1st touch: call or email or linkedin?

If you have all 3 available which one do you choose as the 1st one?

Attached poll
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🤷‍♂ Poll
👑 Sales Strategy
27
sales101
WR Officer
16
Head of Channel & Alliances
I love a basic email first and then following up with a call later that day or the next morning saying “hey just following up on that email conversation” 
In my experience, they’re more likely to give you the time of day because they’ve either panicked that they’ve forgotten or it helps get through a gatekeeper.
Chief
Arsonist
8
Account Executive
I agree. Cold call is interuption. So much better to have context behind the cold call. And an email follow up provides so much more leverage 
CadenceCombat
Tycoon
2
Account Executive
+1 for this
LoneMaverick
Executive
3
Strategic Account Leader
This the exact strategy I use, referencing the email as a bit of a pattern interrupt  
softwarebro
Politicker
1
Sales Director
exactly. I think you have a better chance of getting a real meeting by leading with a cold email. I think it also depends on what you are selling. Selling SaaS? I'd go email first. Selling printers? pick. up. the. phone.
Donut_giveup
Praised Answer
0
SDR Manager
Agree that it depends on what you are selling and who your persona is. My last job phone was the most successful channel and we did call as a first step. We were selling to office managers. Current job selling to marketers. Phone is least successful channel. 
Baseballguy7
Fire Starter
0
Business Development Rep.
I agree 100%. Give you more to work off of. 
fuzzy
Notable Contributor
8
CMO (Chief Meme Officer)
So, I'm a sales consultant and our research points to begin relationship building and not trying to sell first (ie: LinkedIn)
Panda4489
Politicker
6
Head of Some Shit
When's the last time you carried a bag... 

Takes too long to build a brand and a relationship over social when you're a recent grad in their first Quota carrying role. 

Cold calls gets you at bats as a rep faster. And connects to learn and practice the craft faster. 
fuzzy
Notable Contributor
8
CMO (Chief Meme Officer)
I carry the bag every damn day. 

The "takes too long" mentality is exactly why you're seeing shitty connect rates and complete phone-abandonment because the exec on the other end doesn't want to waste their time with anyone that doesn't give a shit and can smell desperation a mile away. So thanks for making this entire job that much more difficult. 

 Telling a recent grad to just immediately hit the phones is terrible advice for their fledging career because you aren't sowing the seeds for a strong stat in relationship-building, an absolutely crucial part of being an AE, which is usually their aspiration. 

Quality, not quantity. 
Panda4489
Politicker
1
Head of Some Shit
If you carry the bag every damn day, then you know you can't just say social is the way to go. You've spent time cultivating your brand and Rolodex to make sure you can make an impact on social. 

A recent grad Needs to learn to hit the phone but that's not the only thing they do, especially if they're an SDR. the CRO doesn't care about the quality of your connections if the KPIs in terms of pipegen and conversion numbers aren't there. 

Thawing the ground and relationship building can't be a single approach through social. It has to be an evenly distributed multipronged approach. Call, Email, Social. I've never seen a single (NEW) successful salesperson hit their pipe and quota goals solely via social. 

Anyone who tells you you can't build a relationship through cold calls is just flat out lying in my opinion. Or they never were taught how to be successful with it. 
fuzzy
Notable Contributor
3
CMO (Chief Meme Officer)
Funny...we deal with recent grads ALL THE TIME and they start getting appts in their first week with social touches first. Our company even has a program working with kids still in college/fresh out to land them a job.  -- I never said "SOCIAL ONLY" so I don't know where you're pulling that from, but the first steps are usually always to 1) Do your research 2) Connect with a personalized note 3) Share some relevant content, and then start emails and calls. 

But, telling them to pound phones Day #1 is a sure-fire way to 1) make them hate their job 2) Be robotic and disingenuous. 

If you teach them the skillset for social selling first, it makes calls that much easier to do and power through. 

