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

JANUARY 27, 2022

The research is clear: Diversity drives sales. It’s true. Diverse sales teams can make more meaningful connections with your increasingly diverse customer base. They bring different experiences to the table, learn from one another, and help you understand how to target harder-than-ever-to-reach buyers. Thus, they win deals more often. Research on the benefits of diversity in the workplace prove it isn’t just a nice-to-have; for modern sales teams, it’s a must-have.

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Research Benefit Hiring Demographics 257

No More Cold Calling

JANUARY 13, 2022

There are predictions, and then there’s reality. I’ve never liked predictions. I’m not an economist and I’m not a fortune teller. Yet, we’re asked to make predictions all the time. I understand that predictive analysis tools can be accurate at forecasting business trends and sales performance. But what will happen in 2022? That depends on whom you’re talking to and what their biases are.

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Trends Margin Cold Calling Outbound 356

No More Cold Calling

DECEMBER 30, 2021

Find out what you might have missed from No More Cold Calling in recent months. The most valuable business relationships that salespeople have are those with our clients—the people who know our value, give us repeat business, and provide us with referrals to other great clients. That’s why it’s important to nurture those relationships year-round, year in and year out.

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Referrals Small Business Small Business Cold Calling 194

No More Cold Calling

OCTOBER 26, 2021

I didn’t know what you need to know before opening your own business. I knew nothing about starting a small business. Luckily, the economy was great in 1996, and my niche was referral selling (still is), so I at least knew how to build a small business sales pipeline. My company took off quickly—almost too quickly. Why? I didn’t have time to develop a plan.

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Small Business Small Business Cost per Acquisition Hiring 348

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 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 15, 2021

Not getting the ROI you expected from your lead-gen tactics? Try this instead. Your lead generation tactics aren’t driving bottom line revenue. That’s a fact. Every sales leader says their #1 prospecting challenge is getting leads in the pipe. They complain they don’t have enough leads, or at least not enough qualified leads. Wait, wasn’t lead-gen technology supposed to solve that problem?

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Lead Gen Sales Qualified Lead Leads Marketing Qualified Lead 397

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 Call-back Sales Qualified Lead 371

No More Cold Calling

MARCH 25, 2021

Who paved the way for women in sales? Picture yourself in 1900. You didn’t have the right to vote or run for office. Your job was to take care of your household, your children, and your husband. If you had to work, you only had a few options: nurse, housekeeper, cook, or factory worker. Much depended on your social status as a woman, and whatever you did, you would be paid far less than men for doing the same job (a problem we still haven’t solved).

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Hiring eBook Cold Calling Scale 379

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

FEBRUARY 24, 2021

Are your buyers clamoring to talk to you? My phone rang off the hook the last half of 2020. Why the sudden interest in referral sales? A sudden decline in seller access. When the economy shrinks and companies cut budgets, buyers don’t want to talk to salespeople. Layer the pandemic over that economic downturn—well, it gets worse. No one’s in their office, and if you don’t have their mobile number, forget it.

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Referrals Sales Qualified Lead Marketing Qualified Lead Lead Generation 323

No More Cold Calling

JANUARY 5, 2021

Join me for my first monthly broadcast. It’s a new year and time for a fresh approach to sales. That’s why I’m introducing Back in the Black , my new monthly sales TV show on the Sales Experts Channel! It’s a way to learn about short, fun, and insightful topics. Think of it like watching the news. You get what you need in 30 minutes and move on.

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Referrals Cold Calling Call-back Social Media 194

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

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

JUNE 25, 2020

How to stop ignoring your best source of new revenue. Remember the Johnny Lee song, “Lookin’ For Love”? The lyrics perfectly sum up the most common B2B lead generation mistakes: “I was lookin’ for love in all the wrong places, Lookin’ for love in too many faces, Searchin’ their eyes and lookin’ for traces, Of what I’m dreaming of.”. Are you looking for your B2B sales leads in all the wrong places?

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Lead Generation B2B Lead Rank Lead Scoring 409

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

MAY 14, 2020

Do you know where your clients are? It’s not always about revenue growth. Wow, did I really say that? It surprises me, too, but different times call for different approaches. I was struggling with a new way to position referral selling during a recession. I knew companies needed to trim costs across the board. Laying employees off was just a first step.

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Prospecting Referrals Scale Sales Qualified Lead 428

No More Cold Calling

APRIL 16, 2020

Why do you trust some people and not others? Trust is a word we use indiscriminately, but we do not trust indiscriminately. How do we define trust? How do we get our arms around such an emotional word? That’s a tough question to answer, because it depends on the person, and sometimes it depends on the times. Right now, in the midst of a global health emergency and a global financial crisis , we’re all asking ourselves who to trust.

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Face-to-face Call-back Cold Calling Webinar Metrics 434

No More Cold Calling

FEBRUARY 27, 2020

You don’t have to work 60-hour weeks to be successful. My niece quit her job because she couldn’t handle the 60-hour workweeks while raising a family. She was stressed, had a short fuse, and didn’t smile much. I was getting increasingly worried about her health and was relieved when she quit. Sure, it was scary for her family for a while. One income was suddenly gone.

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Referrals Cold Calling Follow-up Meeting 356

No More Cold Calling

FEBRUARY 13, 2020

Put people before technology in your prospecting. Digital isn’t a sales strategy, hope is not a strategy, referrals are not a strategy, marketing is not a strategy. Sales strategy isn’t yours or mine. It’s your company’s strategy for attracting customers. Not much has changed over the years. An executive reads the latest book and declares the precepts in the book are the company’s new strategy.

