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Sign up now by clicking this link and have your questions ready for me tomorrow at 6pm EDT! I can't wait to hear from you!

He wanted to know if when preparing to make your calls, after identifying who you will be calling, would it be helpful to send an introductory letter to each person telling them you will be following up with a phone call.  The answer to this is not as cut and dried as you might think.

First off, for those of you who think sending the letter makes the call “warmer,” it only makes the call “warmer” for the caller.  The people receiving the letters either don’t read them or forgot what they read soon after.  On the other hand, and this is what I told Pierre, if sending a letter will make it easier for you to overcome the fear of calling, then, by all means, send the letter.  Since call reluctance is the biggest problem salespeople face, anything you can do to motivate yourself to generate more activity, to me, is a good thing.

If you are going to send out a letter before the call make sure, at the end of the letter, you write, “I will be calling you on (and plug in a specific day and time) to set up an appointment so we can discuss this further.”

By doing this you are making sure you keep the focus on what you want to achieve (getting the appointment) and you just might find there will a small number of people who will actually be expecting your call.  One word of caution: if you tell people you’ll be calling them on a specific day and time, make sure you follow-up and do it. 

If you found this idea useful and want to learn more about how to sell more appointments, get in front of more hot prospects and increase your business, Make sure to click here and sign up for my next Prospecting Simulcast (Jan. 20th at 6pm EDT) to get your sales effort on track for 2010!  You can attend by listening via webcast or by calling in from wherever you are. Additionally, you will receive a recorded version of the event.

My audience consisted of approximately 100 Managing Directors, Sales Executives, business owners and other top managers from many of the member companies. 

My speech focused on three main points:

1. How to sell and succeed in a recession.  Much like the U.S., the U.K., until late 2008, had seen pretty much nothing but prosperity for the previous 25 years.  Sure, there were a couple of small recessions here and there but, just like us, good times prevailed.

Most of their salespeople had never sold during tough times and didn’t know how.  In fact, they were probably doing more order taking than selling, which is what happens when times are good.  But now, facing the same economic problems we are they are being forced to go out and get business, something many of them are not used to (sound familiar).

2. How and why they need their salespeople to become experts, advisors, resources and single points of contact (E.A.R.S.).  Some of the companies represented in the audience were already doing that; and having success in spite of the economy (funny how that works). 

I made the point that being “E.A.R.S.” would make them indispensable to their clients and give them their best shot at increasing market share, which should always be the main focus during a down economic period, thereby positioning yourself nicely when the turnaround comes; which it always does.

3. The importance of “Showing UP!”  This tied in perfectly with point number one since showing up during a recession is far more important than showing up during good times.  Remember, when you don’t show up during a recession clients just assume you’re out of business; which brings me to my final point:

It seems no matter what country I’m in; I hear the same complaints from sales executives about salespeople: THEY DON’T SHOW UP, THEY DON’T MAKE ENOUGH CALLS AND THEY DON’T GET IN FRONT OF ENOUGH PROSPECTS! 

Remember, you can’t run and you can’t hide because no matter where you go in the world there are no magic formulas; it’s all about prospecting.

Make sure to click here and sign up for my next Prospecting Simulcast (Jan. 20th at 6pm EDT) to get your sales effort on track for 2010! You can attend by listening via webcast or by calling in from wherever you are. Additionally, you will receive a recorded version of the event.  

Before I end, I want to apologize to all my friends in U.K., especially in the London area, for not letting them know I would be there.  However, it would have been impossible to connect since I was there for less than 48 hours. 

I will be back in the UK in July, when I’ll be speaking in Glasgow.  Hopefully we can connect then. 

To all of you a Happy, Healthy and Successful 2010!

I believe this could be the most important and critical seminar you will ever attend. In these economic times prospecting is the most important thing you can do, because if you’re not doing it, you could be out of business or out of a job.

Sales executives constantly tell me the biggest reason their salespeople aren’t doing enough business is: they’re not talking to enough people. They’re not making the calls, they’re not getting in the door and in front of prospects and consequently the pipeline is empty and that means no future business.

Selling is rejection, plain and simple. The top salespeople can deal with it, the rest can’t. They don’t see enough people because they fear rejection. They fear rejection because they don’t know how much rejection they need. After this teleseminar is over, you’re going to be able to handle rejection better than at any time in your career.

