I come across sales people in various industries that all have a different opinion when it comes to prospecting through email.  In some industries it seems to be more successful than others.  My question is, is it more successful truly because of specific industries, or is it attributed to the way an email is designed and delivered?

Bryan A. Garner wrote an interesting article in the HBR (Harvard Business Review)

Write E-Mails That People Won’t Ignore

I agree with Bryan that you have to be careful in drafting emails to get someone’s attention and the “subject line”  is critical between being immediately “deleted” vs. someone checking the email’s content.  Take a moment to check out Bryan’s article that was posted February 21st on his 6 steps to “Write E-Mails That People Won’t Ignore.”  He has some great points on how to be more successful in reaching prospects this way.

Keep in mind though that a I believe a combination of ways to prospect need to work together to create the overall best success in sales (phone calls, emails, social media, voice mails,etc.).  Using only one of these will short change your success.