Executives Say Emails Preferred over LinkedIn for Cold Calling

DALLAS - Oct. 15, 2013 - PRLog -- Email beats LinkedIn. At least according to business owners and executives, that is.

This fact was discovered while compiling a large amount of research in preparation for a presentation on the causes of sales turnover, by New York Times best-sellng sales author Frank Rumbauskas of Never Cold Call Again fame.

"When I received this request and accepted the project, I tasked my research assistant, Kristen, to put together a research report giving me all the facts I'd need. And one in particular really got my attention."

That came from a survey done by CR Cards, a firm specializing in business marketing. Their survey of over 300 small, medium, and enterprise-level business owners and decision makers revealed some interesting facts:

First, that cold calling remains the most disliked, and downright hated, form of contact by a salesperson. Over 80% of decision makers surveyed said that no way, no how will they ever buy as the result of a cold call.

Second on the most disliked forms of salesperson contact was what respondents called "LinkedIn spam." In other words, if you're a salesperson, don't bother sending a "cold" introduction on LinkedIn.

But, here's the surprise in all this: Email came in as the number one most liked and most preferred method of contact! "This seems counter-intuitive," says Rumbauskas, "since they don't want direct messages on LinkedIn, but are happy to receive and respond to personal emails sent by strangers."

Rumbauskas recommends that salespeople who have been using LinkedIn as a sales prospecting tool -- and he still heartily recommends LinkedIn as a necessary sales tool -- that they use the "Export Connections" feature available on all LinkedIn Premium accounts in order to obtain the personal email addresses of their connections, and to make initial contact that way.

For more sales tips like this from Frank Rumbauskas, visit his website and blog at http://www.nevercoldcallagain.net