The Sales Archaeologist

Maybe you have already read this article in the Harvard Business Review regarding the prevalence of dishonest communication via email as compared to face to face communication. This is probably not a huge surprise for most of us – if we have been in sales any length of time we realize two things:

1)      Honesty is desired by prospects and sellers alike, however many transactions and exchanges are full of lies and deception.

2)      Email communication – although extremely popular (especially among the younger generation) and easy to default to is not the best way of talking to prospects.

Perhaps though the statistics, the level of deception and the fact that it is on the rise are the things that shocked you the most. Notice this one statement from the research – “those using email had 5 times more lies per word communicated than those speaking face to face. Lying appears to be more common when the communicator is psychologically and physically distant from the person receiving the message”.

Think about the impact of that statement for a moment!

Two things clearly happen or are accentuated when we rely too heavily on email communication. First of all we don’t get the truth and that is a biggie. Secondly, we don’t build or enhance the relationship with the client like we should because this is a two way street. When the communication is stifled and dishonest we are not drawing closer to the person and we are not learning about their interests. These are both fundamental and essential to having a good rapport and relationship with your prospects.

So what is the lesson here when it comes to email?

The younger generations have grown up almost entirely without human to human interaction when it comes to relationships outside of family and close friends. Networks are virtual, friending is done with the click of a mouse and texting has taken the place of talking in many cases. Shaking hands and eye contact are two examples of behaviors that simply used to be good manners and natural, but now we have to train people how to do these things. The technological revolution that we have all enjoyed and in many cases depend on has actually had a negative side when it comes to human interaction and real social behaviors.

Email works in sales two ways – and only these two ways! (Obviously can be helpful for account management and sorting out details as well, this is in reference to actual selling)

1)      As an appetizer that is sent before or prior to a call or meeting. Set expectations, next steps and providing homework. Letting someone know they can expect your call on such and such a date.

2)      As a dessert it follows up a genuine conversation with a thank you and a next step. It might provide some additional information they were interested in getting from you.

Email is NEVER the main course when selling! However we are finding that too many sales people like to revert to email when they really should not. Why? It protects them from some of the things they don’t like and it is easier. Like most things that are easier – that’s the wrong course.