Smart Calling, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER 16Wrapping Up Calls and Setting Up the Next Action

You might determine on some of your Smart Calls that you are never going to contact that prospect again. You might decide that there isn’t a fit, or they might determine that for you. Not a problem: not everyone will be a prospect for you. Move on. A big part of being successful in prospecting and sales is realizing that quickly and not wasting time with people who have neither the potential nor desire to buy from you.

On the brighter side, you will accomplish your ultimate primary objective: getting a potential sale. In many other instances, your Smart Call marks the beginning of a follow-up process, wherein your prospect will enter into a multicall sales cycle with you. Or perhaps while there isn’t much short-term potential, there could be future opportunities, and you elect to stay in touch. In this chapter, we’ll focus on how to determine who is worth following up with, how to maximize the effectiveness of those calls, and how to manage your time most efficiently in the process.

The Success of Your Follow-Up Call Is Determined on the Previous Call

Did you ever have a prospecting call that you felt went okay, but then, on the ensuing follow-up call, the prospect suffered a case of amnesia, barely remembering who you were, let alone being interested in what you had to offer?

Or how about that gut-knotting feeling of staring at your prospect notes from a previous call as you prepare for the next one, racking your ...