You Don’t Win Sales With Emails

No, that’s not the job!

In our line of work, we often hear about how many “salespeople” refuse to sell unless the CEO / marketing department has already done all of the value communication for them. They want the lead to basically already have been fully qualified and committed to buying before they’ll pick up the phone. We see this a lot — and it’s hugely problematic.

Because sales is value communication — that’s the literal job.

Any “sales” where the value is communicated by someone else, is actually order taking. And that’s a $50k a year admin job, not a multi-six figure + comms job.

The latest offshoot of this we’re seeing is salespeople sending videos and emails and thinking that’s going to turn them into a “multi-million dollar closer” — here’s why it doesn’t:

Sending emails and making videos is easy. And there’s very little reward in life for easy work. There are multiple reasons for this — but the biggest is simply: there’s no barrier to entry for easy work.

The skillset required to make videos and send emails is minimal. Sure, there are a few minor technical hurdles — but as a general rule of thumb, anything you can learn how to do, for free, on the internet, probably isn’t particularly valuable.

The skills that make the most money are the intersection of 3 factors:

1. They are HARD to acquire and perform — they take time to learn how to do. They require significant hurdles and challenges to be overcome in order to master them. The vast majority of people who start trying, never finish.

2. They are massively VALUED by the marketplace at which they are aimed — note, I did not say that they are inherently valuable (or every nurse and teacher would be a millionaire), but that the marketplace values them massively.

3. They are rare. Mostly because of the first point, but also for other reasons — mostly because the most rarified factor of all is someone who actually CARES and who is intent on mastering their craft.

So ask yourself: how hard is it to acquire the skillset to make a video or send an email? How rare is it that someone can do that? If a salesperson comes to you and says: “I send emails!” do you instantly offer them a 6 figure salary?

But on the other hand: how hard is it to acquire the skillset to close deals worth tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars over the phone? For that matter, how hard is it to find someone who is willing to consistently pick up the phone in the first place?

To hold their emotional equilibrium when they get objections and to come from a place of service (instead of fear) in answering them?

How RARE is it to find salespeople who deeply care enough about people that they put their own fear of rejection aside and go to battle — not against the client, but FOR them?

And if you found someone like this, how much would you be willing to pay them?

I’m not saying that emails and videos have no place in sales — although frankly, I think their place is extremely limited. (Yes, we’re sending you this via email, but this is marketing, not sales! A totally different beast!)

I AM saying — if you’re looking to hire salespeople (or if you are a salesperson), these activities are not the hallmark of value. Doing the hard, rare and massively valuable thing that no one else is willing to do is where you’ll win, every time.

Leela Cosgrove

CEO, Iron Cage