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Webinar Metrics Strategy Cold Calling Customer 339

No More Cold Calling

DECEMBER 29, 2019

With 2019 coming to a close, it was time for a new look. I cut my hair and added teal highlights. Why is this a big deal? Because I’ve never colored my hair in my entire life. (I love it!) It was time for some business changes as well. After years with the same clunky, ancient, unappealing website, I also gave my brand a modern look. Joshua Joscelyn and his team did an amazing job.

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Referrals Cold Calling Social Media Travel 207

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 6, 2019

Repeat After Me: I Will Not Cold Call. I want to scream every time I read articles about cold calling—the ones where “expert” cold callers explain how to capture a prospect’s attention in 10 seconds, craft a message to reach the decision-maker, navigate through gatekeepers, overcome sales resistance, create voicemail messages that will actually get your calls returned, and build a sales pipeline that can’t be beat.

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Cold Calling Social Media Telemarketing Referrals 365

No More Cold Calling

NOVEMBER 28, 2019

What jaw-dropping moments have you had this year? Our blackout lasted for three (obviously stressful) days. We left the dark house each morning and returned late at night to sleep. When I pulled into our driveway one night, I got out of the car and looked up at the sky. I was in awe. The stars were peppered across the sky—more than I’d ever seen before.

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Cold Calling Sales Leadership Sales 259

No More Cold Calling

OCTOBER 31, 2019

My family has been without power for two days and counting. Blackouts in Northern California seem to be a regular occurrence as wildfires become a greater threat to the region. But my electricity woes are nothing compared to what the evacuees are facing. This got me thinking … What’s going on with your Q4 forecast? Are you in blackout mode? Are prospects postponing decisions?

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Referrals Sales Qualified Lead Face-to-face Cold Calling 136

No More Cold Calling

OCTOBER 17, 2019

It’s not too early for a Q1 push. How would you like to fill your Q1 pipeline with only qualified leads—the kind of prospects who already want to talk to you before you ever make contact? That might sound like a pipe dream, but I assure you, with my referral selling virtual workshop series, it’s not. You’ll need to move quickly, because we’re already deep into Q4.

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Referrals Cold Calling Cost per Acquisition Sales Qualified Lead 39

No More Cold Calling

OCTOBER 1, 2019

Here’s what you might have missed from No More Cold Calling. Q4 has now begun, which means it’s time to build your sales pipeline for Q1. I know what you’re thinking: “Hold on, Joanne, that’s not how it works.”. Yep, it’s counterintuitive, but Q4 is 25 percent about closing business for this year and 75 percent about building business for next year.

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Referrals Pipeline Sales Qualified Lead Cold Calling 209

No More Cold Calling

AUGUST 29, 2019

Get your priorities straight. I need to listen to my own advice instead of getting distracted by my ever-burgeoning inbox, neverending social media conversations, and not-so-quick breaks to check Facebook. It’s so darn easy today to veer from our priorities. But that’s what we should focus on first every day—what’s “closest to cash. That might mean writing a proposal, researching prospects, following up with potential clients, attending networking events, or asking for referrals.

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Referrals Closing Lead Gen Social Media 166

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.

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Referrals System Cold Calling Social Media 289

No More Cold Calling

JULY 28, 2019

[link]. Check out what you might have missed from No More Cold Calling this month: [Video Overkill] Am I the Only One Who Would Rather Read? Salespeople and content marketers, I don’t like watching your videos. I have to put my earbuds in, and that breaks my concentration. Video is not my learning style. I can read and get your point much faster than I can listen.

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Referrals Video Cold Calling Networking 153

No More Cold Calling

JUNE 13, 2019

Do you really need to sleep with your phone? Call or text me anytime. You won’t disturb me. My phone and smartwatch are turned off when I’m sleeping. They’re nowhere near me. They’re in the kitchen charging. There’s nothing so urgent in my business that my sleep needs to be disturbed. We still have a landline, just in case our kids or grandkids need to reach us.

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Wireless Face-to-face Social Media Cold Calling 120

No More Cold Calling

JUNE 23, 2019

This is a truthful and proven guide for how to ask for referrals. You won’t read that referrals are easy or that all you have to do is ask. What you will read are lessons and insights that I have gleaned from working my referral system with clients for the past 23 years. I’m not braggadocious, but I know what works. I also know there’s a lot of bad advice that’s proffered about referrals.

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Referrals Scale How To Lead Rank 297

No More Cold Calling

APRIL 29, 2019

Do your clients want more from you? Would you be surprised to learn that prospects want the same buying experience in their business lives as in their personal lives? I’m not. We all want a stellar customer experience, and we’re pissed when we don’t get it. B2B customers are just louder about it. Everyone complains about their cell phone providers, their utilities companies, and their myriad of unpleasant shopping experiences.

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Referrals B2B Sales Qualified Lead Customer 261

No More Cold Calling

APRIL 18, 2019

Are you creating an experience that drives revenue and referrals? “How much did you say that cost?” I asked the barista. I knew I heard him correctly, but I still couldn’t believe it was $5.50 for a cup of coffee—not a mocha, not a latte, not a cappuccino, just coffee. He told me that with a straight face—no smile, no welcome. In fact, he was rather rude.

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Airlines Customer Referrals SalesForce 332

No More Cold Calling

APRIL 4, 2019

Watch out for the gap in your referral business! It’s an epidemic. Every sales exec says they need more leads in the pipe. That’s a prospecting problem that hasn’t changed in. decades and won’t anytime soon. What these sales execs don’t say is they need more qualified leads. Why do they always leave out the word “qualified”? I have a few guesses: Maybe they think it’s too tough to get only qualified leads?

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Sales Qualified Lead Leads Marketing Qualified Lead Referrals 301