No More Cold Calling

MARCH 8, 2023

Get inspired by this trio of remarkable women. Imagine a woman earning a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering. Imagine a black woman mathematician performing complex calculations that help the United States fly into space. Imagine an actress, known as the most beautiful woman in the world, becoming a technology innovator. Not hard to do, right?

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Film Hiring Hotels Engineering 156

No More Cold Calling

DECEMBER 6, 2022

These 14 words have lost all meaning to me. It has been said that cursing shows a lack of vocabulary. Maybe so, but I find buzzwords to be even more uncreative and obnoxious. Sales buzzwords are as abundant as bees in summer, and they’re so overused that they’ve lost all their sting. This buzzword definition from Merriam-Webster cracked me up: “An important-sounding usually technical word or phrase often of little meaning used chiefly to impress laymen.”.

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Fashion Pivotal Cold Calling Quota 207

No More Cold Calling

NOVEMBER 23, 2021

This is the most common mistake sellers make when video conferencing. I really hate my webcam. (Ok, hate is a strong word.) I have a good camera, but I don’t like the way I look. (Unfortunately, the camera doesn’t lie.) I feel totally uncomfortable staring into my camera. It feels artificial and not at all authentic, but that’s the only way to make eye contact online.

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Video Cold Calling Exercises Conference 289

No More Cold Calling

OCTOBER 1, 2021

Plus, here’s what you might have missed from No More Cold Calling this summer. I’m embarrassed by the bad sales behavior that blasts us every day. Obviously, I’ve never been a fan of cold calling, but now the uninvited sales pitches are multichannel. I’m sure you’ve been the recipient of: Endless spam emails offering to send you lists and then writing to ask if you saw their last email.

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Referrals Decision Maker Cold Calling Social Media 316

No More Cold Calling

JULY 13, 2021

A referral is the best way to get a meeting with the decision maker. There are two parts to the sales process: Part One: Getting meetings with decision makers. Part Two: Everything that happens after that. Referrals help you ace Part One and set you up for success in Part Two. That’s an over-simplification, I know, but it’s the easiest way for people to understand the power of a referral introduction.

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Decision Maker Referrals Sales Qualified Lead Marketing Qualified Lead 401

No More Cold Calling

JUNE 30, 2021

Plus, what you might have missed from No More Cold Calling. I learned a lot more about gratitude after recently celebrating the 25th anniversary of No More Cold Calling. People told me how much I impacted their lives and businesses. Colleagues I’d known for years and years expressed their appreciation for my work. One person even said that referral selling changed the trajectory of his business.

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Referrals Sales Qualified Lead Lead Gen Ideal Customer Profile 257

No More Cold Calling

JUNE 10, 2021

Why I made referral selling my life’s work. The year was 1996. I was working for a global consulting and training firm. The economy was booming, and my colleagues encouraged me to go out on my own. I had no name for my company, but I knew my focus. I would work with small companies to develop their sales strategy, sales process, and sales goals, and incorporate these into their business plan.

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Referrals Cold Calling Webinar Metrics Outbound 385

No More Cold Calling

APRIL 26, 2021

Referral sellers have been relationship-building their way through the pandemic. “Video conferencing is a great way to get face to face with clients. But while it may be as close as you can get to in-person, it’s not, and you’re not. If you have a big-deal prospect or client, you’d better jump on a plane, catch a train, or take a road trip as soon as possible.

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Sales Meeting Meeting Referrals Face-to-face 287

No More Cold Calling

MARCH 31, 2021

Here’s what you might have missed this year from No More Cold Calling. If you were asked last year how your day was, your answer would have been: “It’s 2020.” That said it all—at least for businesses that were negatively affected by the pandemic. Their clients weren’t returning calls, and budgets were constricted or put on hold. They freaked out. Too many companies accelerated what they knew—send more and more emails—knowing that strategy was never really successful, even in the best of times.

