How to ruin your mission
Selling is like DIY: you need the right tools. And what happens if you try to hammer in a screw? That’s right. A damaged wall, a damaged screw, and damaged nerves.
In sales, this hammer is unfortunately often called email.
The big email trap
Imagine this: You’ve had a few good conversations with your ideal customer. You understand their technical requirements and can meet them. You’ve sent them a quote and can already see the deal being closed from the sidelines.
Then you receive an email from your customer:
We really like the offer, but our HR team is a bit tight right now. Maybe later in the year.
And what do you do? You think, “Ha! Now I’ll bring out the big argumentation gun!” So you sit down and write an epic email. Finely worded, with empathy, benefit arguments, and, at best, AI refinement. A masterpiece of diplomatic sales rhetoric.
You press send. And then?
Nothing. Silence. Ghosting.
Why? It’s very simple
Your customer didn’t want a novel via email. No PowerPoint in text form. He or she had doubts, internal discussions, maybe just didn’t want any hassle with the HR team.
But what does the customer need? Guidance. A sparring partner. A genuine conversation—where you ask questions, listen, and organize your thoughts. Precisely what no email in the world can achieve. Not even yours with ChatGPT fine-tuning.
Sales is not pen pals
When it comes to complex decisions—especially in B2B—no one makes a decision based on an email. Decisions aren’t like Netflix series: you can’t just click and be done with it. No, decisions aren’t linear. There are discussions, uncertainties, changes of opinion—the whole program, in other words.
That’s why you need someone in sales who says:
“Hey, let’s talk. I’ll walk you through it.”
Because let’s be honest: more leads won’t do you any good if you send them all into the abyss of communication via email.
Ethical marketing means supporting people, not spamming them.
Our approach at Sales4Good? We prefer to make one more phone call than get bogged down in lengthy emails. We help our customers with cold calling when necessary, arranging appointments for them when appropriate, but without relationship management between our customers and their customers, nothing works.
So if the customer has any doubts, respond briefly, friendly, and engagingly—and offer to talk:
Thanks for your feedback! Totally understandable. I have a few ideas that might help you with the HR team. Shall we give each other a quick call? I’m free on Wednesday at 3 p.m. – how does that work for you?
No guarantee of closure—but a real step toward not letting the relationship accumulate dust in your inbox.
Now, once again for the checklist
Email: Push information.
Phone/Call: Understanding people.
If you want to sell, you have to accompany people—not mail them something and hope for the best.
So, put away the email hammer. Give them a call. Your customer (and your karma) will thank you for it!
