The Cold Truth About Cold Calling
Success in sales is paid for in advance with prospecting. If you are not willing to pay this price, get out now. Go do something else. Life is far too short to spend it
Welcome to the Sales Gravy blog, where salespeople and sales leaders get better every week. We publish new sales training articles and podcast episodes three times a week, covering prospecting, cold calling, objections, negotiation, and leadership, written by Jeb Blount and the Sales Gravy trainer team.
Success in sales is paid for in advance with prospecting. If you are not willing to pay this price, get out now. Go do something else. Life is far too short to spend it
Quick Summary The money in sales is in the follow-up, and nowhere is that more true than with inbound leads. Yet most salespeople quietly burn the best opportunities they get handed. They’re too slow,
Quick Summary In business, you introduce the lower-ranking person to the higher-ranking person, and you say the higher-ranking person’s name first. To introduce a junior associate to a senior executive, you name the executive
Quick Summary A good handshake is firm but not crushing, palm to palm with the webs of your hands meeting, paired with eye contact and a smile, and lasting about two or three seconds.
Quick Summary Your goal in the first few minutes of meeting a prospect or client is simple: make them comfortable enough to trust you and open up. In sales, that first impression decides whether
The most effective way to follow up with a prospect is to make it structured instead of hoping they call you back. Set a specific day and time for the next contact before you
If you’ve earned a real database through years of cold calling, you stop the eight-hour grind, not the activity itself. You still need a steady trickle of new contacts coming in every week to
Quick Summary A strong sales follow-up call starts before the first call even ends. Lock in a specific date and time, then show up prepared and exactly on time. Open by reminding the prospect
The accounts you feel safest about are the ones you’re most likely to lose. When account managers grow familiar with long-term clients, familiarity quietly hardens into complacenct.
Here is the thing worth remembering. You don’t like being passed from person to person on the phone. Your customers don’t like it any better.
An effective cold calling approach isn’t about a slicker pitch — it’s about earning the right to a conversation.
To follow up without being pushy, stop assuming silence means rejection, bring value to every touchpoint, and vary your communication channel until the prospect responds.