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Referrals Cold Calling Sales Qualified Lead Call-back 371

No More Cold Calling

MARCH 8, 2021

Even slow progress is worth celebrating. Today is International Women’s Day, and I’m reflecting on women pioneers—trailblazers who paved the way for women in sales, entrepreneurship, engineering, law, and other male-dominated professions. And that includes women in my own family. Did I tell you about the washing machine case? My cousin studied law at the University of Southern California (USC) in the early 1970s.

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Hiring Engineering Call-back Lead Rank 377

No More Cold Calling

DECEMBER 29, 2020

Your referral network is your net worth in sales. “How do I ask for a referral from customers I haven’t spoken with in two years?” That’s what a client recently asked me, and I was baffled by his revelation. How can smart, experienced sales reps let their customer relationships wither? I have plenty of advice about asking for referrals , but most of it assumes that salespeople nurture their client relationships.

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Referrals Customer Social Media Revelation 432

No More Cold Calling

DECEMBER 10, 2020

Why entitlement may actually be a good thing. Remember when your parents told you to turn down that loud, obnoxious music? Actually, they yelled, because otherwise you wouldn’t have heard them. They griped about “kids today” and wondered what this next generation was coming to. Many of us have turned into our parents, and now we deliver the same message to our kids and our grandkids, and to the employees in our multi-generational workforce.

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Face-to-face Motivation Hiring Guidelines 421

No More Cold Calling

NOVEMBER 26, 2020

This isolating year has been a harsh reminder that human connection still matters. It’s Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S., and I’m taking a break. I’m taking the time to appreciate my amazing family and friends, my clients who have become friends, and my remarkable team at No More Cold Calling. Because what I’m most grateful for—this year and every year—is human connection.

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Cold Calling Referrals Conversion Video 358

No More Cold Calling

OCTOBER 1, 2020

Get the latest from No More Cold Calling. I used to think it was just sales newbies who struggled with referral reluctance. They simply hadn’t built their networks or their confidence. When seasoned salespeople started admitting they also felt uncomfortable asking for referrals, I was shocked. I wondered about those in non-traditional sales roles like customer success, CPAs, attorneys, architects, engineers, and consultants—who are now being asked to sell.

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Referrals Cold Calling Sales Qualified Lead Call-back 373

No More Cold Calling

JULY 27, 2020

Research shows cold calling scripts and tricks don’t work, but referrals do. When will sales leadership wake up? They still measure the number of dials and emails sent in a day, when the return on these sales activities is dismal. The last I heard, it took eight to 12 touches to reach a prospect—and that was before the world started working from home.

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Sales Leadership Cold Calling Referrals Lead Qualification 366

No More Cold Calling

MAY 30, 2020

Find out what you missed from No More Cold Calling this month. Working remotely might be great for some, depending on their personality and the number of people quarantining in their homes. But it’s stressful for others and downright overwhelming for many. How can parents even focus with little kids running around? How do couples share workspaces? How are extroverts expected to keep their heads up when they’re isolated from friends and colleagues?

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Referrals Airlines Cold Calling Scale 156

No More Cold Calling

MAY 28, 2020

Please take care of yourself. “ The pendulum has swung too far in the direction of superficial online communications at a time people are hungry for true personal connection.” That’s my favorite quote from David Meerman Scott’s insightful article, “ The 2020s: From the Lonely Chaos of Digital to an Era of Humanity.”. You’ve heard the same message from me throughout this century: Salespeople have become overly reliant on technology to do their jobs.

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Social Media Referrals Cold Calling Social Selling 391

No More Cold Calling

APRIL 9, 2020

You’re the ultimate sales technology—and this is the ultimate sales conversations book. If there ever was a time for real, authentic sales conversations, it’s now. The phone works. It doesn’t crash, and we know how to use it. So, pick up the damn phone and have conversations with your clients and prospects—not just business conversations, but conversations with inquiry, empathy, and understanding.

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Conversion Face-to-face Social Media Referrals 305

No More Cold Calling

APRIL 3, 2020

Don’t panic—here’s how to get your phones actually ringing again. It’s a very scary time, with lots of uncertainty as we stay shuttered in place. We see deals in our sales pipeline postponed or disappearing. So, what do you do? You take action. Sales leaders: Lead generation must be your primary focus. Companies that take action, win.

