3 Steps to Dealing with Knee Jerk Objections
Knee jerk objections occur for two reasons. First, you are an interruption. The prospect wasn’t expecting your call and you’re taking him away from the task at hand. Second, the prospect is worried about
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.
Knee jerk objections occur for two reasons. First, you are an interruption. The prospect wasn’t expecting your call and you’re taking him away from the task at hand. Second, the prospect is worried about
It starts with recruiting the right agents. One needs to recruit people who have the skills, attitude, and business-owner mindset necessary to succeed. Finding, attracting and selecting the right prospective candidates is an art
It’s tempting to select someone who’s “hungry”. It would seem logical that a candidate who is anxious for an opportunity would be the perfect person. They’d work hard, be conscientious, and push through any
If you have to make cold calls as part of your sales process – either to set appointments or to find potential clients to sell your products and services to – then you know
Someone wrote me once about a prospect who wasn’t calling him back only to find out the prospect was leaving the company. He wrote me and said, “I guess intuitively I knew he wasn’t
I once read that there are two types of people. People who are willing to wait for a reward and those who want the reward now even though the payoff may be higher if
Selling in these challenging times demands determination and personal fortitude. Having the will to persevere when times are tough is a characteristic commonly found among self-made millionaires. Are you a quitter? The last time
What typically happens when we interact with others is that we size up what’s happening in a conversation from our perspective. We make judgments and evaluations of the other person based on what
Ask direct, specific questions that require your prospect to either commit to what’s next, or that get your prospect to reveal that the sale might not go through (I know you hate to hear
Years ago I heard the story of a 70-year-old woman who lifted a car off her grandchild and saved his life. When she was interviewed, instead of being ecstatic, she was melancholy and admitted
Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that reads, “Make me feel important.” This was the life philosophy of Mary Kay Ash, the well-known cosmetics mogul.
Whether in a face-to-face meeting or over the phone, the salesperson must take the time to engage the customer early on. The key with the early questions is to not blatantly ask, “What other
Can’t stomach cold calling? Steal Jeb Blount’s 13 proven alternatives to picking up the phone that build real pipeline and actually work.
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
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.
Quick Summary Cold calling anxiety is not a symptom of weakness. It’s human and natural to feel fear when you cold call. You are interrupting a stranger who was not expecting you, and everything
Fear of the phone is quietly draining sales pipelines, and the reps who win are the ones willing to stop hiding behind email and LinkedIn and simply make the call.
Salespeople seek a magic window that makes cold calling easy. When prospects answer happy, say yes without a fight, and book the meeting themselves. So, is there a best time to call?
Short Answer Yes, you can make cold calling fun, and it is worth doing, because the reps who enjoy the phone are the ones who stay on it. Fun is not a personality trait
The year was 1938. Families across America gathered, listening during the golden age of radio. On the eve of Halloween, a broadcast interrupted their evening: A live report claimed Martian cylinders had landed in
Here’s a question that’ll keep you up at night: How do you take a company from $300K in annual revenue to $1.5 million in 18 months, then scale to $3-$5 million within five years?
Every week, someone asks me: “Jeb, do I need Sales Navigator to prospect on LinkedIn?”My answer: No. But you do need a system. LinkedIn is the most powerful prospecting platform on earth. It’s a
You’ve probably heard it a hundred times lately—AI is coming for your job. Every week, there’s a new headline about another role being automated, another company replacing people with bots, another “AI agent” that
The buzz around “social selling” is deafening. Every guru, every pundit, every platform is screaming about its power. And yet, most salespeople are failing at it. Miserably. They log into LinkedIn. They dabble with
The gap between average salespeople and elite performers lies in process. While most reps chase quick wins and hope something sticks, top producers follow proven sales strategies that consistently deliver results. They’ve mastered the
Most salespeople are busy. Few are productive. They chase. They pitch. They get ignored. And the cycle repeats. Why? Because they’re committing one of the worst offenses in modern sales: They’re treating LinkedIn like
You’re on LinkedIn, but do you really know how to use it effectively? There’s no good reason to avoid mastering LinkedIn. Your prospects are on LinkedIn actively engaging, researching, and making decisions. LinkedIn is
Every day, your prospects are assaulted by a digital firehose of generic, AI-generated emails and connection requests. It’s an incessant barrage of noise, and as a survival mechanism, your buyers have learned to ignore
On this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount Jr. sits down with Dayna Williams to discuss cutting-edge strategies for sales success. She gives expert insights on how to develop a winning sales culture,
Sales objections pose a challenge for salespeople, leading to demoralization. Sales leaders play a crucial role in helping reps develop perseverance.
The article suggests using bingo as a teaching tool to handle objections
On this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount sits down with KaTom CEO Patricia Bible to discuss what it takes to lead and sustain a hyper-growth company. Reflecting on her journey with KaTom,
On this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, I dive into part two of my conversation with sales leadership expert Mike Weinberg on what new sales managers need to do to get off to
On this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, I sit down with Mike Weinberg for Part One of our conversation on the state of the Sales Profession, sales leadership, and getting started as a
How Weichert Financial Services Exceeded Sales Targets With Fanatical Prospecting Sales Training I one hundred percent recommend the Sales Gravy team to any organization needing sales enablement. Even for me, their training was a
The Best Sales Leaders Share These 4 Traits On this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Sales Gravy Senior Master Sales Trainer Brad Adams talks with Learnit CEO Damon Lembi about maintaining authenticity and
Scale Your Business with Affordable Sales Training Every business owner wants to grow their business, attract more customers, and increase revenue. One of the best ways to achieve these goals is by investing in
Why Leaders Fail— And What To Do About It In a world that demands adaptability and resilience, leaders who prioritize strengths are paving the way for success in the workplace. I recently worked with