Far too many salespeople have been conditioned to believe they need to have everything perfectly prepared before making a prospecting phone call.

I am very much opposed to that belief.

Yes, I agree we need to be prepared when we are making any type of prospecting call, whether it be in person or on the phone.

Problem is that sometimes the level of preparation we would prefer is just not possible.

In other words, there are times when you just need to make the call.

Remember, the vast majority of phone calls wind up in voicemail anyway, which significantly decreases the risk.

The way you make a call when you’re in doubt is by simply asking questions.   If you have been selling for any length of time, then you have developed great questions you can ask.

Use one or two of your great questions should you wind up in a discussion the person.  If, on the other hand, the call goes into voicemail, then your objective is to leave one of your standard voicemail messages.

If you look at the call you were afraid of making by using the ideas listed above, then you have nothing to worry about.

If salespeople made the call when in doubt all the time, I know more sales would be made.   Not only would there be more sales made to the prospects being called, but salespeople also would be making more sales to other customers.

The reason is simple: Confidence creates confidence, which in turn creates more sales. 

Sales managers who are reading this should implement this strategy, and the way to do it is by making sure each salesperson has a standard voicemail message ready to go and a couple of questions they can ask anytime.

Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.