You have a fear-of-calling problem.
I regularly see reps sending 150+ emails a week and making fewer than than 5 calls. That’s too many emails and not enough calls. Your pipeline is suffering.
I hear founders complaining about pipeline regularly. CROs stressed about forecast. Reps keeping busy and working hard but not getting results.
Too many people jump to a potential solution without looking at the data.
When I look at data, more times than not, this is what I see: Email. LinkedIn message. Another email. Another LinkedIn message. Like a post on LinkedIn, send another email, and so on. Maybe once in a blue moon I will see a call or two in there. But even then, I rarely see the data showing me connect rates, and success rates on calls. Most of the time I don’t even get the ability to listen to call recordings. So even if they do make a call and connect I can rarely tell how their calls are going.
The focus on emails forces you to wait, refresh, wait more and hope to get a reply.
“But Neil, calling doesn’t work anymore.” In the huge majority of cases that’s bull.
You know what doesn’t work?
Sending the same email 200 other reps already sent.
Now here is my one caveat to all this. If you are sending emails a la #SMYKM (see Samantha McKenna) you might be the exception to this. If you are doing it right, emails can of course be a key part of your system. Sadly, only a small percentage of people I have come across use this approach. Even when emails get replies they still can’t touch a phone for relationship building.
For the majority, you sit there hoping that your emails get into your prospect’s primary inbox, then you hope they open it and then you hope they reply. By the time you get to the reply part, it’s like winning the lottery.
Now, to be clear I’m not referring only to cold calling. I am talking about picking up the phone first ALL THE TIME even when someone asks a simple question on email or from an inbound form.
Here’s what actually happens when you avoid the phone.
You waste 3 weeks chasing a deal that’s dead. You never actually know if there’s a real opportunity. You hide behind your keyboard and call it “strategy.” And months later you enter “I lost to the rep who picked up the phone” as your Closed Lost reason.
The best reps understand that the phone equals pipeline. They sew it on their chest like a boy scout or girl guides badge. They know that one 5-minute conversation can build a relationship or close a deal. Email can’t do that. Full stop.
I know, I know, calling is uncomfortable. You might sound dumb. You might get rejected. You might actually have to handle objections in real time, which means you actually need to know your stuff.
Good. That’s the job. If your reps are scared to call, they’re in the wrong profession.
And if you’re letting them hide behind email because “that’s what they’re comfortable with”, that’s on you.
Once you decide to pick up the phone you need to have something to say and you need to say it with confidence, clarity, tone, and with a smile (so they can see it through the phone).
If that sounds hard, practice.
Still hard? Practice more.
Stop making excuses and stop overthinking it. Pick up the phone. It’s still the fastest way to build pipeline.
What’s your team’s call-to-email ratio?
P.S. Get sh!t done.
Why GTM or GTFO Exists: The GTM bar is low: big talkers, best practices and bullshit. Being elite is your moat. Do the work that matters.
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