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Sales Prospecting is the most important skill©

Sales Prospecting is the most important skill©

Sales Prospecting is the most important skill©

Those of us in commercial/industrial sales must use a variety of skills.

I have been a sales training consultant since 1978. One thing that virtually every sales person asks me at some time during our work together is, “which sales skill is most important?”

Now there is a common list of sales skills we all need:
Prospecting
Questioning
Features
Benefits
Objection Handling
Closing
Product information and several others.

My response is always the same. Every one of these skills is equally important in selling. The Most Important is the one skill which is your weakest!

That’s right, the one you do poorly or the least. The one skill that you should do more often and/or better becomes the most important.

And guess which one that is for most sales professionals? Prospecting. Yes, the skill that allows us to use all those other skills. Without Prospecting we don’t have enough people on which we can use our sales technique skills.

That is why we developed our Blitz Call® prospecting system (www.BlitzCall.com). When we are in the field and come to a good Prospect or potential Prospect, why not stop. Yes, Fact to Face Prospecting can be very rewarding.

Remember, it takes a minimum of 4 calls to make a sale. Therefore, your first call should be a Blitz Call – a pure Prospecting call, not a sales call. Your objective with a Blitz Call is simply to get an appointment for the 2nd call. I suggest that a typical Blitz Call should take less than 4 minutes, including parking the car.

Just think, if you made 3 Blitz Calls on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday that would be 9 a week. If you are in the field 40 weeks this year that would be 360 Prospecting calls. How would that change your life?

The Blitz Call system has tracking and follow up methods to get you to those next 3 calls.

So now you can make Sales Prospecting, NOT the most important skill.

Sell Well and Often

Bill Truax

© Copyright 2007 WJ Truax

Bill Truax is a sales training consultant living outside Cleveland, OH. He has 3 books, 2 CD’s, seminars, and workshops on Prospecting and Making Cold Calls. Visit www.BlitzCall.com for product and contact information.





Sales Prospecting is the most important skill - To learn more about this author, visit Bill Truax's Website.

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David Acheson
David Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns.  David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website

Dave Kurlan
Dave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website

Leanne Hoagland-Smith
Are your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website

Linda Richardson
Linda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website

John Brennan
John Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website

George Ludwig
George Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website

Anne Barr
Anne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website


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Bill Truax
(Visit Bill's Website) Bill Truax is a Cleveland, Oh based speaker and consultant. He specializes in two skill bases. First, Goal setting and achievement motivational presentations. Second, Prospecting and making cold calls in the commercial/industrial market place. He has been involved in sales, sales training and consulting since 1972 and has trained thousands of people in the skills of goal achievement. Bill has written 4 books on Prospecting as well as skill based training programs on public speaking and manners, courtesy, and etiquette for the business professional. He has written dozens of articles on Goal setting and achievement and Prospecting Take aways from Bill's programs are the skills and abilities to set and achieve all your goals, increase your sales, acquire more prospects and customers, dramatically increase time efficiency and have a lot more fun on the job. visit www.blitzcall.com

Bill Truax is a Platinum author on EvanCarmichael.com
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