Electronic Mail: High-tech for Higher Sales

Morning rolls along the semidark street. J.B. enters a lonely preselected phone booth, drops his coins into the battered, dented slots of the telephone and dials his code number. While waiting for the connection to be made, he opens his conservative Gucci attaché case and places the phone receiver into an acoustic coupler connected to his electronic data terminal. Straining with all of his senses, he searches the street for signs of life, of warning, of danger. Soon the humming and whirring of the mini CRT display tell him that there are several urgent messages–information vital for the day’s pressing business–coming over the line. J.B. steps from the lighted cubicle. A cool breeze chills him to the bone. Throughout the day, J.B. monitors changing priorities, shifting cost information, and inventory adjustments whenever he encounters an isolated phone booth. By dusk, J.B. is with his last client. With suspicious, shifty eyes, the husky man demands an instant confirmation of this transaction. “Proof in writing–or else!” he snaps. J.B. hooks up his equipment to the client’s phone–the fifth time he’s used his home connections today. Immediately, his terminal delivers a printed copy of the deal. Tension drains from the client’s face, dissolving into a raucous grin. J.B. closes his briefcase and slips into the misty evening moonlight. Is this a spy thriller or real life? Is this the future or the present? It’s real. It’s happening today, and it’s called electronic mail. You don’t even need J.B.’s lonely pre-selected phone booth–you can use your hotel room telephone.

Electronic mail is the newest way to keep a widely dispersed sales and client based up-to-date with information on leads, pricing changes, inventory reports and order confirmations.

What will all of this high-tech communication cost you? Surprisingly little. Charges will depend on the type of service you select and the distances you send your information. In general, the greater the distance you sales force covers, the greater the potential benefits and costs savings you can expect. All electronic mail services require the salesperson to carry a portable computer or print terminal–priced at about $500 to $1,000. But before you let that figure scare you off, let’s look at specifics.

According to Richard J. Chapel, a freelance writer and marketing communications manager, there are three choices in electronic mail services. The first type of service is called “store and forward.” Western Union’s easylink services is an example of this system. Chapel explains that “electronic messages are transmitted from a terminal to a processing center at a home office.” (You can send and receive on computers, word processors, print terminals, etc.) These messages appear on a screen. In order to send a hardcopy, or printed page, Chapel says you need to use “telex telegram, cablegram or mailgram services.” Easylink does not charge a registration fee, although there is a minimum usage charge after a three month trail period.

A second type of service described by Chapel provides “rapid delivery” services for companies who need faster hardcopy access. MCI Mail typifies this method of electronic mail. “MCI Mail through Purolater Courier or the E-Com letter offered by the Post office combines electronic speed with hard copy and personal delivery to get printed materials to you quickly,” states Chapel. MCI Mail doesn’t require a registration fee.

J.B.’s system is the most sophisticated service available. The best known company in this area is GTE. “Their Telemail gives you instantaneous communications from terminal to terminal,” claims Chapel. “You can format information so that the data is received on the order forms and other tables or sheets you already know.” The registration fee for Telemail depends on the specific services you use.

Usage costs are actually a bargain compared to long distance telephone service during prime business hours.

Susan Kubany, a spokesperson for OMNET Inc. (a Boston-based electronic mail service bureau), told Chapel that not only is the cost per minute or hour lower, there also is the added advantage a computer has over the human voice–it “talks” faster. People talk at an average rate of 100 baud (characters or letters) per minute. But a computer can go up to 12 times faster–300 to 1200 baud per minute.

Another savings factor cited by Robert Heinmiller, VP of OMNET, is your time, as well as office support time. “Only 28 percent of telephone calls reach their destination the first attempt–a problem that doesn’t exist for electronic mail.” An average phone call takes nine minutes–electronic mail time averages three minutes. Because electronic mail is informal and on-the-spot, typos are acceptable. By comparison, Heinmiller notes that “A normal business letter usually goes through a long process of dictate-type-revise-retype.”

Overall, most active users have bills of about half of the cost of the usual telephone charges and other expenses such as copying.

If this sounds terrific but much too complicated, there’s a solution for you. Chapel states that electronic service bureaus, such as OMNET, are now offering “customized service for managing your network while still providing you with savings by tapping into their group rates.”

All J.B. did was dial an access code, place his phone receiver into the acoustic coupler (holder) of his electronic data terminal in his briefcase, and wait for messages from his home office be printed. As a strategic sales tool, electronic mail gives you speed, flexibility and instant information. What better way is there for a sales “agent” to “terminate” the competition?