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Pipeline Prospecting Ideal Customer Profile Referrals 414

No More Cold Calling

MARCH 31, 2020

Waiting could be your Achilles heel—plus, everything you missed from No More Cold Calling this month. When the economy slows, the pace of decision making must pick up. Ram Charan , author of 25 books and consultant to CEOs, said that many years ago, but it’s even more relevant now. We need to take action to build our business in these tenuous times.

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Referrals Cold Calling How To Call-back 326

No More Cold Calling

MARCH 1, 2020

Don’t ghost people. You’ll end up paying for it. A woman I know from my business group met me for coffee. She wanted to discuss having me speak to her team about referrals. We brainstormed the topic and discussed her investment. She made it clear that she wasn’t the final decision-maker and said she would follow up. I agreed to send her a topic outline and pricing.

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Follow-up Referrals Up-Sell Cold Calling 344

No More Cold Calling

JANUARY 23, 2020

Successful sales execution requires more than sales technology. “Joanne, the challenge is always in the execution.” That’s what a client told me more than 20 years ago, and I’ve never forgotten it. Companies today purchase the latest and greatest sales technology, provide minimal training, and then wonder why it’s not adopted across the board. Because it doesn’t actually help with sales execution.

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Guarantee Referrals Sales Qualified Lead Cold Calling 329

No More Cold Calling

JANUARY 9, 2020

Poor leadership will cost you $3.5 million per sales manager. “ Message to Management: Your job is to get the rocks out of the road for your salespeople so they can do what they were hired to do—sell!”. I wrote that 15 years ago in my first book, NO MORE COLD CALLING: The Breakthrough System That Will Leave Your Competition in the Dust. But I don’t think any sales manager listened, because more than half of reps are still missing quota.

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Sales Management Hiring Quota Cold Calling 390

No More Cold Calling

DECEMBER 26, 2019

I’m pointing fingers at technology … really. We all view business trust differently, but everyone knows that trust trumps price and that trustworthiness is a valuable trait for a salesperson. Yet, only 18 percent of salespeople are classified by buyers as trusted advisors whom they respect. That’s embarrassing, unforgivable, and downright scary. Much of the mistrust goes to salespeople who pitch products , don’t listen, don’t know how to have conversations, and only focus on making their quota.

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Pharmaceuticals Referrals Cold Calling Sales Qualified Lead 207

No More Cold Calling

DECEMBER 19, 2019

No one really listens to sales pitching anyway. Are you focused on business storytelling? Or have you reverted to those old, tiresome sales pitches that go on and on about why you’re so great? Newsflash: Nobody wants to hear that. What do you remember about a speaker, a movie, a novel? Not the ads for those events or products. You remember the stories.

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Sales Qualified Lead Hiring Face-to-face Cold Calling 349

No More Cold Calling

DECEMBER 10, 2019

There’s nothing like an in-person meeting to close deals. Sales leaders say they don’t need for account executives to travel. Worse yet, salespeople tell me they don’t even need to talk to anyone. Ridiculous, right? I used to think it was because I lived near Silicon Valley, but technology addiction is everywhere. It’s become an epidemic—people typing away and not having conversations.

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Travel Account Training Face-to-face 194

No More Cold Calling

NOVEMBER 30, 2019

Even the CIA didn’t believe the truth when it was right in front of them. How could the CIA miss signals and overlook deception from a long-time work colleague—someone they believed had integrity? A person they knew to be upright, truthful, and who “played by the rules?” And if the best human lie detectors in the world can be fooled, how can any of us laypeople know when someone is telling the truth?

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Referrals Loyalty Cold Calling Fashion 257

No More Cold Calling

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

Use Black Friday code 50OFFJB. My colleagues at Vengreso created an amazing online course on Selling with LinkedIn for Individuals. I’ve taken it. (Well, most of it.) It’s dynamic and highly detailed, and I’ve learned a ton. (A caveat: We differ about asking for referrals. They say yes to asking for referrals on LinkedIn. I say no way, ever.). Vengreso is celebrating Black Friday by offering 50% off the Selling with LinkedIn for Individuals training course.

