Cold Calling vs Called Emailing. Choosing the optimal outbound route can be difficult because of conflicting facts. Prospecting for sales is a risky business. 

Cold email vs cold call... It’s like Marvel vs DC all over again. Is it OK to make a cold call? Should you send a cold email? What to do? 

Before we answer the question of which is better, let us first understand what each one entails. The concept of cold emailing is to research and email one person or organization, while cold calling is making an unsolicited call to a prospect who isn’t ‘raising their hand’ at the moment.

Cold Calling vs Cold Emailing

‍Pros of Cold Calling

‍

‍

Cold calling has a number of advantages, one of which is that it is the quickest way to contact someone and receive an immediate answer. When you get an unfavorable phone response, you may immediately find out "why." This provides you with useful information that you can utilize to either 

a) change this "no" into a "yes," or

b) learn how to enhance your solution and sales process.

It's impossible to gain any further clarification after a "no" by email. When the goal is to have a conversation or get feedback, cold phoning is the way to go.

‍

RELATED READ - Warm-up Those Cold Leads: The Fastest Ways to Connect with Prospects

‍

‍Cons of Cold Calling

‍

‍

Making phone calls is time-consuming and difficult to manage. Persuasion, sounding happy and enthusiastic over the phone, takes a certain set of abilities and energy. Finding phone numbers for cold calling may also provide some technical challenges. Phone numbers, unlike emails, are rarely made public. 

People that you call frequently become irritated. And it's no surprise! Receiving a call is always upsetting, even (or especially) when it's from your mother. People can make promises over the phone merely to get rid of you. This is how you could end up with a lot of "maybes" that become "nos" after the following call. Disappointing as well.

Not to mention the fact that cold phoning is more costly than cold emailing. It's difficult to scale up cold calling. The only way to achieve this is to hire additional salesmen, which can be quite costly and ineffective on a larger scale.

Have you at some point asked the question: is cold emailing effective? Or stuck in the battle of sales email vs phone call, keep reading.

‍Pros of Cold Emailing

‍

‍

Cold emailing, on the other hand, cold emailing is very easy to scale up due to its time efficiency and potential for optimization. Just look at the diagram below! 

It's also a lot less expensive than cold phoning. You may send messages to 10-100 people with just one click. In most cases, writing your offer allows you to make it more visually appealing than speaking it.

You can use figures to persuade people, as well as links, photographs, memes, and GIFs. This type of gimmick, along with a tailored approach, makes email interactions more personable and "alive."

‍Cons of Cold Emailing‍

When sending cold emails, you may need to wait for a response and/or follow-up. Scaling up is simple, but it will necessitate the use of automated technologies (lead generation solution, email agent, etc.). Furthermore, skilled copywriters are required to make emails personal, creative, and unique.

Personalized cold emails that are backed up by research and personalisation are more likely to be successful. But—and there is a big but—the team has to do the work, which I've discovered few do.

You should expect some technological challenges while cold emailing, such as spam reports, being blacklisted, and so forth. But as far as cold emailing is concerned, it can be optimized, and its downsides addressed.

‍

RELATED READ - Cold Calling: Unethical Or Not?

‍

Which to Choose?‍

1. Time and day of the week‍

To begin, look at a calendar and a clock. According to statistics, phone connect rates increase as the day and week proceed. In other words, later in the workday and workweek, a person is more likely to answer their phone.‍

2. The Request‍

What is your goal for this initial outreach? To arrange a meeting? Are you looking for additional information? Have you been referred? Identifying your request and classifying it as "weak" or "strong" can assist you to decide whether to call or email.

A strong ask necessitates the prospect's willingness to take action. Weak requests are simple requests for information from the buyer, such as a request for feedback or a reference. It's simple to select between a call or an email once you know your request and have assessed whether it's powerful or weak.‍

3. The Prospect's Expertise‍

Are there assistants for individual contributors? Normally, no. Do C-level executives, on the other hand? Almost all the time. That's why, the further up your prospect is in an organization, the more likely you'll get a live person on the other end of the line when you call.

A live chat with anyone trumps an email interaction. Furthermore, higher-level prospects are more at ease on the phone and are less scared by sales calls.‍

4. The Buyer's Profile‍

Some buyer personas like to communicate differently than others. Their preferences are influenced by a variety of circumstances, including their age, the nature of their employment, the industry in which they work, and so on.

In general, millennials prefer to communicate via email over the phone. Take this into consideration if you're trying to reach out to a younger buyer.‍

5. The Deal's Progress‍

Is everything going at a rapid pace? Is your lead virtually always available? Are you certain they're prepared and eager to close? Then a quick email to inquire about the status of a job or request shouldn't put your deal on hold.

Picking up the phone, on the other hand, maybe faster and easier if your prospect is unresponsive.

‍Which Cold Email Prospecting Method Should You Use?‍

You could suppose I'm on Team Cold Email based on the above. You'd be right. Emailing saves more time and money in the long term than calling. When a prospect replies to your email, they are either a sales qualified lead (SQL), a marketing qualified lead (MQL), or they wish to be removed from your communication list.

There will be no awkward getting-to-know-you period. They're either interested or not. Email does not pose a threat to a client. Unlike a cold call, they are not obligated to strike up a conversation right away. They can respond to your approach whenever they want, if at all.

This provides the customer with more flexibility. And this, in turn, leads to better outcomes. I'm sure I'm not the only one that enjoys email outreach. There have been numerous studies on how email is the most effective way to communicate with clients.

The number of emails sent in the next few years will simply multiply, and by the year 2022, the number of emails sent will have doubled. Millennials, according to statistics, are obsessed with email. For business purposes, they would prefer to receive an email rather than a phone call.

Due to its low effort and time requirement, email is still the most effective marketing channel for marketers. Email wins customer acquisition war every time. You can't afford to fail.‍

Final Note‍

Now that you understand the differences between cold email and cold calling, it's time to decide which method is best for your company. Which one would you prefer to do forever as a salesperson?