Jeb Blount - Fanatical Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations an

Prospecting is the core, the foundation, the heart of every successful sales effort. Fanatical Prospecting leverages the prospecting success of author Jeb Blount, one of the most successful sales leaders of this decade, and provides answers to every aspect of successful prospecting.

The techniques and concepts contained in Fanatical Prospecting are not theories from an ivory tower occupant or the ideological wishes of a university professor. This is a step-by-step field guide to every aspect of prospecting in the Internet era.

Blount explains core principles of prospecting in a storytelling style that begs you to write in the margin and put your own action plan into place. Whether talking about the 30 Day Rule or the difference between Golden Hours and Platinum Hours, he keeps his guidance at a personal level, understandable and easy to relate to. Clear, simple pillars like the Four Objectives of Prospecting ring true for any sales effort, in any industry and for every customer size.

Straightforward, easy-to-follow visual maps of five step guides for telephone prospecting, voice mail prospecting, and in-person prospecting will prove valuable throughout your entire career in sales and in sales management. I recommend buying two copiesone to read and one to write, draw, highlight, and add sticky notes to. It is that powerful.

Miles Austin, Publisher, FillTheFunnel.com

Law of the Universe: Nothing happens until something moves.
Law of Business: Nothing happens until someone sells something.

Jeb Blount

Jeb Blount

Cover image: Gold iStock.com/idal

Cover design: Wiley

Copyright 2015 by Jeb Blount. All rights reserved

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Blount, Jeb, author.

Fanatical prospecting : the ultimate guide for starting sales conversations and filling the pipeline by leveraging social selling, telephone, e-mail, and cold calling / Jeb Blount.

1 online resource.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN-13 978-1-119-14475-5 (cloth); ISBN 978-1-119-14477-9 (ePDF); ISBN 978-1-119-14476-2 (ePub)

1. Selling. 2. Business referrals. 3. Customer relations. I. Title.

HF5438.25

658.8'72dc23

2015027909

For Bob Blackwell

For 25 years I've hoped for a book like Fanatical Prospecting, and never has this powerful message and valuable advice been needed more than it is today.

Like a prophet, Jeb Blount boldly points out the lies of the loud, popular nouveau sales experts whose deadly advice leads salespeople and sales leaders astray. These experts preach to all who will listen that prospectingproactively pursuing prospectsno longer works. What's particularly dangerous about this false teaching is that it is exactly what the struggling, reactive salesperson wants to hear. Why do the hard work to prospect and self-generate new sales opportunities when some guru lets you off the hook by telling you that it's old school and doesn't work anymore? Why block time to pick up the phone if instead you can tweet, write blog posts, or play for hours posting comments in a LinkedIn group?

The truth, as Jeb so eloquently shares, is that there is no Easy Button in sales. There is no magic bullet or secret sauce. No one sales tool, gimmick, or mystical new process guaranteed to fill your pipeline. In spite of what the social selling Kool-Aid pushers and inbound marketing companies tell us, the truth is that top producers and sales superstars are fanatical prospectors who take personal responsibility for identifying and creating their own sales opportunities.

When a company's sales organization is failing to make its number or reach its potential, it is not because its salespeople can't present well, are ineffective closers, or lack the skills for offering insight or challenging prospects. It's rarely because of a deficit of talent. The reason most sales organizations are not making their numbers is that the pipeline is anemic because the sales team is not prospecting.

Prospecting not only still works, but it's the fastest and most effective way to accomplish exactly what this book's subtitle promises: opening sales conversations and filling the pipeline!

Jeb Blount knows prospecting. He is an authority on this subject because he was an all-star, record-setting salesperson and executive sales leader before building his own wildly successful sales training and talent management company. Today he transforms sales organizations by helping them accelerate performance and speaks to hundreds of companies across the globe each year that are eager to hear his inspiring message about what it takes to reach peak performancefast.

In Fanatical Prospecting, Jeb leaves no stone unturned and holds nothing back. He shares why we need to prospect, exactly what to do, and how to do it.

New sales are the lifeblood of a business. Nothing is more important than securing discovery meetings, conversations, appointments, and sales calls with potential customers. And that is exactly why this is the most important book ever written on this topic.