Fun fact: To prove this concept, in my second role as an SDR, I ran a 90 day, zero-call campaign and landed about $1.2m in pipeline in that period. 
authello
Member
0
Head of Partnerships
@Panda4489 how did you learn to be successful with the phone? Are there any tips, books, podcasts you'd recommend?
Panda4489
Politicker
1
Head of Some Shit
Practice with my boss, with my co workers, with anyone at work I could practice my cold outbound pitch with. 

I've always had a stricter script to start for anyone that was new. As I did for myself when I started. Focused on key talking points that are relevant to my ICP. 

But like in any sports. Nothing beats live practice and instant feedback from a manager. I always try to do calls together with new SDRs to give them an extra layer of confidence. 

You have to remember it's ok to "fail" on the phone. The more live reps you can take the better and faster you can improve. You can't learn to hit a fastball or curve all by just hitting off the tee (is my go to metaphor). 

Just a long winded way of saying there should be a plan in place. Centered around your ICP plan your talk track. Plan how to redirect and get passed an objection. And have your manager or the most seasoned/experienced person on your team practice with you. Have you manager block of an hour to call with you. 

That's what I've seen success with. 
Panda4489
Politicker
0
Head of Some Shit
I would recommend New Sales, Simplified by Mike Weinberg. As the foundation for some of the talk tracks I've come up with. 
TINSTAAFL
Arsonist
2
AE
Interesting, can you share a link pls? My take on this is the following. You do not have to sell on the first call. Also based on the research from the book Challenger sale, the data points looks into relationship building which is not necessarily the key factor in closing deals.
fuzzy
Notable Contributor
2
CMO (Chief Meme Officer)
I can't without giving away where I work. There is no B/W response to this because we're all dealing with different demographics and personas. But, no one likes being flat-out cold-called. Warming up the prospect is much more effective but a lot more work. But, it's about quality over quantity. Relationship building is never the key factor, but trust and value are. Can't have trust without a relationship. 
TINSTAAFL
Arsonist
0
AE
Last 2 sentences are spot on! Pitty you cannot share the link, would be interesting too see.
Matt312213
Good Citizen
0
Account Executive
Challenger sale is for old people 
TINSTAAFL
Arsonist
0
AE
@Matt312213 why? 
vaibhav
0
VP Sales @KreativBricks
I love that book. 
FranchiseSalesQB
Politicker
1
Franchise Sales QB
Well no duh.
DoubleDialGuy
Fire Starter
0
Account Executive
Do you have data you can share for this ? 
CorpBroette
Executive
0
New Business Account Executive
Interesting....so LI post, inmail, video, direct comment in another post? What're your tips for social relationship building?  Do you have data on depts on linkedin too as I know our (internal) Finance teams only really go on when hiring.
Trinity
WR Officer
6
BusDev
call+email+LI on Day 1
TINSTAAFL
Arsonist
0
AE
Let them know you are coming! :D love it
Trinity
WR Officer
1
BusDev
combo prospecting
zach
Member
6
VP Sales Enablement
I'm a believer that you should let the data do the talking. Take a cohort group of prospects, large enough to be statistically relevant, and test all three, with steps 2-10 (or however many you have) being identical, so you can truly pinpoint the best option. #ScientificMethod
TINSTAAFL
Arsonist
1
AE
somebody give this guy a medal! :D 
salesnerd
WR Officer
3
Head of Growth
I'm a big call person. If they don't answer the first time no VM, then try 2 I leave a VM and send an email.
SalesGal
Politicker
1
Account Executive
Same !
BigPhoneCallGuy
Executive
1
Account Executive
my people
TINSTAAFL
Arsonist
0
AE
I heard from many colleagues that they prefer email and then set up a (qual) call bc they dont want to call out of blue and respect prospect’s time. In my eyes that is just hidding behind the email 
salesnerd
WR Officer
1
Head of Growth
Yup, agreed. Don't be afraid to talk with someone and pitch your services on the phone.
softwarebro
Politicker
0
Sales Director
if they answer calls from unknown numbers they likely have time to chat. 
Panda4489
Politicker
0
Head of Some Shit
Amen!!
slaydie
Big Shot
3
Account Executive
I always email first to set the stage. Call to follow-up. Although it's been dicey as we all WFH - I'm not the biggest fan of calling people's personal cell's. Does anyone else feel this way or am I missing out and should stop giving a damn?
CaneWolf
Politicker
2
Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract
Stop giving a damn. There was a discussion about this on another thread and that was consensus.
Jaga
Personal Narrative
1
Director of Sales and Business Development
If your problem is that you don't want to call their cell, and not that you "don't have enough cell phones / direct numbers to call" then I wanna know what database your company uses!
TheLaughingWolf
WR Officer
0
Business Development Manager
I too would love this info. I use Seamless and sometimes they have mobile numbers. But I have found that almost all mobiles just state the phone number on the voicemail and not the name. Is this common practice? 
DoubleDialGuy
Fire Starter
0
Account Executive
Zoominfo is decent for it 
DoubleDialGuy
Fire Starter
1
Account Executive
Zoominfo is decent for it 
Jaga
Personal Narrative
0
Director of Sales and Business Development
How often would you say seamless.ai provides a mobile number? I'm using Salesintel right now which is like zoominfo, but seamless has a great workflow I've found in their trial where it's just a drop down and automatically loads the contact into the crm.
Jaga
Personal Narrative
1
Director of Sales and Business Development
We use Salesintel which is like zoominfo - i've found both to have limited mobile numbers for our ICP
DoubleDialGuy
Fire Starter
1
Account Executive
Lmaoooo, please please please stop giving a damn.  I double dial their direct line and double dial their mobile immediately after if they don’t pick up. 4 calls in a row... no shame. Shoot those damn shots 
slaydie
Big Shot
1
Account Executive
LOL - this is the confidence I needed hahaha. No shame! Dialing away today! 
SleuthstarSDR
Opinionated
0
Sales operations for SaaS Corp
I’ll be completely honest - I 100% disagree. I would call this the Spanish conquistador approach.  Burning the ships behind him forcing a conquer or die situation. Not ideal.... but that’s not to say it doesn’t work sometimes. 
DoubleDialGuy
Fire Starter
0
Account Executive
Thanks for your feedback, care to elaborate ? Im not sure exactly what you mean 
videoprospectking
2
Senior Business Development Rep
LinkedIn for sure, then I would cold call, then I would email. The connection request lets them know your face and name, the cold call lets them know your voice, and the email lets them be able to explore your content at their own pace. 
taylor
Executive
2
Strategic Account Executive
it. depends. on. what. you're. selling. and. who. you. work. for. 

