Fanatical Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social Selling, Telephone, Email, Text, and Cold Calling (Jeb Blount)

by Jeb Blount

Competitive differentiators

What I am saying is that focusing on a simple, straightforward because works, and spending hours agonizing over some complex value prop is unlikely to give you anything more effective in prospecting than a simple, direct because.

Targeted bridges are bridges that are common to a large group of similar prospects—

Targeted bridges are most appropriate when you have little information about a specific prospect and the cost/benefit of doing reams of research is not worth it.

“I've worked with a number of companies in your industry to reduce ramp-up time for new reps. At Xjam Software, for example, we cut ramp-up time to ROI for their new reps by 50 percent. While I don't know if our solution would be a fit in your unique situation, I've got some ideas and best practices I've seen work well for companies like yours and thought you might be interested in learning more about them. How about we get together for a short meeting on Thursday at 2:00 PM?”

Emotional value: You connect directly with them at the emotional level—typically by relating to painful emotions like stress, worry, insecurity,

Insight (curiosity) value:

Tangible (logic) value:

Ask. That's it. Just ask. Ask for the appointment, ask for information, ask for the decision maker, ask for the next step, ask for the sale. Ask for what you want. Ask.

There are three steps to asking: Ask with confidence and assume you will get what you want. Shut up. Be prepared to deal with reflex responses, brush-offs, and objections.

When you pair an assertive request with a because, the probability of getting a yes goes up even higher.

Jeffrey Gitomer, author of the Little Red Book of Selling, says that “the assumptive position is the strongest selling strategy in the world.”

Phones are anchored to people, not desks. It is common for prospects to answer their mobile phone when you call them—either because their mobile line is their only line or because their office line rolls over to their mobile line. No one is calling. Because so much sales communication has shifted to e-mail, social inboxes, and text, phones are not ringing nearly as much as in the past. Because of this, salespeople who call are standing out in the crowd and getting through. Prospects are getting burned out on impersonal, irrelevant (and often automated) prospecting e-mails. E-mail and social inboxes are being flooded with crap. Prospects are hungry

At Sales Gravy we do Power Hours (and sometimes Power Half Hours). During Power Hours, we put everything aside and focus on making as many dials as possible in a short period of time.

in 10 seconds or less

a simple five-step framework: Get their attention by using their name: “Hi, Julie.” Identify yourself: “My name is Jeb Blount and I'm with Sales Gravy.” Tell them why you are calling: “The reason I'm calling is to set up an appointment with you.” Bridge—give them a because: “I just read an article online that said your company is going to add 200 new sales positions over the next year. Several companies in your industry are already using Sales Gravy exclusively for sourcing sales candidates and they are very happy with the results we are delivering.” Ask for what you want, and shut up: “I thought the best place to start is to schedule a short meeting to learn about your sales recruiting

One point I want to be sure you get: There are no pauses. The moment you pause you lose control of the call. As soon as my prospect answers the phone, I walk through the five-step framework without stopping. My goal is to respect their time by getting to the point and getting an answer—yes, no, or maybe—fast.

Don't ask, “How are you doing?” and don't pause or leave any awkward silence. Say their name and keep moving.

Identify yourself. Say who you are and the company you work for up front. This makes you sound professional. Say your phone number twice. Prospects can't call back if they don't have or you garbled your number. Give your contact information up front and say it twice—slowly. After they hear your name and company, they may not care about the rest of your message because based on their situation, they can infer what it is about. Tell them the reason for your call. Tell them why you have called. There is nothing more irritating to a buyer than a salesperson who is not honest about their intentions. After you give your personal information just say, “The reason for my call is…” or “the purpose of my

call is…,” then tell them why you are calling and what you want. Transparency is both respectful and professional. Give them a reason to call you back. Prospects call back when you have something that they want or are curious about. Curiosity is a powerful driver of behavior. When you have knowledge, insight, information, special pricing, new or improved products, a solution to a problem, and so on, you create a motivating force that compels your prospect to call you back. Repeat your name and say your phone number twice. Before you end your message, say your name again slowly and clearly and always, always say your number twice.

“Hi, Rick, this is Jeb Blount from Sales Gravy. My phone number is 1-888-360-2249, that's 1-888-360-2249. The reason I am calling is you downloaded our white paper on cold calling and I want to learn more about your situation and what triggered you to seek out this information. I also have some additional resources on voice mail messages and phone prospecting I thought you might be curious to learn about. Let's get together this week. Give me a call back at 1-888-360-2249, that's 1-888-360-2249.”

great analogy for timing your calls is investing. The investor who attempts to time the market has historically failed to beat the investor who uses a dollar-cost-averaging strategy—making incremental investments on a regular schedule over time.

I love it

This is why you should block your first two hours every day for telephone activity.

When they say they're happy, instead of arguing that you can make them happier if they just give you a chance, say, “Awesome. If you're happy, you shouldn't even think about changing!” This is completely unexpected. When they say they're busy, instead of arguing them into how you will only take a little bit of their time, say, “I figured you would be.” Agreeing with them disrupts their thought pattern. When they say, “Just send me some information,” say, “Tell me specifically what you are looking for.” This calls their bluff and forces engagement. When they say, “I'm not interested,” say, “That makes sense. Most people aren't.” Their brain isn't ready for you to agree with them. It

responded, “Hi, Mike, my name is Jeb Blount. The reason I'm calling is I'm trying to reach the person in your company who buys training programs. I wasn't having much luck going through the switchboard and I figured as a fellow salesperson you could relate and might give me a hand.”

So, play the odds, and make your subject line about your prospect.

While I don't know if we are a good fit for your bank, why don't we schedule a short call to help me learn more about your unique challenges? From there we can decide if it makes sense to set up a deeper conversation. How about next Thursday at 3:00 PM? Dave disrupts expectations. He tells Lawrence up front that he might not be a good fit for his bank. That is exactly the opposite of what Lawrence would expect of a salesperson. Unlike pitching that pushes prospects away, disrupting expectations pulls prospects towards you.

becoming aware of trigger events that are impacting them and opening up buying windows.

the status quo was a more comfortable place than change).

When it is time to go home, make one more call.