This is a guest post by Michael Kaiser-Nyman. He’s the CEO and founder of Impact Dialing, an easy to use power dialer and hosted predictive dialer for small businesses, call centers, and political campaigns.

If you run a small services company, you probably have times when you wish you had more business. In times like these, the phone is your best friend.

Calling can be scary, especially as we’re becoming increasingly used to email and texting. But the phone is unique in that it’s interactive and so demands your full and immediate attention. Emails can get buried in a cluttered inbox and forgotten, but the phone gives you a window to develop a relationship and help potential clients decide now, rather than later (or, often, never) whether to retain you.

Here are some times to pick up the phone:

•  After you meet someone, give them a ring a couple days later. Even if you’re not trying to close a deal right then, a friendly conversation, even for just a couple minutes, will help you develop a relationship that will help you eventually get hired. And you may be surprised – what you intend to be a quick chat might turn into a longer conversation about your services.

•   If somebody didn’t hire you but seemed like they’d be interested down the road, call them a few months later. Again, this will help you avoid the problem of your email getting lost in inbox hell, or of somebody being genuinely interested but forgetting to respond.

•  Ask clients for referrals. This is a good practice anyway, but on the phone it’s even more powerful. When you’re on the phone, you can help your client brainstorm other people who might be interested in your services. Better yet, you can encourage clients to make a call or email introduction on your behalf.

Even for seasoned callers, the fear of rejection can be a big deterrent to calling in your effort to drum up more business. But if you stay focused on the positive, and set aside a block of time where you commit to yourself to making calls, the phone can have a reach far beyond what email is able to do.