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LinkedIn Referrals Cold Calling Inbound 209

No More Cold Calling

OCTOBER 24, 2019

Have you ever been confused about your company’s vision? I have. I’m not surprised that communication is the #1 driver of exceptional leadership. It’s common sense. It’s also becoming a common problem, considering effective communication is in increasingly short supply. We see lack of communication in our companies, when we travel, when we shop, and at home.

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Travel Cold Calling Call-back Motivation 207

No More Cold Calling

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

I challenged seasoned pro, Mario Martinez, Jr., on how he asks for referrals. I never pass up the chance to chat about referrals. So, I was thrilled when Mario Martinez, Jr.—CEO of Vengreso and a top expert on social selling for lead generation—invited me to be on his “ Selling with Social ” podcast. (This was his 126th episode. I waited until he got it right to be his guest.).

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Lead Generation Referrals Sales Qualified Lead Leads 267

No More Cold Calling

SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

When you prospect by referral, you treat all customers like gold. I’d had it. I threw my three bananas, ketchup, and plastic mustard bottle on the counter and stomped out of the store. I’ve never had a good customer experience at that market, but this was over the top. I was in the express checkout line at Safeway. Despite the 15-item limit, the man ahead of me had more than 20 items.

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Referrals Customer How To Airlines 189

No More Cold Calling

AUGUST 21, 2019

Unless you’re a doctor on call, that text message can wait. Did you know that some cities are projecting red and green lights on sidewalks? Yes, we’ve really come to that. Walk on any sidewalk, anywhere, and everyone is looking down at their phones—even when they’re crossing the street. That’s just plain dangerous. We live in a society ruled by the FOMO (fear of missing out).

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Referrals Social Media Cold Calling Survey 35

No More Cold Calling

AUGUST 1, 2019

Referral makers don’t want your money. They want to know you’re trustworthy. You’re going to pay me how much for referral business? No thanks! When I refer you, I put my reputation on the line, so I need to trust that you’ll take care of my connection as I would. You won’t pitch, you’ll share best practices, and you’ll follow up. You’ll let me know if this was a good referral for you.

Referrals 289

Referrals System Cold Calling Social Media 289

No More Cold Calling

JULY 11, 2019

Are you “all in” or just dabbling? Most people (especially sales leaders) share the same frustrations: How do I fit everything in? How do I catch up? How do I innovate? How do I balance work and family? There aren’t enough hours in the day. I want to do so many things, and I’ll never get to them all. . We’re busier, more efficient, and more productive than ever.

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Cold Calling Referrals Proposal Energy 247

No More Cold Calling

JUNE 27, 2019

Connections and relationships are what count. Should I accept every LinkedIn invitation? I’m frequently asked that question. It’s a personal choice. Some people do. Some people only connect with people they know in real life. Others screen every invitation; they write to people first and ask why they want to connect. I’m in-between. I view every invitation.

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LinkedIn Social Media Networking Cold Calling 307

No More Cold Calling

JUNE 9, 2019

Have you forgotten that selling is social? “Turn off your computer. You’re actually going to have to turn off your phone and discover all that is human around. Vintage telephone on old table sepia photo. us.” That’s what Eric Schmidt, then chairman and CEO of Google, told the graduating class of the University of Pennsylvania in May 2009. Ten years later, his advice is even more relevant than it was back then—for college graduates starting their careers, and for salespeople looking to get B2B le

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Sales Qualified Lead B2B Lead Rank Lead Scoring 269

No More Cold Calling

MAY 2, 2019

Hiding behind technology doesn’t drive sales—THIS WILL. Next week is National Small Business Week in the United States. For more than 50 years, the U.S. president has issued a proclamation that dedicates the first full week in May to celebrating America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners. There’s plenty to celebrate. More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, and those companies create about two out of every three new jobs in the U.S. each year, according to the

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Small Business Small Business Referrals Hiring 316