Fanatical Prospecting
In the words of Jeb Blount "The No.1 reason for failure in sales is an empty pipeline". That's the tagline, while the rest of the book goes into genius detail on the why's, when's and how's of prospecting effectively. The content is practical, data backed and written from real-life experience. By the time you are finished, there is no doubt how to go about your prospecting and the finer techniques to make it work.
There is too much I liked about this book for me to include everything, but here are some standout points:
The 30-day prospecting framework and importance of continually building your pipeline.
Prospecting is a multifaceted process that takes relentless application of telephone, in-person, e-mail, social selling, text messaging, referrals, networking, inbound leads, trade shows, and cold calling.
We may live in a data driven society, but people still crave human interaction to help cut through the noise. In this regard, the telephone is the most potent prospecting tool in a salesperson's arsenal.
Time blocking is the tool of top performers. These sessions ensure new business is generated and the pipeline remains healthy. The calling "power hours" should coincide with your prospects’ schedules to have the highest probability of reaching them.
The importance of having a clear objective when speaking to prospects, be it a meeting or information for pre-meeting discovery.
The data-driven analysis of average prospect touches to yield a result is invaluable to benchmark your efforts.
The 4-step email-prospecting framework, which makes it super easy to craft valuable emails.
The mechanisms for disarming prospect responses and getting the conversation back to value.
There are lots of little gems scattered throughout the text. If you want to learn or refresh your prospecting techniques, this is the perfect place to start.