In this teleseminar, Prospecting Skills That Work, we’re going to cover five important areas of prospecting.

1. Why prospecting and generating consistent every day activity is so important,

2. How to handle rejection by understanding how much rejection you need.

3. How to prepare for and make the prospecting call,

4. How to anticipate, handle and turn around objections,

5. Specific practice techniques guaranteed to make you better.

If you attend this program, use the Action Guide and implement the ideas you learn here’s what will happen:

• You will learn how to control the conversation while anticipating and turning around objections better than ever.
• You will be given a simple, easy-to-use call counting system that will allow you to know your success ratios for every step of the sales process
• This call counting system will teach how to handle rejection better than you ever have, which will enable you to;
  • Make more calls
  • speak to more decision makers
  • sell more appointments, and make more presentations and, the greatest benefit of all
  • Close more sales and make more money

During this 2 hour teleseminar, which you can attend either via phone or webcast you will have the opportunity to ask me any questions related to your prospecting effort. In fact, you’ll have the opportunity to send in questions before and during the event. So sign up now and start giving some thought to what questions you want answered.

Aside from an informative, entertaining and idea packed 2 hours, here’s what else you will receive for your investement:

• A 23 page Action Guide complete with
  • Call counting system
  • An easy-to-follow step by step script development template
  • Turn-arounds you can use for your most common objections, plus many more valuable tips

• A digital recording of the entire session which you can download to your computer and listen to as much and as long as you want.

• A free copy of my online audio program, Supercharged Selling: The Power to be the Best.

So sign up now and join me on January 20^th, 2010 at 6PM EDT for a session that’s guaranteed to jump start your sales effort.

Here is another clip from my talks in Sweden.

BTW, there's been a little delay on the Motivational Minutes due to my schedule. But don't worry they'll be back!

Not only does the fear of hearing “No” stop far too many salespeople from prospecting for new business or closing sales, it also stops them from going back to those people who have said “No” in the past.  They’re so scared the prospect is going to remember them and get mad at them for being a pest.  So instead of going back, they do nothing.  But that is not the reality of the situation.

First of all, “No” today only means “No” today.  It does not mean “No” tomorrow, the next day, week, month or year.  How do you know you didn’t catch that person on a bad day?  Maybe he just lost his best customer.  Or, you walked in right after the boss chewed him out.  It could be there’s a problem at home.  All we know is: we know nothing. 

Second, I know we all want to believe we’re the most memorable people in the world, but believe me, we’re not.  THEY’RE NOT GOING TO REMEMBER THEY EVER SPOKE TO YOU!!! 

Your prospects have many better things to do than remember every salesperson who has solicited them.  They don’t have a Rogue’s Gallery of pictures on their wall with a caption that states, “Beware of these salespeople.  We’ve already said “No” to them.”

Personally, I think most salespeople are happy when a prospect says “No” to them; it’s almost as if they’re “Off the hook.”  In other words, “Whew, don’t have to call that guy again.” 

But let’s be honest.  I’ll bet every one of you reading this has or has had a client who originally said “No.”   So what’s stopping you?  Get back on the phone and call all those people who said “No.”  You know why: Because you never “KNOW.”

Tips like these and MANY others will be readily available to you if you attend my live “Prospecting Skills That Work” Simulcast on Tuesday, September 22^nd at 6PM Eastern Time. Click this link to  sign up now, but ONLY if you’re interested in increasing your business. 

My reply to this is always the same. I say, “There’s a very simple solution. Just stop selling altogether and there won’t be any paperwork.” Of course there won’t be any job either, but that’s beside the point.

A very important key to organizing your time as a salesperson is to always remember:

Paperwork time is infinite, Selling time is not.

You can only sell when clients and prospects are around; let’s say between 9AM and 5PM. However, paperwork is a one person task that can be done 24 hours a day, even at 3AM on a Saturday morning. Now I’m not telling you to do paperwork at 3AM Saturday morning, in fact I don’t want you to. I want you to have a life: I think that’s extremely important, but you get the point.

Oftentimes there’s no way around it. Very few people in this world became successful working 40 hours a week. You wouldn’t be the only person to put in extra time or take work home with you.

