Pick. Up. The. Phone. [Redux]

By Scott Sambucci | January 27, 2012

Yesterday I received an referral email from another vendor in the industry to one of the “Too Big To Fail” banks.  Woohoo!

Now, critical moment – I had an email half typed then said to myself – “Dude – Pick up the phone.” So I did, and I’m glad I did.  Here’s how the conversation started –

“Scott.  Thank you so much for calling.”

“Well, I saw Jim’s email and thought I should give you a call ASAP.”

“Oh I didn’t even see Jim’s email – my email’s been slow and I’m about to hop on a plane.  He told me yesterday that he’d have you call.”

“Great. So what do you need?”

From there, we were of and running. If I send an email, the prospect wouldn’t have received it until late that night, or the next day.  As we talked, it turns out that his executive committee is meeting next week to decide on a vendor.  An email would have put us WAY behind in the sales process. Not to mention the rapport we built talking about where he lives and how the place has changed in the last 20 years.

The lesson? Pick. Up. The. Phone.