Cold Emailing Vs Cold Calling

In prospecting, you always come across the age-old debate, cold emailing vs. cold calling, with each side standing their ground and listing out all the reasons why the other is ineffective in reaching out to prospects.

But if you were to ask us which is better, we would say, “use them both.” Instead of choosing one, and allowing gaps for valuable leads to fall through the crack, use both cold emailing & cold calling to gather as many leads possible to fill your pipeline.

In this article, we will discuss the concepts of cold emailing vs. cold calling, when to use them, and how they can help you climb your sales ladder and grow your business. In the end, you’ll have the knowledge to make the best choice for you. 

What Is Cold Emailing?

A cold email is an unsolicited email sent to a prospect without a prior contract or relationship. Cold email works best when you pitch to many prospects you have never interacted with before.

Instead of calling one prospect after another, disrupting their day, and repeating yourself over and over again. You can send emails instead. If cold emailing is followed up with a call you’ll find it’s easier to create rapport and, eventually, a conversion.

But how do you gather your prospects’ contact information for cold emailing since there is no prior contact? It’s pretty simple. Lead generation tools like SalesFinder helps you build lead lists from your target audience. With SalesFinder, you no longer have to worry about generating leads and searching for their contact details. 

It is also crucial to know that since cold emails are quicker, less intrusive, and more convenient. Your prospects could ignore them or treat them as spam. And that’s why you have to make sure that your emails are as short as possible and compelling enough to get their attention. 

The following cold emailing tips should give you a hang on how to draft a compelling cold email template and avoid a trip to the spam folder:

• Make use of catchy subjects that give a summary of what the body of the email is about.
• Avoid deception. It gives out a terrible first impression. 
• Make use of tools that measure open rates so you can see your working progress.
• Avoid sending emails that are defensive or aggressive in any way.
• Use email to schedule meetings, send reminders, and set up calls with your prospects.

That said, make sure to adhere to the anti-spam rules and regulations for cold emailing before hitting the send button. 

What Is Cold Calling? 

Cold calling is a sales strategy that helps you connect with prospects by calling them on the phone to start a conversation and discuss your service/product. 

It allows you to have a conversation, and you can predict your prospects’ response from the line of discussion.

However, you will have to disrupt your prospects’ daily activities with your calls. On the other hand, your prospect could be having a busy day, and the last resort would be to ignore the call or give an outright “No.” Therefore, most sales reps see cold calling as a time-consuming and repetitive task that yields no result.

But there should be a way to salvage the situation, right? 

Absolutely! 

You can use cold calling to scale your sales targets if you know how to bend the rules. Don’t worry, it’s not as hard as you think.

More so, embrace the use of voicemails, especially when the prospects’ don’t pick up. Summarize your message in a few sentences with strong bullet points and give them a reason to call back or want to schedule a meeting. You can check the following voicemail techniques to get started.

It is also common for sales reps to go blank after the usual “hello’s” and “hi’s” with their prospects’. And that could lead to an increased rate of rejections and negative responses. It is crucial as a cold caller to stand-up under pressure. And also, have the following tips in mind before making a cold call. And they are:

• Most prospects will willingly pick your calls if you have sent an email or voicemail.
• Instead of pitching as soon as a prospect picks up the call, you can start by addressing their pain points and then emphasizing how your company can help them solve their needs.
• In the event of a previous email, always refer to the email’s content and ask them questions to be sure that they read it.
• Be professional but friendly. 
• End the call with a promise to call back or keep in touch with them. That way, you’re one step closer to closing sales.

That said, we advised that using both would be more beneficial in growing business. Right? But are they worth the stress? Should prospecting have a mix of cold emailing and cold calling or not? Let’s find out.

Cold Emailing Or Cold Calling; Which Is Better In Prospecting? 

Contacting prospects could seem like a wild goose chase, especially if you’re not used to the system. But once you know the strategy that works. It could be as easy as ABC. But how?

Both strategies have their upsides and downsides. They are not free of flaws or limitations. And that’s why you would need one to cover up for the inadequacies of the other. For example, studies show that cold emailing without a follow up of cold calling is 98% less effective and that email marketing generates a 38% ROI( return on investment). It is also a well-known fact that emailing is less time-consuming, less intrusive, and cost-effective. 

