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.
On this fun episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount is joined by the incredible social media influencer and successful real estate agent, Alexander Zakharin. Jeb and Alexander discuss that when the going
What Are You Waiting For? Just Send The Text Text messaging is a largely undiscovered gold mine where prospecting is concerned. Follow these tips for leveraging text as a prospecting channel and you will
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.” –
Ever wondered how you can get the attention of that elusive, hard-to-reach prospect you’ve been chasing? You know the one. The big fish that is your ticket to President’s club and a huge commission
Putting Aside Time Every Day to Prospect Will Keep Your Pipeline Full Kaizen is a theory that developed in Japan after World War II and revived the country, their spirit, and their commerce. It’s
The Cold Calling Conversation Dilemma You’ll need to elevate your conversations to get busy prospects to talk to you on cold calls. When you approach a new prospect, whether by email or cold calling,
Video messaging is hot and it is a core component of effective prospecting sequences because it works! At Sales Gravy we love using video messages to grab the attention of prospects. Our favorite tool
How To Open A Prospecting Call Besides being very busy, your prospects probably get a lot of sales calls every week, and many of them from your direct competition. So why would they want
Email or Telephone: Which one do you use more for prospecting? The question should not be the number of people you can contact. The question we need to be asking is, “What is the
Understanding how to create an impression that stands out is the way to close the sale in 10 seconds or less. Actually, great sales people can do it even faster IF they make a
In this economy, asking whether you need to sell online or in person is like asking which came first, the chicken or the egg. I was keynoting at a conference last week, when a
In this article, Mike Brooks encourages sales teams to ask themselves what’s really holding their prospects back from buying. The holidays are upon us and guess what? The teams I’m working with are still
Here are some of my favorite screw-ups. Those funny stories that I have seen many of my fellow sales professionals make – me included. Ever realize how much you can learn from watching other
If you don’t invest the time and effort in your projects, you will not enjoy exceptional results. Doesn’t your business deserve the most impressive product possible? Have you ever made spaghetti sauce from scratch
In a world that’s getting noisier by the day, the longer you wait to reveal yourself, the likelier it is that you’ll find yourself stuck in the visibility vacuum. For months (or maybe even
To be spectacular is to be different. Do you encourage your employees to be different, to do different? Are you encouraged to be or do different? There is great honor in being the first
Chris Beall, CEO of ConnectAndSell, and Jeb Blount, CEO of Sales Gravy, discuss the economics of building and running highly productive sales teams. As with virtually every aspect of our world, even the field
If you don’t like to sell, it means that you are doing it wrong. Stepping in with courage and determination into a sales conversation is the most powerful aspect of your business. The biggest
For new sales leaders, there are three fundamental keys to building trust with your sales team and getting off to a great start in your new role: Competence, Consistency, and Concern. If you are
Not all times of day are equal: how to structure your team’s day for optimal focus and flow. If you’re a sales leader, then you spend a lot of time thinking about your team’s
Leading companies are building stronger, more reliable, and recession-proof pipelines. When times get crazy. When there is uncertainty in business. When the markets take us on a roller coaster ride. When the world seems
During unplanned timeouts in business, the very best companies and ultra-high performers embrace that gift of time and leverage it as much as possible. There are some excellent anecdotes concerning the value of leveraging
To vet your sales reps and their progress fully, ask them specifically about the progress they’ve made during the time since your last meeting. This allows you to keep a finger on the pulse
In a hyper-competitive industry filled with giants, we need Millennials with superior sales acumen. But as wise leaders, we also have a responsibility towards the well-being of our up-and-coming sales leaders. My husband, Gordon,
Millennials are loyal to the bigger picture. They will help you get what you want if you help them get what they want. But first, you need to know more about what motivates them.
What mountains are your sales teams facing? How might you inspire them to be more engaged in their own success, as well as yours? What can you do together to reach the top of
When considering a merger or acquisition, investigate the sales management processes in place. Over the years of being in business, I’ve discovered a common strategy among consistently successful sales teams. These sales teams thrive