Smart Calling: Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection from Cold Calling, 2nd Edition

INTRODUCTION

When I first wrote this book three years ago, I had a feeling it would do pretty well. After all, I had been teaching the same things in my public and in-company training programs for years, and the process and material was field-tested. What actually happened blew me away.

We hit Number One in the Sales category on Amazon.com on the very first day. It stayed there for a while, and it continues to sell well three years later, while hundreds of other sales books have died on the vine. It was named Top Sales Book of 2010 by Top Sales Awards, beating out some other very fine books by big-time sales authors. And the reviews and success stories from people who use the process to get results have been both gratifying and humbling.

If you are reading Smart Calling for the first time, welcome aboard! If you have been through the original, welcome back. While I’ve added some additional examples, tips, techniques, and success stories from readers, the process itself hasn’t changed. But the reason I wanted to do this second edition is because of what has changed in the past few years: our ability to Smarten up our calls, making it even easier to be successful. You’ll see many of these updates in Chapter 5.

So, what’s this Smart Calling stuff all about?

Let’s go back a few years. Okay, a lot of years. I wish I had had this book when I first got out of college and into my first corporate sales job with AT&T in 1982. It would have prevented a lot of grief and made me much more money. ...