Are you entering the conversation from a position of power from a reputable company in the space? E-mail. 

Upstart trying to get your way in with a nifty value-add? LinkedIn. 

Industry where the standard is to answer the phone? Phone. 
taylor
Executive
0
Strategic Account Executive
cold email -> use software that tells you open rates -> warm or cold call -> set longer appointment. 
MaSaaSter
Opinionated
2
US BD Lead
I utilize a software called Apollo.io, and they have the ability to populate call tasks once someone has opened an email a specific number of times that you can set. I then call so its almost a warmish call, rather than a straight up cold call. 
SalesGal
Politicker
1
Account Executive
I always call first
SalesPharaoh
Big Shot
1
Senior Account Executive
I prefer Linkedin than a ok especially if they accepted the contact connection that way they wouldn't be surprised with ny call.
YoungGoat
Opinionated
1
Surgical Technology Specialist
LinkedIn, put a face to the name so they can picture you when you call/email
DwightsEgo
Politicker
1
BDR Manager
Email or LI first- helps bridge the gap for the call. Allows for a better conversation in my opinion and that should be the goal. A positive interaction. 
UnderQuota
Praised Answer
1
Digital Sales Manager
I use call so I can get rejected directly in less than 2 minutes rather than taking time to write an email
FranchiseSalesQB
Politicker
1
Franchise Sales QB
I feel both call and email are pretty close but since no one is answering the phone these days anyway do what you gotta do. Shit! might as well go ring their doorbell while they're working at home, I'm sure there's a data source that has their home address.
Mikey
Politicker
1
Senior Regional Director
call with a simple/casual email is best!
MakingItOut
1
Business Development Representative
Usually, Email would be the first point of contact that way you will have a reference point. It's always good to put a voice to some form of text. This establishes a sense of trust/ accountability which you expand onto building rapport and gauging their interests.

