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

Book description

Ditch the failed sales tactics, fill your pipeline, and crush your number

Fanatical Prospecting gives salespeople, sales leaders, entrepreneurs, and executives a practical, eye-opening guide that clearly explains the why and how behind the most important activity in sales and business development—prospecting.

The brutal fact is the number one reason for failure in sales is an empty pipe and the root cause of an empty pipeline is the failure to consistently prospect. By ignoring the muscle of prospecting, many otherwise competent salespeople and sales organizations consistently underperform.

Step by step, Jeb Blount outlines his innovative approach to prospecting that works for real people, in the real world, with real prospects.

Learn how to keep the pipeline full of qualified opportunities and avoid debilitating sales slumps by leveraging a balanced prospecting methodology across multiple prospecting channels.

This book reveals the secrets, techniques, and tips of top earners. You'll learn:

  • Why the 30-Day Rule is critical for keeping the pipeline full

  • Why understanding the Law of Replacement is the key to avoiding sales slumps

  • How to leverage the Law of Familiarity to reduce prospecting friction and avoid rejection

  • The 5 C's of Social Selling and how to use them to get prospects to call you

  • How to use the simple 5 Step Telephone Framework to get more appointments fast

  • How to double call backs with a powerful voice mail technique

  • How to leverage the powerful 4 Step Email Prospecting Framework to create emails that compel prospects to respond

  • How to get text working for you with the 7 Step Text Message Prospecting Framework

  • And there is so much more!

  • Fanatical Prospecting is filled with the high-powered strategies, techniques, and tools you need to fill your pipeline with high quality opportunities.

    In the most comprehensive book ever written about sales prospecting, Jeb Blount reveals the real secret to improving sales productivity and growing your income fast. You'll gain the power to blow through resistance and objections, gain more appointments, start more sales conversations, and close more sales.

    Break free from the fear and frustration that is holding you and your team back from effective and consistent prospecting. It's time to get off the feast or famine sales roller-coaster for good!

