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email vs cold calling

by sladeryan
16 replies
Hey guys,

When first contacting new leads do you prefer to email them or cold call and why? I'm leaning towards email because I think you can cover a lot more ground much quicker but wanted to hear some pro thoughts on response rate, pros vs cons, etc.

I'm going to be focusing on pitching mobile websites so the plan was to show them what their website currently looks like on mobile vs what it could look like in the email...but maybe this is giving away too much too early.
#calling #cold #email
  • Profile picture of the author Jonwebb
    All you need to know is that cold calling has a much higher response rate compared to email.

    I am not sure on the numbers but its something like .12% for email and cold callung is something like 2.9%. So its pretty much cut and dry.

    now there is nothing wrong with emailing and cold calling. two beats one.

    Good luck,

    Jonathan Webb
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  • Profile picture of the author Mwind076
    This has been asked a million times...here's some old threads with answers.

    http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...ml#post8260559
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  • Profile picture of the author FrankRumbauskas
    In a survey of small business owners done by Sandler Sales, they asked what are the most liked and disliked forms of contact by a salesperson.

    The #1 most disliked form of contact was cold calling.
    The #1 most liked form of contact was a personal email.

    There you go.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jonwebb
      Originally Posted by FrankRumbauskas View Post

      In a survey of small business owners done by Sandler Sales, they asked what are the most liked and disliked forms of contact by a salesperson.

      The #1 most disliked form of contact was cold calling.
      The #1 most liked form of contact was a personal email.

      There you go.
      people often disrespect things they like... Plus its easier to say no to a email then it is a phone call.
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  • Profile picture of the author pingsters
    Banned
    For mobile websites, email is great. But don't forget to provide them a sample mobile website.

    You can include your ph number in the email so they can contact you if they are interested to use your services.
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    • Profile picture of the author kyusho77
      Originally Posted by pingsters View Post

      For mobile websites, email is great. But don't forget to provide them a sample mobile website.

      You can include your ph number in the email so they can contact you if they are interested to use your services.
      That's actually what I do. Send prospects an email with a mobile version of their site and how their site currently looks like on the mobile phone. I do some cold calling as well. For me just depends on the niche.
      I think it really depends on how you feel about cold calling or emailing. I guess if you can write a killer email go for it. If you're a good speaker talk to people. If you want to be successful do them both.
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      • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
        Originally Posted by FrankRumbauskas View Post

        In a survey of small business owners done by Sandler Sales, they asked what are the most liked and disliked forms of contact by a salesperson.

        The #1 most disliked form of contact was cold calling.
        The #1 most liked form of contact was a personal email.

        There you go.
        I guess any product creator can manipulate studies and statistics in their favor. The fact is that emails convert lower than calls. Calls go through but not all emails make it.

        With a cold list, for example of 30,000 emails... you might get 15-20% opens if you're very good. On the first sends to my list, that is what I average and it is nearly impossible to get higher than that. The reason being, 50% of your emails will never make it in the inbox. That gives you a pool of a possible 6,000 people at a higher end 20% open rate. Cold calling if you expect 50% aren't going to answer a number they don't know, number disconnected or just don't answer, your pool of possible leads is now 15,000 in comparison to the 6,000. 150% performance advantage.

        The problem with emails is that you have to do it in volume. Maybe you can have slightly better performance and conversions done manually and heavily personalize the email but in my testing, volume is key.

        That being said... don't limit yourself to just 1 form of marketing.

        We all love inbound leads. But when your pipeline is drying up or you just want to generate more leads, calling is a great way to do that.
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        • Profile picture of the author dietmtndew
          I agree with iamnameless, why not do both?

          What is email's advantage? Well it is free and you can email 1000 as easily as you can email 1. Why not? Who cares if it takes 5,000 emails to make a sale.

          What's cold calling's advantage? The human advantage, they can hear your voice, you can ask them questions, you can establish rapport.

          Everyone is different.

          John Smith needs a website. He deletes your email because he thinks it is spam, but when asked on the phone if he needs a website his automatic response is yes. Now sell him.

          Jane Smith hates annoying telephone calls, and the minute she sniffs you out as a telemarketer she says 'not interested' and hangs up, even though she is planning on getting a website. However, when Jane reads your email that to her appears to be written specifically for her that says "Hi Jane, I'm Joe Doe with ABC web design and was wondering if you are considering getting a website? I'd love to chat with you, my number is 555-555-5555. You can see an example of my work at www.joedoeexample.com ...." she writes you back "Why yes it's like you read my mind!"

          It's like asking do girls like muscle guys or skinny metrosexual guys. Some like one, some like the other, some like both, some like neither, some like girls. There is no one size fits all.
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          • Profile picture of the author bsummers
            Originally Posted by iAmNameLess View Post

            The fact is that emails convert lower than calls. Calls go through but not all emails make it.
            I agree. The problem with emails is that most of it are forwarded to spam. To get the most of your marketing campaign pair up cold calling and email marketing.
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        • Profile picture of the author socialentry
          Originally Posted by iAmNameLess View Post

          I guess any product creator can manipulate studies and statistics in their favor. The fact is that emails convert lower than calls. Calls go through but not all emails make it.

          With a cold list, for example of 30,000 emails... you might get 15-20% opens if you're very good. On the first sends to my list, that is what I average and it is nearly impossible to get higher than that. The reason being, 50% of your emails will never make it in the inbox. That gives you a pool of a possible 6,000 people at a higher end 20% open rate. Cold calling if you expect 50% aren't going to answer a number they don't know, number disconnected or just don't answer, your pool of possible leads is now 15,000 in comparison to the 6,000. 150% performance advantage.

          The problem with emails is that you have to do it in volume. Maybe you can have slightly better performance and conversions done manually and heavily personalize the email but in my testing, volume is key.

          That being said... don't limit yourself to just 1 form of marketing.

          We all love inbound leads. But when your pipeline is drying up or you just want to generate more leads, calling is a great way to do that.
          How do you find a server that will allow you to send that amount of cold emails and that is not located in Russia/Malaysia/China/etc?
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  • Profile picture of the author Voasi
    You said "leads"... are these warm leads or cold leads? More of curiosity.

    Either way, cold calling is the best way to go. You can cover WAY MORE ground with a prospect, rather then sending to their email. You can get a 100% conversion with your contacts, whether you actually talk to the biz owner or a secretary. With email, as IAmNameless as said, you lose 50% out the gate going to spam or wherever.

    And with Google's new additional to Gmail, most emails from marketers are going to the "Promotions" tab now... so that even lowers open rates.

    Give them a call. Period.
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  • Profile picture of the author RockNRolla
    I would opt for email first in this case. Simply because I already have the system in place and it requires far less effort to get a large outreach as opposed to me cold calling.

    In saying that, both are very effective methods when done properly.
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  • Profile picture of the author TrumpiaTim
    Honestly, I look to alternate. Cold calling can get depressing if you get rejected too often and email can become boring since its so monotonous.

    I found a combo of doing both works best for my type of personality.
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  • Profile picture of the author sladeryan
    good stuff thanks for the replies. These are cold leads...I'll be starting with plastic surgeons that I got from Ed Jackson (thanks Ed!). Seems like doing both is the way to go so that's what I'll do
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  • Profile picture of the author smsagent
    You shouldn't worry too much about this decision, OP. If you're too timid to pick up the phone and call someone you've identified who can use a mobile optimized website, I'll get to them before they ever find your email in their spam folder.

    Maybe they'll hire you on an unpaid, trial basis to post spammy crap to their facebook pages though. There you'll have to confront zero incidents of rejection and you'll get lots of "likes."
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