Why do paperwork if you can be talking to a client on the phone or in person? If you absolutely have to do paperwork during normal business hours, block out a certain time to do it. Don’t do it as you’re making phone calls. Try to avoid momentum breaking starts and stops.

Never do anything during “Prime Selling Time,” that can be done at any other time. The whole idea of working smart is to be able to call; speak to; and see as many clients and prospects as possible during a limited period of time. Maximize your effort.

If you liked this time management tip and found value in it, click this link for my new audio program, Time Management Skills That Work, where you’ll find 20 tips just like this one guaranteed to help you save time, work smarter, see more prospects and increase your sales. Check it our now!

Well let me amend that a bit, because as it turns out, there is one other thing that does matter: If you’re going to make the calls and set up the appointments, please remember to show up!!!

You’re probably saying, “What kind of boob would make an appointment and not show up?” Obviously the kind of boob that doesn’t want to do business; as my wife can attest to.

My wife, Linda, was attempting to find a tree service that could cut down and remove one tree from our property and cut back and trim a number of others. She asked a friend for a referral and received two names.

The first service came highly recommended because while they charged more, they were “The EXPERTS!” So, Linda called them, left a message, they called back, set up an appointment and guess what; that’s right, they didn’t show up. I guess Linda’s friend forgot to tell her there was one thing they weren’t expert on.

The 2^nd service was very nice. He showed up on time, looked around and told Linda he’d get back to her with an estimate in “the next couple of days.”

Two weeks later; no estimate; but he did call to say his father had been sick and he needed to take some time to straighten things out and would it be OK if he dropped off the estimate in the next couple of days. Linda was very sympathetic and said “No problem, in fact email it if you want.”

Needless to say the estimate never arrived, either in person or via email. I guess following up is another thing that matters.

My favorite is the 3^rd character she called. This was a recommendation from a friend of mine. He called to say he doesn’t like to make appointments but he’ll be around “Next week,” and he’ll call when he is in our area.

We didn’t hear from him for 2 to 3 weeks, when all of a sudden he called to ask “Do you still want me to come?” Linda said, “I thought you were going to contact me a couple of weeks ago?” He said, “I was busy (wrong answer).” To which Linda replied, “That’s OK, I found someone else to do the job.”

Here’s the lesson; just because you made the calls and booked the appointments it doesn’t end there. Prospecting is also about showing up for the appointment (on time), following up and letting each prospect and client know their business is important to you.

If you want to learn more about prospecting and how to use it to supercharge your activity, get more appointments and increase your sales, join me on September 22^nd at 6PM Eastern Time for a two (2) hour simulcast on “Prospecting Skills that Work.”

For $59 you’ll learn how to:

• Overcome the fear of rejection
• Develop a call counting system that will show you how much activity you need to generate on a daily basis in order to hit your goals.
• Control the conversation
• Anticipate and turn around any objection that comes your way.

So click this link, sign up now and join me on September 22^nd for what I know will be a valuable experience.

One young man in the audience, who had only been in the speaking business a short time, and did not have a sales background, contacted me a few days after the meeting so that he could set up an appointment to come to my office and pick my brain some more, which was just fine by me.

I talked to him for a couple of hours about sales; prospecting; the importance of “making the calls,” tracking your activity; using a script and handling objections. But most of all I emphasized that making the calls on a consistent everyday basis was critical.

Fast forward to two weeks ago. My wife, Linda, and I were at the National Speakers Association Convention in Scottsdale, Arizona. Sure enough, I ran into the young man who had come to my house for sales advice. He informed me he was “Making the calls,” and guess what: He was booking business; funny how that works!

With all the excitement about LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and all these other social networking sites, sooner or later you’re actually going to have to talk to somebody if you want to do business. Social networking sites are great for creating awareness and keeping your name in front of people; it’s called marketing. But it’s real hard to close a sale on Facebook.

This young man proved that there’s still a place (an important place) for making the calls. In fact, the last thing he said to me was, “I now have to get better at my technique,” to which I replied, “That’ll come. What’s more important is that you made the calls, because without that nothing else matters.”

If you would like to learn the same prospecting techniques that lead to that young man bringing in new business, join me this Wednesday, August 5^th, at 1PM Eastern time for another amazing 2 hour Simulcast on “Prospecting Skills that Work,”. You can attend by phone or computer and participate in live Q&A. Do not miss this. Click here to sign up.