Smart Calling: Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection From Cold Calling [Hardcover]

Art Sobczak (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 29, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0470567023 | ISBN-13: 978-0470567029 | Edition: 1

Praise for SMART CALLING

"Finally, a sales book that makes sense! As a master sales trainer, Art nailed—no, obliterated—the number one fear of selling in this great book: cold calling! Let him teach you to stop cold calling and start Smart Calling!"—LARRY WINGET, television personality and New York Times bestselling author

"Smart Calling is the benchmark as the highest professional standard for effective cold calling. Take the initiative to read and implement Art's rational principles and you will sell much more and develop a prospect base of potential customers who will call you when they are ready to purchase or graciously take your future calls. This is THE BEST sales text I have read in the past twenty years."—REX CASWELL, PhD, VP, LexisNexis Telephone Sales

"You get only one chance to make the right impression in sales. If a top prospect gets a hundred calls a week, you want to be the one he remembers and buys from. Art's proven methods create a unique brand for you and position your offering as the best option. Art's advice isn't just smart, it's priceless."—BOB SILVY, VP, Corporate Marketing, American City Business Journals

"Smart Calling effectively enables inside sales reps and organizations to accomplish a top priority—acquiring new customers. Art's pragmatic and actionable techniques will increase productivity, success, and professional satisfaction."—BILL McALISTER, SVP, Inside Sales, McAfee

"A must-read, must-own book for anyone who wants to increase their sales right away with less effort and more fun. I'm so sure this book is a winner for anyone who needs to call prospects that I'll personally assure you that your results will increase noticeably after reading it, or I'll send you your money back."—MIKE FAITH, CEO & President, Headsets.com, Inc.

"If you need to make a first call to anyone, for whatever reason, this book is for you. More than common sense, it's a real-world, no-fluff, simple approach that anyone can use to be successful."—DARCI MAENPA, President, West Coast Chapter, American Teleservices Association; Director, Member Support, Toastmasters International

Editorial Reviews

Review

"If you make cold calls, and want to make them smarter, better, more fun, and actually convert them to sales, THIS IS THE BOOK! Buy it to increase your call to sale ratio, and your sale to bank account ratio."
—Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Little Red Book of Selling

From the Inside Flap

Get a "win" on every call

Do you dread cold calling? Sure, prospecting for customers is a necessary part of doing business, but does that mean you're stuck being the cheesy salesman who irritates everyone? Shouldn't there be a better way?

There is. Art Sobczak's Smart Calling gives you a proven system that makes sense and gets results. Instead of following tired old formulas and scripts that customers recognize and dismiss from a mile away, you'll discover an intelligent method for engaging prospects in a productive conversation that leads them to take action.

Sobczak has built a highly successful career around delivering specific tactics and strategies for winning sales communications. In Smart Calling, he lets you in on his more than twenty-five years' experience, giving you the field-tested, practical information you need to make your calls work while skipping the abstract theory and fancy slogans.

Filled with hundreds of real-world stories and example conversations, Smart Calling equips you to:

• Gather intelligence to make your calls smart

• Utilize the latest "social engineering" techniques

• Generate interest with great opening statements

• Deal effectively with resistance

• Work with screeners, gatekeepers, and assistants

• Listen and learn from your customers

• Get commitment for action

• Stay motivated

• Never be "rejected" again

• And more!

Nobody likes cold calling, and for good reason. Most of the time, cold calls don't work and end up wasting everyone's time. Smart Calling gives you a new and better approach to winning the quality sales that drive growth and create opportunities. So forget about cold calling; get Smart Calling. Don't pick up the phone without it!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 29, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470567023
• ISBN-13: 978-0470567029
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 0.9 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #44 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Retailing

More About the Author

Since he was 14 years old, in his first sales job, on the phone selling tickets to the police fundraising circus, Art Sobczak has been a student, practitioner, and for the past 27 years, also a teacher of professional sales and prospecting using the phone.

All through high school and college he held a variety of jobs that allowed him to sit in the comfort of an office, making money for others, and himself, simply by talking on the phone. He knew he was on to something. That trend continued after college in corporate sales positions with the original AT&T, and with a division of American Express.

Since forming his company, Business By Phone Inc. in 1983, Art has helped hundreds of thousands of salespeople--and those who might not have considered themselves being in sales--to generate untold millions of dollars and extraordinary success by saying and doing the right things by phone using conversational, common-sense, non-salesy processes and techniques.

He provides this assistance through many forms: customized onsite training workshops for companies and associations (over 1200 delivered), his public Telesales College two-day training seminars, he has authored over 100 audio, video, and printed and electronic learning resources, for over 26 years he has written and published the monthly Telephone Prospecting and Selling Report training newsletter, and for over 10 years his free weekly sales tips ezine.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 68 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Just For Salespeople March 31, 2010

By Ian Brodie

Format:Hardcover

I've just finished reading a review copy of Art's book. I did it in one sitting.

As someone who is a consultant by trade, but who needs to sell; and who works with professionals who, like me, aren't primarily salespeople - my thoughts before reading were that this might have some relevance and a few tips I could glean for myself and my clients.

it turns out there was a whole lot more.

The book is aimed at salespeople - but it's highly relevant to consultants, lawyers and other professionals. The approach it teaches you is light years away from the painful, pushy calls you'll have received from telesales people in the past. It's client focused, and it's about establishing a genuine consultative dialogue with potential clients right from the off.

It covers a number of areas which professionals typically struggle with:

* How to research a potential client in advance so that the call becomes a warm rather than cold one
* The right words to use in the critical first 20 seconds to grab a prospects attention
* Ho to come across as a peer-level professional rather than a cheesy salesperson
* How to structure an engaging dialogue that gets prospects to take action
* How to stay motivated and avoid morale-sapping rejection

Personally, over the years, I've improved my telephone prospecting skills significantly. The more you do it, the more comfortable you get, and you slowly build up your knowledge of what works and what doesn't.

The trouble is, it's very slow progress. You learn more about what doesn't work than what does.

Art's book really helps you shortcut this process and learn what works in a professional and ethcial way for telephone prospecting.

Ian

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars For Retail or Corporate September 13, 2010

By Mazahreh

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

One of the best sales books I have ever read along with SPIN selling, and SPIN selling field book. Sales has three stages: Getting the appointment, the presentation, and follow up & closing. This guy has loads and loads of practical information regarding Getting the appointment. I am an individual life insurance salesman, and if you are calling 100 people to get 5 appointments, then after you read this book, you'll get 50 or 60 appointments (imagine how much would that affect your income). Get it without even thinking about it.

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Smart Art Calling! April 1, 2010

By Mark D. Blodgett

Format:Hardcover

I have read or perused all the "cold calling" books out there. This is one of the best. Not only is Art at the top of his game in the training "biz" this guy can flat out write. Smart Calling is a no nonsense guide that can take an amateur in one evening and give them the skills they need to be confident and knowledgeable the next day. You will not have to spend hours skimming for how to leave a voice mail. All that you need is easy to find and easy to understand. Smart Calling is a must have for any sales library.

Mark Blodgett
Phone Warrior