Why do we then say it is 98% less effective?

On the other hand, cold calling is intrusive, repetitive, boring, and could be tiring. Most sales rep develop cold feet at the thought of a cold call and would rather go with email. But cold has proven to give the caller more control at the course of the conversation. It lets you call the shots, especially when you come to the call prepared.

Cold calling is also more interactive, and you will agree that your mastery of cold calling techniques will also help increase how many sales you get to close. Overall, there’s no better strategy in sales than knowing how to execute your game plan.

Cold emailing can be automated; you just draft your templates and schedule them to be delivered at a chosen time. Cold calling has to be real-time. Nobody wants to pause their day to listen to a robot. 

It is not bound to end anytime soon as supporters and non-supporters will always have a reason not to choose the other option. But you could grow past the debate by tweaking the two strategies to work for you.

What is better than one prospecting strategy? The answer is both are better together. 

Inculcate cold emailing and cold calling strategies, use them interchangeably to prospect, qualify your leads, close sales, and grow your business.

Now that you know that two heads are better than one. Would you like to know how and when to use them, as duty calls? We bet you do.

Let’s dive right in.

How to Start Cold Calling Or Cold Emailing? 

Both cold calling and cold email are helpful at the right time or occasion. Use the following tips to determine whether to contact your client with a cold email or a cold call as the case may be. And they are:

• Time and day of the week
• The reason for the contact
• The buyer persona of the prospect
• The professional level
• The progression of the deal

Time and Day of The Week

First, it is essential to consult your calendar and clock when setting cold calling schedules or cold emailing. Nobody wants to pick up the phone to listen to a sales pitch on busy days. You would agree that even you, as a sales rep, wouldn’t like that. 

That said, you can reserve the days between Wednesdays-Fridays and the hours toward evening, preferably 3-5 pm, to call and reach put to your prospects. It is assumed that they could be rounding out with the day’s work and would be more willing to respond to a call from an unknown number. 

The same goes for email. Prospects will more likely check their emails during lunch or commute time, rarely during business hours. So you can plan your email campaigns accordingly. To avoid having your emails buried amidst other emails or probably finds its way to the spam folder.

The Reason for the Contact

Choosing between cold calling or cold emailing also depends on the reason for contacting the prospect. Is it to schedule a meeting, follow up on a request, or pitch your product or service?

Like we stated earlier, you can use cold emails to pitch your product and service subtly but with catchy subject and content. You can also use it to schedule meetings, depending on your previous communication channels. 

If you would use cold calls to pitch, start by addressing the prospects’ pain points and get them to flow with you naturally. Establishing a relationship will reduce the rate of rejections you are bound to get. You can also use cold calling and cold emailing for follow-ups as well.

The Buyer Persona

Most prospects prefer using a particular communication channel than the other. So it doesn’t matter if you prefer cold emailing to cold calling. Make sure to consider your prospects’ buyer persona depending on the following factors: age group, nature of their job, industry, and services they are most interested in.

Buyer personas give you an idea of whether to use emails or calls. For the younger generation, a compelling email can do the trick. You can choose cold calls for prospects in the traditional industries. However, you also have to consider the seniority level of the prospect.

The Professional Level of the Prospect

It is crucial to consider the seniority level of your prospect before making contact. For example, you can opt for emails if you’re dealing with the top management. Reaching them on the phone could prove an uphill task.

The Progress of the Deal 

Are things moving swiftly between you and the prospect? If yes, then you could replace calls with emails, since they’re likely to respond. 

But if your prospect is still unsure about your offer, does not have the final say, or is unresponsive, regardless of the previous means of communication. It is best to pick up the phone and call them to get a direct response. You might have to wait forever if you decide to wait for an email reply.

Finally!

But Just Before You Go,

It is also good to consider what your target audience prefers. It is not just about how convenient it is for you. Find out the preferred communication channel used by your prospect and use that to your advantage.

You can also go through our article on fanatical prospecting for more actionable insights on cold calling and cold emailing and how to use them to your benefit.

Both cold calling and cold email are only as good as the info you have on a prospect, be it a job title, phone number, or email address. At SalesFinder, we’re here to help make it easier to build targeted lists to help you grow your business.