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

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Adopt a Balanced Prospecting Methodology

Poor people choose now. Rich people choose balance.

—T. Harv Eker, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind

“But Jeb,” Janice said emphatically, “I’m so much better in person!”

It was a refrain I’d heard hundreds of times from salespeople who were quick to tell me that they were so much better at one type of prospecting than another.

The “I’m so much better at …” excuse is just that: an excuse to avoid other prospecting techniques that salespeople find unpalatable. More often than not, it’s an excuse to avoid phone prospecting.

The pipeline always reveals the truth. Salespeople who gravitate to a single prospecting methodology seriously sub-optimize their productivity.

I can guarantee that when the words, “But you don’t understand, I’m so much better at …” come out of a salesperson’s mouth in response to a prospecting technique I’ve just introduced, that salesperson is underperforming against their number and cheating themselves out of thousands of dollars in commissions.

The Fallacy of Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket

Imagine that a friend comes to you seeking advice on investing for retirement. They explain that they went to a financial seminar where an investment “guru” presented a “sure-thing stock.” The guru advised that they immediately move their entire nest egg into this stock. What would you tell them?

If you were a good friend, you would be incredulous. “Putting your money into a single stock is stupid. You’ll lose your retirement ...