We all love email. It’s easy. Cut and paste and done.
Phone calls? Harder, but it gets the job done.
If these old standbys aren’t getting the results you need, maybe it’s time to get out of the office!
Meet with your prospects in person
A new report featured in Harvard Business Review tells us that “people tend to overestimate the power of their persuasiveness via text-based communication, and underestimate the power of their persuasiveness via face-to-face communication.”
So much so that in one study, face-to-face requests were 34 times more effective than an email request.
Why face-to-face is more effective than email
A couple things are happening here, but it comes down to trust. It’s hard to establish trust via email. You might be the exact advertising solution they need to close their next big deal. Or you might be a foreign prince looking to transfer some money. With email it’s hard to tell.
Secondly, email takes away the non-verbal cues that are essential to establishing a rapport. The study goes on to note: “When we replicated our results in a second study we found the nonverbal cues requesters conveyed during a face-to-face interaction made all the difference in how people viewed the legitimacy of their requests, but requesters were oblivious to this fact.”
Look for opportunities to connect
It all comes down to building trust. Often the best way to do that is to meet in face-to-face. So look for opportunities to connect in person with your prospects. Conferences and events that attract your prospects are ideal because you get a bunch of people in one spot.
Finally, if you have a hard time getting the boss to ok the time out of office, show them this article. Remember, if make the request in person, versus email, you are 34 times more likely to get the approval.
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More about Christopher: Christopher Ware is Vice President of Business Development for NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association. He’s an association event pro with expertise in making niche events profitable through creative corporate sponsorships that benefit both the association and the industry it serves. Inspired by Carl’s giving away cats, Chris has a history of giving away free burritos to get his calls returned.
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