fluffy_yarik
Good Citizen
1
Account Manager
Depends if it's inbound or outbound. Call -> Email+LN for inbound. Email+LN -> Call for outbound. You wanna call inbound leads ASAP, but a cold calling, well, while it works - I find it way more efficient to message people (LN+Email) and then work with those who reply or clicks on your beautiful email too much :)
TINSTAAFL
Arsonist
1
AE
I meant outbound, but thanks for bringing both perspectives; in & outbound
CRMLord
Good Citizen
1
Business Development Representative
I’d prefer email first to add more context to my call, but company policy is call first
sweenmachine
Executive
1
Enterprise SDR
email first, call and reference the email, then email referencing the call, then call referencing the email....I think you all get the pattern now.
Leodocarmo
1
Account Director
I always go for the old, we spoke a few months ago and you mentioned this was a better time to talk about XXX... weirdly enough it has worked a few times now and even helped me close a high 6 figures deal 
softwarebro
Politicker
0
Sales Director
This is my favorite to use after a conference. " We met last week and..."
MSPSales
Politicker
1
Partner Development Manager
Cold call, email, LinkedIn 

No method to my madness just always done it this way 
DoubleDialGuy
Fire Starter
1
Account Executive
Email , gives you something to reference on the call if shit gets weird ! 
exec
Acclaimed Answer
1
Account Executive
big fan of the basic email to start. if the email's opened, I'm calling. finally another email and maybe a Linkedin message down the road... but I mostly use LinkedIn to find articles being shared by prospects, engage with their posts and use their bio's for emails and other outreach. 
ColdCaller90
Fire Starter
1
Enterprise AE
I think it’s really a question of what market you’re selling into, your ICP and general cadence preferences. 

My Advice is always to do A/B testing on best cadences. Especially for different personas (if you sell to multiple persona types)
Personally I call first straight out and if no answer then I will follow up with an email or LinkedIn message depending on persona. 
LivinTheDream
Good Citizen
0
BDR
I like email first so you always have the fallback of "following up on my email." Started trying LI so they can put a face to the name that's harassing them
Panda4489
Politicker
0
Head of Some Shit
Call first definitely. I've seen internal and external data that suggests a cold in the morning followed by a cold email shortly after can increase open rate by 25% and reply rates by 8-12%... Pretty blowing just by adding a simple cold call. 

Social always last. Especially if you're selling to end users who aren't engaged on "mainstream" social channels
DaveGreen
Arsonist
0
Head of Sales
I’m all for the call. Emails are too easy to ignore, prone to misinterpretation or to say no to. 

not saying you shouldn’t leverage email, but tell them you’ll send them one. Let them know on voicemail and mention your subject line. Great for LinkedIn voice too by the way!

no hiding, mr or mrs prospect 
DentalSales
Good Citizen
0
Managing Director
I rarely answer phone calls from strangers and I almost completely ignore cold emails. 

If I've already been on a company's site or have some other sort of relationship with them that might make me answer. 

So this points to being armed with great insights before reaching out to prospect. How have they interacted with me (LinkedIn) or my company? 

In my judgement, companies doing inbound well plus reps using LinkedIn to build contacts and generate conversations works best. 

Cold calling or emailing into a list with no insights on the individual, so Boiler Roomy.
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Do you include hyperlinks in your first cold email touch?
60% Yes
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173 people voted