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The Real Truth About Prospecting? It Sucks

“There is no easy button in sales. Prospecting is hard, emotionally draining work, and it is the price you have to pay to earn a high income.” – Jeb Blount, CEO, Sales Gravy.

Top Earning Sales Stars Suck It Up And Prospect

Fact: most sales professionals are not too keen on prospecting. They think prospecting sucks.

No surprise there— but great reps suck it up and prospect, prospect, prospect; crushing their numbers as a result.

These top-earning sales stars are relentless, unstoppable and obsessive about keeping their pipeline full of qualified opportunities.

We Love To Hate Prospecting

It’s time to rethink this mindset on prospecting.

The number one reason salespeople fail is a weak or empty pipeline. And the number one reason that pipelines are empty is a failure to consistently prospect.

This always has been and always will be the top reason salespeople struggle.

Salespeople will never love prospecting and it will never be fun. It sucks.

However, it is a requirement for success and there is no magic pill or fairy dust that will remove the burden of filling the pipe with high-quality prospects.

It’s not about thinking about prospecting differently.

It’s about developing a systematic focus for daily prospecting and leveraging a balanced methodology that works for your industry and customer base.

How Avoiding The Phone Hurts Your Bottom Line

Reps in today’s digital age are finding more ways to avoid picking up that phone, relying instead on virtually every other form of contact.

However, this trending strategy is not without its pitfalls.

Selling is a human to human endeavor.

When salespeople make the conscious decision not to engage other people via phone or face-to-face, they’re making the decision to fail.

The phone is still the best, fastest, and most effective way to touch prospects, engage in meaningful conversations, and initiate the sales process.

The most successful sales reps leverage the phone as part of their approach to engage more prospects.

Balanced Prospecting Has Its Place, Too

Don’t misunderstand, though.

Having a balanced prospecting methodology—where you leverage every channel possible to make contact with and engage a prospect—is key.

Virtual channels, like social media, are excellent for building familiarity, monitoring trigger events, and anticipating buying windows.

But some reps spend hours on LinkedIn “warming up prospects” rather than just making the call.

Pick up the phone and call them. It’s faster and far more effective.

If you can’t get through, or get shot down, then leverage the other channels through a strategic cadence to engage your prospect a different way.

Leave Your Whining At The Door

We know that winning, superior attributes can make all the difference in a typical sales process. But there are also losing qualities that can stifle sales performance.

Before coming into the office, ditch your bad attitude.

Whining about why sales is so hard. Certainly you need raw talent to succeed in the sales profession. You need a certain level of drive and intelligence. When all things are equal, though, the salespeople who foster a winning mindset win.

So, stop whining about how sales is hard, or the leads are bad, or your manager doesn’t treat you well. Stop.

It is hard, it is a grind, and it’s not going to get easier. Instead, take responsibility for your performance and focus on the only three things you can control—your actions, reactions, and mindset.

Simply put, change your mindset, change your game.

Most importantly, when it’s time to go home, when you are worn out and over it, when everything inside you screams to pack it up and quit— will yourself to make One More Call®.

One Technique To Make Prospecting Suck (Way) Less

High-intensity prospecting blocks are the key to making prospecting suck less.

Think about it: when something sucks but you have to do it anyway, the thing to do is get it over with fast.

This is why I schedule my telephone prospecting blocks first thing in the morning, and then I break them into small chunks.

Rather than dialing for three hours, I dial for 15 minutes. I’ll set a goal to make 15 dials in 15 minutes and set one appointment. Then take a short 5 minute break and do it again.

While I’m at it, I turn everything off so there are absolutely no distractions. That’s a high-intensity block. It gets better when you prepare your list in advance. A good list equals a better outcome. The key is quantity + quality.

As many dials as possible, in the shortest time possible, from a great list, delivers the best possible outcome.

The results will astound you and quickly shift your mindset from prospecting sucks to prospecting rocks!


In his bestselling book, Fanatical Prospecting, Jeb Blount outlines his innovative approach to prospecting that works for real people, in the real world, with real prospects. Download your FREE chapters of Fanatical Prospecting here.

About the author

Jeb Blount

Jeb Blount is one of the most sought-after and transformative speakers in the world…

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