Stop calling, start messaging: five reasons salespeople should respect communication preferences

I’m a terrible salesperson. Early in my career, a brief but dark time working as an estate agent made this abundantly clear. While I loved meeting new people and looking around their houses, there was one thing I couldn’t bear: endlessly calling people who didn’t want to be called.

It’s not just estate agency. There seems to be a well established rule in all sales jobs that says ‘if you ain’t calling, you ain’t selling’. I remember my boss standing over my shoulder insisting I call my prospects, even the ones who I knew wouldn’t be interested in what I had to sell. “I know you said you wanted a four bedroom townhouse, Mrs Smith, but this studio flat is particularly spacious…”. It sounds ridiculous, but happens all too often.

With so many more effective means of communicating with customers, now’s the time to consider they would prefer to be contacted. Not convinced? Here are five reasons salespeople need to stop calling and start messaging.

The phone is invasive

You’re effectively sounding a loud bell in someone's house, office or pocket, demanding they immediately drop what they’re doing and give you their full attention. “We’ve won the lottery” and “there’s been a terrible accident” get the same level of priority as “are you still looking for a new job?”. If it's not urgent, don't call.

It doesn’t guarantee you a fast result

Office workers can often read and respond immediately to email, but they might need to wait for a break or leave the room to take a call. If you need an immediate response, you might do better with an email or a third-party app.

You’re creating work for me

Every time you say ‘I thought it would be easier to call rather than email’, what you mean is ‘I couldn’t be bothered to write this down’ or ‘I didn’t want to commit to this to writing’. When there’s more than one decision-maker (e.g. when buying a home, or most B2B sales), that's a real pain; the person taking the call inevitably has to write a follow-up email to get input from others. Why not make it easy for me and write it down to begin with?

It’s a waste of your time and mine

If it were just calls about my dream home or job, that would be one thing, and sometimes it’s great to get a heads up about something in the works. Too often though, I get a cold call from a recruiter I’ve never met, with a two-year old copy of my CV talking about a job in the wrong city. Or an estate agent, calling me about a house I can’t afford, in a place I don’t want to live, three months after I’ve bought my home. When your information is inaccurate, you’re wasting your own time as well as mine when you choose to phone instead of email. Most frustrating are those who start the call with ‘it’s just a courtesy call…’. No. If it’s not urgent, the courtesy would have been not to call, but rather to send me a message I can read when I have time.

High pressure selling makes me suspicious

When you dial up the pressure by saying this job / house / product will be snapped up within seconds, and you need to act NOW, you sound desperate. Recruiters: when the closing date is less than 12 hours away, I know that your preferred candidate dropped out and you need some stooge to make up the minimum shortlist. Estate agents: when you say I need to see this property RIGHT NOW, I know you’ve made promises to the vendor that you’ll get them 10 viewings the minute they list with you, and you need me to trot round there to make you look good. If I’m a motivated prospect who understands the market for whatever you’re selling, I’ll know how important it is to get back to you quickly.

Conclusion

Now we have so many other channels with which to communicate, the intrusive nature of the phone call is even more pronounced. Email, LinkedIn messaging, Rightmove alerts and the like allow us to manage the deluge; compartmentalising, prioritising and choosing whether and when to respond. I know one particularly heroic account manager who used Whatsapp direct messages to keep in contact with her client, as this was their preferred method. Respecting the customer’s communication preferences is a great way to make a good first impression and keep them on side.

Have you been affected by the issues raised? Does your office have a bell in it, and an over-bearing boss who equates phone calls made with personal worth? Do you disagree with the author, and prefer to be called rather than sent a message? How can we better understand and work with customers' varying communication preferences? Leave your comments below (just don't phone them in).

About the author

Rob Kidd is an independent consultant who specialises in improving organisations. He works with people, processes and technology to implement lasting, meaningful business change.