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

Telephone prospecting is the most important activity in sales. It is the one activity that will have the greatest positive impact on the health of your pipeline, career, and income. It also sucks. It's frustrating, uncomfortable, and covered with slimy green frog warts. Tracy writes that staring at the frog will not make it more appetizing. When “you have to eat a frog, it doesn't pay to sit and look at it for very long.” The same with prospecting. Thinking about it, pushing it off, or trying to time it will not make it any more appetizing. The longer that frog sits there, the more foul it gets. That's when the bargaining starts happening. Instead of just eating it and getting it over with, you start making deals with yourself to “double up” on your frog eating tomorrow. It never works, though. Once you start procrastinating, you'll never catch up. As you push prospecting off, more tasks, problems, and burning fires move in to take its place. This is why you should block your first two hours every day for telephone activity. Set the appointment with yourself and keep it. Your energy level, confidence, and enthusiasm will be at their peak at the beginning of the day. Plus, prospects will have fewer things on their plate as they begin their day, which makes for less resistance and more yesses.