Sure, I talked with a lot of customers on the phone, especially in the early days of the Internet when a lot of people didn't feel comfortable buying until they made phone contact. But the vast majority of orders came after writing back and forth with customers via email.
Recently we hired more staff and added a toll free number prominently featured on every page of DrNunley.com. Phone calls picked up, but email STILL far outstrips the phone as the best way to get sales.
Here's why. The telephone is spoken communication. When we talk our meaning doesn't go in a straight line. We tend to talk in circles, going back over the important points again and again (don't feel like I'm picking on you, the entire world does this when they talk).
Writing is linear in its logic (as scientists say). When you write, your ideas must march along one after another without doubling back. This may not be the most comfortable way to communicate, but writing makes people organize their ideas and get to the point.
This very simple difference between talking and writing may be at the root of why so many businesses find they make their real sales from email and not from the telephone.
