Q: Do you or your sales reps use email to prospect?

Christopher Faris, Boost Promotions: For a cold prospect, it’s usually a call first. Everyone is using email nowadays, so there’s a chance emails will get lost in spam. Picking up the phone is a lost art. They don’t ring a lot anymore, so you might have a shot of getting through to them. For referrals, an email is fine, because the referring name is your “in.”

Kimble Bosworth, Proforma Printelligence: We send unsolicited emails to current clients all the time with product ideas, but we never, ever prospect with emails. About 80% of our business is referral-based, so we’ll receive an email referring someone to us and we immediately respond to their email asking to set up a face-to-face meeting.

Mark Eckebrecht, Advertech Group: We prospect the same way we’ve done since the 1980s – by word of mouth. It’s much more effective to make contact that way, since it takes about 100 cold calls to get to one person. It’s impossible to get through. When we do get a new client, we discuss their preferred communication method and we’ll work with them there. Then after the order is finished, we’ll send them a handwritten thank-you note. They appreciate that. The old-fashioned way still works.

Q: What are some guidelines for using email at your company?

Eden McClellan, Icon Blue Inc. : If something is escalating, or if an order is complicated, don’t go back and forth with email. Call them. We have coaching sessions on communication. When we’re hiring, we look for good grammar, which has gotten more difficult these days. We’ll send an email with an open-ended question and see how they reply. You need to establish the type of service you intend to give to clients.

Ali Weitzman, Total Marketing: Our Service Level Agreement states that reps have to respond within 24 hours. Customers should never wait too long for a response, even if it’s just a confirmation that you got it and you’ll get back to them within a certain timeframe. Employees become part of your brand, so they have to understand that you expect a certain level of service. If the client wants to text, that’s OK, but reps should follow up with an email so we have a record of it.

Ann Baiden, Innovatex Solutions Inc. : Tech is ever-changing, especially with social. You are your brand, so we discuss what’s OK/not OK to email, and most of it is common sense. It also depends on how long the person’s been in the industry, and the relationship. But when you’re emailing all the time, you fall into the trap of becoming an order-taker.

Mark Myers, Screenbroidery/Rectorcom: They need to respond as quickly as they can. The quicker you respond, the quicker you get the order before they go to someone else. People are impatient. If you don’t respond within the same business day, they might have already gone elsewhere. My clients know I’ll respond within minutes, which is a huge reason why my client base has grown over the past six years. Of course, now they expect it.

Q: How should sales reps use it to do business?

McClellan: We had a young hire who wanted to text clients, but we wouldn’t have any record of their interaction like we would through email. That’s dangerous territory. We need to be able to offer them good service. If the rep they were texting with is out sick and no one else knows what’s going on because it’s all been through text and then their event date is missed, that’s not good. They can use email, because we rely on that written record of data, but they should always use common courtesies like “Thank you.” We don’t want them using “Hey” or forgetting a greeting altogether.

Faris: You have to focus on where the client is. If they want to text or Facebook message, fine. But a phone conversation can change direction as need be. It’s personable. You can’t change the direction of an email. It’s cut and dry. I really don’t care what method my employees use, as long as they’re servicing the account. But you can’t be afraid of other methods.

Eckebrecht: Some hide behind social media and emails because it’s easier and safer than talking to someone voice-to-voice. With email, you don’t have to field questions in real-time. But when they’re using it, reps should be responding to emails as fast as they can, while keeping it short and to the point.