. Don't mention SEO, web design or anything like that. Tell them you are going to get them more clients by ........ (insert power message here)

Calling gets me more sales. Calling and getting a face to face gets even more.

Create a system.. Try calling asking if you can send some more information (email) then follow up with a visit to the place of business.

Of course its like any other system.. Numbers and repetition is the key. Once you have a decent portfolio then the referrals will come in.

If you tired of speaking then Email.

And what about direct mail, you tried this? Much better response rate and great for call follow up.