Recent Articles from Sam Dobbins
The real meaning of no in sales
Every day in telephone prospecting, we hear our contacts use several forms of the word no. But when do you take “no” for “no,” and when might it mean something else?
Strength in sales
People do business, not social media pages. Don’t get me wrong: I sincerely believe that social media has a great place in any marketing campaign. But I work on sales. And even though I’m not pushing a sale each time I pick up the phone, I am hunting for the next great relationship.
Creating a powerful call list
Happens all the time: The sales manager comes in fuming because leads aren’t filling your company’s pipeline. Your teleprospecting team blames the lack of leads on the quality of your list.
An interview with Alice the gatekeeper
In my last article, I talked a little about Alice the Gatekeeper. Alice and her colleagues throughout the business world are tasked with making sure you and I, as teleprospectors, don’t get put through to waste their bosses’ valuable time on our sales pitches.
Top five tips to juice up your cold calls
If you’re in the cold calling business, picking up the phone can be one of the hardest things you do. Dial after dial and rejection after rejection can leave you feeling defeated and demotivated.
Jump on in — the sales are fine
The Latin term en medias res is often used to describe narratives where a reader is dumped right in the middle of a story. Again, this is a reflection of our fast-paced world.
Sales savvy: Keeping tabs on cold calls
There is nothing more frustrating than to confuse “Jacob Johnston” with “John Jacobs” in your sales notes. There you are, getting pelted with in-depth questions only to realize you and your sales manager may be talking about two different prospects!
How to build your territory in 2015
Anyone in the teleprospecting business for more than a year will tell you that lists, lists, lists are your biggest assets. But if you’re in the habit of printing a new list each week and dialing down in search of “treasure,” chances are you’ll harvest little more than fool’s gold. Yes, you may...
Phone sales reboot 2015
There seems to be a dirty little secret in most businesses: We live or die by the telephone. Whether your inside sales team is following up on existing customers or your outside sales force is trying to get a foot in the door, the telephone is an essential tool to your company’s success. For the...
Cold calls, warm heart
Happy holidays! I can’t wait to add that phrase to my phone calls at this time of year. Everything about the season has so much to be excited for. I call it my “A-Game” time of year. Between Thanksgiving and the New Year a lot of sales people wind down, assuming that there can be no business cl...
Cold-call sales: Practice makes perfect
So, I'm in at a new client, and inevitably that client asks, "How do you make this cold-calling stuff look so easy?" Same thing happens with prospects. They shake their heads in amazement over what I can produce with just a few dials of the phone. I can get contact information, qualify a lead (or...
Why the phone still matters
Companies invest in social branding and sparkling websites then are left wondering about the return on investment for this effort. You engage in Facebook comments or personal news media and post blog entries and generally are left creating your company's news all day, every day (you can come up wi...