    Table of contents

    1. Cover Page
    2. Title Page
    3. Copyright
    4. Dedication
    5. Contents
    6. Foreword
    7. Special Note: Free Prospecting Resources
    8. Chapter 1: The Case for Prospecting
      1. The Real Secret to Sustained Sales Success
      2. In Search of the Easy Button
      3. Stop Wishing That Things Were Easier and Start Working to Become Better
    9. Chapter 2: Seven Mindsets of Fanatical Prospectors
      1. Success Leaves Clues
    10. Chapter 3: To Cold Call or Not to Cold Call?
      1. The Fine Art of Interrupting
      2. Stop Seeking the Easy Way Out and Start Interrupting and Engaging
      3. Just Afraid to Make the Call—Not Cold Call
    11. Chapter 4: Adopt a Balanced Prospecting Methodology
      1. The Fallacy of Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket
      2. Avoid the Lunacy of One Size Fits All
    12. Chapter 5: The More You Prospect, the Luckier You Get
      1. The Universal Law of Need
      2. The 30-Day Rule
      3. The Law of Replacement
      4. The Anatomy of a Sales Slump
      5. The First Rule of Sales Slumps
    13. Chapter 6: Know Your Numbers
      1. Elite Athletes Know Their Numbers
      2. You Cannot Be Delusional and Successful at the Same Time
    14. Chapter 7: The Three Ps That Are Holding You Back
      1. Procrastination
      2. Perfectionism
      3. Paralysis from Analysis
      4. Disrupting the 3Ps
    15. Chapter 8: Time
      1. 24
      2. Adopt a CEO Mindset
      3. Protect the Golden Hours
      4. The Fine Art of Delegation
      5. Blocking Your Time Will Transform Your Career
      6. Horstman's Corollary
      7. Stick to Your Guns
      8. Concentrate Your Power
      9. Beware of the Ding
      10. What Lurks in Your Inbox Can and Will Derail Your Sales Day
      11. Leverage the Platinum Hours
      12. Measure Your Worth
    16. Chapter 9: The Four Objectives of Prospecting
      1. Prospecting Is a Contact Sport
      2. Set an Appointment
      3. Gather Information and Qualify
      4. Define the Strike Zone
      5. Close the Sale
      6. Build Familiarity
    17. Chapter 10: Leveraging the Prospecting Pyramid
      1. Walk Like an Egyptian: Managing the Prospecting Pyramid
      2. Powerful Lists Get Powerful Results
    18. Chapter 11: Own Your Database
      1. Own It Like a CEO
      2. A Trash Can or a Gold Mine
    19. Chapter 12: The Law of Familiarity
      1. Prospecting Lubrication
      2. The Five Levers of Familiarity
      3. Persistent and Consistent Prospecting
      4. Referrals and Introductions
      5. Networking
      6. Company and Brand Familiarity
      7. Personal Branding
      8. Warning
    20. Chapter 13: Social Selling
      1. Social Selling Is Not a Panacea
      2. The Social Selling Challenge
      3. Social Selling Is Not Selling
      4. Choosing the Right Social Channels
      5. Five Objectives of Social Prospecting
      6. Personal Branding
      7. Headshot
      8. Cover Image
      9. Summary/Bio/About You
      10. Contact Information
      11. Media and Links
      12. Custom URLs
      13. History
      14. Update Your Profiles Regularly
      15. Building Familiarity
      16. Inbound Prospecting Through Insight and Education
      17. Leveraging Insight and Education to Power Up Strategic Prospecting
      18. Trigger-Event and Buying-Cycle Awareness
      19. Research and Information Gathering
      20. Outbound Prospecting
      21. The Five Cs of Social Selling
      22. Connecting
      23. Content Creation
      24. Content Curation
      25. Conversion
      26. Consistency
      27. Social Media Prospecting Tools
      28. Social Prospecting + Outbound Prospecting = A Powerful Combination
    21. Chapter 14: Message Matters
      1. What You Say and How You Say It
      2. Enthusiasm and Confidence
      3. What You Say
      4. WIIFM—The Power of Because
      5. Bridging to the Because
      6. The Secret to Crafting Powerful Bridges
      7. Ask For What You Want
      8. Assume You'll Get What You Want
      9. Voice Tone and Inflection and Body Language
      10. Shut Up
    22. Chapter 15: Telephone Prospecting Excellence
      1. Nobody Answers a Phone That Doesn't Ring
      2. The Telephone Is, Has Always Been, and Will Continue to Be the Most Powerful Sales Prospecting Tool
      3. Nobody Likes It; Get Over It
      4. Most Salespeople Have Never Been Taught How to Use the Phone
      5. The Ultimate Key to Success Is the Scheduled Phone Block
      6. The Five-Step Simple Telephone Prospecting Framework
      7. Get Their Attention
      8. Identify Yourself
      9. Bridge—Give Them a Because
      10. Ask For What You Want and Shut Up
      11. Leaving Effective Voice Mail Messages That Get Returned
      12. Five-Step Voice Mail Framework to Double Callbacks
      13. Timing Teleprospecting Calls Is a Losing Strategy
      14. Just Eat the Frog
    23. Chapter 16: Turning Around RBOs
      1. Rejection Won't Roll Off Your Back
      2. Reflex Responses, Brush-Offs, and Objections, Oh My!
      3. Reflex Response
      4. Brush-Off
      5. Objections
      6. Planning for the RBO
      7. The Turnaround Framework
      8. Disrupt versus Defeat
      9. Anchor
      10. Disrupt
      11. Ask
      12. Putting It All Together
      13. When the Horse Is Dead, Dismount
    24. Chapter 17: The Secret Lives of Gatekeepers
      1. Seven Keys for Dealing with Gatekeepers
      2. The Calling-Other-Extensions Hack
      3. The Salespeople-Help-Salespeople Hack
      4. The Go-Around-Back Hack
      5. Persistence Always Wins
    25. Chapter 18: In-Person Prospecting
      1. Limited Application of the In-Person Prospecting Call
      2. The Five-Step Hub-and-Spoke Technique
      3. Preparing for Effective In-Person Prospecting
      4. The Five-Step In-Person Prospecting Call Process
      5. Put Your Sales Goggles On
    26. Chapter 19: E-Mail Prospecting
      1. The Three Cardinal Rules of E-Mail Prospecting
      2. Rule #1: Your E-Mail Must Get Delivered
      3. Rule #2: Your E-Mail Must Get Opened
      4. Familiarity Gets Your E-Mail Opened
      5. Your Subject Line Must Scream “Open Me”
      6. No One-Size-Fits-All Solution
      7. Rule #3: Your E-Mail Must Convert
      8. A Good Prospecting E-Mail Begins with a Great Plan
      9. The Four Elements of an Effective Prospecting E-Mail
      10. Hook
      11. Relate
      12. Bridge
      13. Ask
      14. Practice, Practice, Practice
      15. The Best Time to Send E-Mails
      16. Pause Before You Press “Send”
    27. Chapter 20: Text Messaging
      1. Texting as a Business Tool Is Accelerating
      2. Familiarity Is Everything with Text
      3. Use Text to Anchor Conversations at Networking Events
      4. Use Text Following Trigger Events
      5. Use Text to Nurture Prospects
      6. Use Text to Create Opportunities for Engagement
      7. Seven Rules for Structuring Effective Text Prospecting Messages
    28. Chapter 21: Developing Mental Toughness
      1. It Takes Grit—You Have to Grind to Shine
      2. Four Pillars of Mental Toughness in Sales
      3. Desire
      4. Mental Resilience
      5. Outlearn = Outearn
      6. Physical Resilience
      7. Feed Your Attitude
      8. When You Are on Top, Attack Yourself
    29. Chapter 22: Eleven Words That Changed My Life
    30. Chapter 23: The Only Question That Really Matters
    31. Notes
    32. Acknowledgments
    33. About the Author
    34. Index

    Product information

    • Title: Fanatical Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social Selling, Telephone, Email, Text, and Cold Calling
    • Author(s):
    • Release date: October 2015
    • Publisher(s): Wiley
    • ISBN: 9781119144755