Hughes - Combo Prospecting The Powerful One-Two Punch That Fills Your Pipeline and Wins Sales

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In a fad-filled sales world that loves silver bullets, Tony Hughes gut-punches us with whats real and what works. COMBO Prospecting addresses the challenges of prospecting with unflinching courage. Sales reps must master prospecting or starve. Companies must embrace prospecting or be run over by competitors who are not afraid to attack the top of the sales funnel. Tony doesnt mince words in these pages. My advice: read it twice and apply its clear lessons daily. Your success will thank you.

CHRIS BEALL, CEO, ConnectAndSell, Inc.

This is a manual for dealing with the biggest problem confronting business leaders, entrepreneurs, and salespeople today... not enough opportunity pipeline. Yet lack of closable deals is really a symptom of deeper issues, and you must not solely rely on others to generate the leads and opportunities needed for success. Instead, you must take control and step into the hard-core prospecting fight cage yourself... youre not really a leader or a serious salesperson unless you do! This book explains how any business-to-business seller can transform results to become a knock-out success. It is filled with practical steps, real examples, and actionable insights. Youll be able to create your own plan worthy of becoming a world champion in your industry.

JEB BLOUNT, bestselling author of Fanatical Prospecting

Creating sales pipeline is one of the top issues facing sales organizations today and foundational for sales success. Combining proven sales strategies with modern methods of engagement is a winning combination for prospecting in todays competitive marketplace. Tonys book explains how to intelligently embrace technology to consistently deliver outstanding sales results.

TIFFANI BOVA, analyst, sales strategist,
and growth adviser, Salesforce

Opening is the new closing because nothing happens with a sale unless you can first get in front of decision makers with the right agenda. Tonys book nails what it takes to cut through all the noise facing executive buyers, and he understands the importance of human connection in a digital world.

ANTHONY IANNARINO, bestselling author
and transformational sales strategist

Tony Hughes is one of the very few voices I listen to when it comes to pipeline creation and new business developmentand you should, too! The sales world needed COMBO Prospecting and this book delivers exactly what you need to know and do to succeed creating your own sales opportunities. Read it and implement. Now.

MIKE WEINBERG, author of the AMACOM bestsellers
New Sales. Simplified. and Sales Management. Simplified.

Tony Hughes is one of the most respected writers and speakers globally on the topic of business-to-business selling. COMBO Prospecting is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in delivering consistently high sales results in the real world of ferocious competition and difficult-to-win clients.

JONATHAN FARRINGTON, CEO, Top Sales World

COMBO
PROSPECTING

TONY J. HUGHES

THE POWERFUL
ONE-TWO PUNCH
THAT FILLS YOUR PIPELINE
AND WINS SALES

THE AUTHORS JOURNEY DEMANDS CRAZY LEVELS OF COMMITMENT, AND MY creative writing has been done while leading corporate teams and, in more recent years, while supporting my consulting clients. In one seven-month period, I was publishing at least one original long-form blog per day, even while on vacation with my family in Vietnam. Insane, I know. The creation of this book, along with my blogging, occurred during the evenings and on weekends at the expense of time with my family. I am hugely indebted and forever grateful to my wife and children, who have been so accommodating and supportive over the years, as I obsessively wrote while also working to provide for our family.

This book was conceived from my blog and the incredible feedback from my readers. I have read hundreds of books and thousands of blogs over the decades, and I am grateful to the sales leaders around the world who have contributed to my learning. Ive asked 100,000+ globally based sellers thousands of questions on every challenging sales topic one could imagine. In many ways, this book is an amalgam of the best sales minds in the world over the last three decades. Ive synthesized timeless truths about influence and sales with innovative ways of leveraging technology in the age of the machines, empowered buyers, and naked brands. Ive credited every person and source when I knowingly express their concepts; please forgive any unintentional omissions of attribution. If your own unique concepts are included in this book, without acknowledgment, please let me know and Ill promote you in my blog and update future editions.

I thank all of those sales leaders who read the draft of this book and provided feedback, especially Kyle Porter and Chris Beall. Most important, I thank my clients; without their willingness to embrace change and without their courage to lead, this book would not be possible. My love affair with LinkedIn leaps off these pages, and thats because Im genuinely grateful for the free gift theyve given the world in the form of an online profile and publishing platform. Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner themselves have had a profound impact on me based on their understanding of networked intelligence and the strength of weak ties.

Last but not least, I send special thanks to Tim Burgard and the AMACOM team in New York for doing more than just editing and publishing this bookthey believed in it. They understood the need to focus on generating quality sales pipeline in order to transform the revenue results of businesses.

If you set yourself on fire, the world will come to see you burn.

DON KING

LOOK DOWN AT YOUR HANDS. HANDS OF LOVE BUT ALSO HANDS of steelmake them into fists. If you take just one thing from this book, let it be this: The left is social, the right is the phoneblended together, they are the social phone, a term coined by Kenny Madden. In boxing, you jab with your left to offensively keep yourself safe and set them up for a knockout with your right hook or uppercut. For sales, you jab repeatedly with digital outreach via LinkedIn, email, text messages, Twitter, and even Facebook; you are setting up a knockout with the phone. The prospect or customer is not your enemy; rather, you are combating any apathy, walls, or resistance that may surround them.