13 Real Alternatives to Cold Calling That Build Pipeline
Can’t stomach cold calling? Steal Jeb Blount’s 13 proven alternatives to picking up the phone that build real pipeline and actually work.
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.
Can’t stomach cold calling? Steal Jeb Blount’s 13 proven alternatives to picking up the phone that build real pipeline and actually work.
The right time to hire a fractional sales leader is when your team has outgrown what you can manage on top of running the business. Here are 7 signs that tell you it’s time,
Making just three to five of proactive calls to customers in a five-minute block, breaks the reactive cycle most account managers live in and builds the relationships that drive real, predictable revenue.
Recruiting is a sales leader’s number one job, and the way to find sales candidates is the same way your reps find customers: recruit like you prospect.

Steal this trial close technique and exact scripts to motivate buyers to make decisions and act without making big price concessions.
Referral leads close at three to four times the rate of cold and self-generated leads. Once both reach a real sales conversation, referrals close at roughly 26 percent versus 9 percent for cold and

When should you ask questions on a cold call? Questions come after you’ve earned the right, when you’re gathering information and qualifying, and they lead the conversation only when the prospect contacted you first.
To prospect for new clients, stop making random touches and run a consistent five-step system. Work this system every day and you gain control of your pipeline, along with the peace of mind that
The best way to measure sales productivity is with leading indicators—the KPIs and metrics that predict future revenue and let you fix problems before sales dry up.
A good sales voicemail is short, scripted, and gives the prospect one clear reason to call you back. This guide gives you seven word-for-word sales voicemail scripts that work!
Salespeople fail at cold calling for five common reasons. Fix them and the phone starts producing appointments again.
Email response rates are collapsing because decision maker inboxes are stuffed with automated, AI-written slop. This is exactly why the phone is more powerful today than it was ten years ago.

Opening, rather than closing, is the most important phase of selling because it’s binary. It’s akin to doing science without Newton’s first law or acknowledging gravity. It’s like trying to be a fighter but

What I love about Jeb is his charismatic ability to weave personal stories from his time in the trenches into his material. He has a great sense of humor, no nonsense approach and always

Sales Gravy CEO Jeb Blount joins Tim Martin on this episode of the Success Is Voluntary podcast to discuss two of Jeb’s bestsellers: Fanatical Prospecting, and his most recent release, Objections. From establishing micro-commitments, to

There are two types of sellers – Rain Barrels and Rain Makers. One waits for leads to show up, the other gets after it and makes it rain. On this podcast episode, Jeb Blount,
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with prospecting. Where do you even start? In this short video, Jason Eatmon, who is a Sales Gravy master trainer and author of BOSS, teaches you how to take

The Four Types of Sales Objections Jeb Blount explores strategies and techniques for effectively skipping past the 4 types of sales objections. On this episode, I have a conversation with Chris McDonough. He’s a

The difference between average salespeople and UHPs is, more often than not, their mindset about prospecting and pipeline.

In this podcast, Jeb Blount tells the real truth about why you suck at prospecting and gives you the tips, tactics, and techniques you need to keep your sales pipeline full.

On this podcast, Jeb goes head to head with the great Jeffrey Gitomer on some of the toughest objections faced by sales professionals.
Here’s a hard truth most salespeople never hear: The most dangerous thing you can do is think like an employee. On this week’s episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, business consultant for entrepreneurs David
Tyler Goss, from Tampa, has two critical sales questions: 1) How do we achieve those “crazy” prospecting numbers I talk about in my books? 2) When should a lead become a pipeline opportunity? In
Fear will kill sales and crush your chances of making quota. Hesitation, paralysis, and missed connections with prospects—that’s the consequence of fear. The truly trapped stop picking up the phone entirely. Fear hijacks your
During a practice round at a major golf tournament recently, one of the players hit an exceptionally beautiful shot. A fan in the gallery exclaimed, “Man, I wish I could hit a shot like
Here’s the brutal truth: Self-awareness is the ultimate sales skill. We obsess over skills like closing techniques, objection handling, and prospecting cadence. But self-awareness is the real make-or-break. Self-awareness is the lever that separates
You don’t want to be mediocre. You don’t want to be stuck in a rut of repeating last year’s performance. And you definitely want to smash your personal selling goals this year. In the
Steve from Portland, Oregon, faces and an all-too-common consultative selling dilemma: how to sell to prospects who claim they already know everything, have already “done the research” and question what value he can bring.
All’s fair in love and war—and sales. At the end of the day, what really matters is whether the deal closed or if you were left holding the bag. Did you make quota this
Great advice is everywhere, but most of it is fluff. In sales, you don’t need clichés—you need real strategies that help you win more deals. We’ve pulled together five of the biggest game-changing sales
Having A Common Sales Language Prevents Miscommunication The language we use is key to the success of all sales organizations. Most companies share a common corporate language, and that lingua franca is English. Even
On this episode of the Sales Gravy podcast, Jeb Blount (People Follow You) sits down with Leigh Cantrell and Rob Matura who are Regional Vice Presidents at Cigna to discuss the keys to leading
In today’s world there are few barriers to career change. Top sales talent can walk out of your door to another career opportunity at any time. This puts more pressure on sales leaders than
5 Leadership Skills to Weather Any Economic Storm The storm clouds are brewing once again. We don’t quite know what is in store for us economically, but what we do know is that we
Three Sales Habits That Close More Business Let’s take a look at the top three sales habits of top producers and examine the neuroscience and emotional intelligence skills behind the development of success habits.
Leaders Must Be Authentic Communicators These five tips for authentic communication can help build trust within an organization, especially when it starts with leadership. Whether it’s holding open dialogues, or sharing stories and passing
Are Sales Contests Worth It? Sales contests and promotions should be conducted with one thought in mind: Changing behavior to achieve a desired result or outcome. There are a few things to keep in
Sales Skills: In Class Vs. Out In The Field One of the biggest challenges for most organizations is helping salespeople execute in the field what they’ve learned in theory in the classroom. It is
Leading A Dysfunctional Sales Team? Here’s How To Fix It Maybe you inherited a dysfunctional sales team, or inadvertently created one. Here’s how you can turn it into a high performing sales machine. Ridding