“I’ll Just Send an Email.”
Why Email Feels Productive… and Often Isn’t
Let’s start with a question that sounds innocent enough:
Do you prefer to spend most of your time reaching out to new prospects and current clients through email?
If your answer is yes, you’re in good company.
Email feels:
- Efficient
- Safe
- Non-confrontational
- Easy to scale
- Less emotionally draining than live conversations
And to be clear, SELLability is not anti-email.
But it is very clear about this:
Email is a support tool in selling, not the driver of certainty.
That distinction is where most sales productivity quietly breaks down.
Why Salespeople Gravitate Toward Email
SELLability doesn’t judge behavior, it explains it.
Salespeople prefer email because:
- It avoids rejection in real time
- It gives you time to think
- It reduces emotional exposure
- It feels “busy” and measurable
You can send 30 emails and feel productive…
even if none of them move the sale forward.
That’s not laziness.
That’s comfort-seeking behavior.
The Core SELLability Truth: Certainty Is Built Live
SELLability teaches that sales success depends on certainty, and certainty is created through:
- Tone
- Timing
- Questions
- Listening
- Immediate feedback
Email removes almost all of that.
You can’t hear hesitation.
You can’t sense confusion.
You can’t adjust in real time.
You can’t guide the process dynamically.
Which means:
Email is excellent for information.
Conversations are essential for decisions.
When Email Becomes a Control Problem
Here’s what often happens when email becomes the primary outreach method:
- Sales cycles get longer
- Prospects go silent
- “Just checking in” emails multiply
- Follow-ups feel awkward
- Control slowly shifts to the prospect
Not because email is bad, but because the salesperson has stepped out of the leadership role.
SELLability is very clear on this point:
The salesperson controls the process.
The prospect controls the decision.
Email makes it easy to surrender process control without realizing it.
Email vs. Conversation: The SELLability Comparison
Let’s simplify this:
Email does this well:
- Confirm details
- Share documents
- Recap conversations
- Support decisions already in motion
Live conversation does this well:
- Build trust
- Clarify uncertainty
- Handle objections
- Gain agreement
- Move the sale forward
Problems arise when email is used to do a job it was never designed to do.
Why “Email-Only” Selling Feels Safe, but Costs You Later
SELLability doesn’t avoid the uncomfortable truth:
What feels easiest now often makes selling harder later.
Email-first selling tends to:
- Delay real conversations
- Postpone necessary questions
- Allow confusion to linger
- Create false momentum
Then, weeks later, salespeople wonder:
“Why did this stall?”
It didn’t stall.
It was never fully in motion.
What High-Level SELLability Salespeople Do Differently
Top performers still use email, but strategically.
They:
- Use email to support conversations, not replace them
- Use calls or meetings to create clarity
- Switch to live contact when decisions matter
- Regain control the moment uncertainty appears
They don’t ask:
“Should I email or call?”
They ask:
“What does this prospect need right now to move forward?”
That’s leadership.
A Simple SELLability Rule You Can Use Immediately
Before sending an email, ask yourself:
“Is this email meant to inform… or to decide?”
If it’s meant to decide, align, clarify, or resolve, email is the wrong tool.
Pick up the phone.
Schedule the meeting.
Have the conversation.
Final SELLability Thought
Email isn’t the enemy.
Avoidance is.
Selling requires moments of leadership, and leadership happens live.
Use email to support.
Use conversation to lead.
Use process to maintain control.
Because in SELLability, certainty doesn’t happen in an inbox.
It happens in a conversation.
