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Smart Prospecting That Works Every Time!
Book

Smart Prospecting That Works Every Time!

Win More Clients with Fewer Cold Calls

Michael D. Krause
McGraw-Hill, 2013
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Recommendation

During his career, veteran sales professional Michael D. Krause sold more than $100 million in goods and services. He began selling lemonade at age seven and sold landscaping to homeowners while in college. He became a sales superstar at Fortune 500 companies and a sales consultant. His guide helps salespeople uncover their “sales styles” and use that individuality to close more deals. Despite a certain tendency toward hucksterism and even old-school heavy-handedness, many of Krause’s ideas are sound – if standard – prospecting and selling principles, such as doing your research and developing your unique value and sales propositions. getAbstract recommends many of his teachings on prospecting and selling, but as with embracing any guru, choose the advice that fits your approach.

Summary

More Leads Means More Sales

“Qualified leads” are the lifeblood of selling. The more qualified leads you follow up properly, the more business you will close and the more money you will make. Nearly eight out of ten prospects who decide to buy make their purchases from the salesperson who contacted them first. On average, four out of ten prospects eventually buy, if you follow up consistently. Use the “SMART” prospecting system to generate more qualified leads, secure that first appointment with a promising lead, close the sale and make more sales. SMART stands for: “solutions” that fix your prospects’ problems; “measurements” of your achievements; a positive “attitude”; steady “resilience” and the role of “trusted” adviser, which is how you want clients to see you.

A proven sales process like SMART can help you reach your prospecting and sales goals. Forget sales quotas: Real salespeople use such assigned objectives only as the starting points they plan to roar past. Take four elements into account in your sales process:

  1. “Pain points” – Do you know your prospect’s problems and how your product or service solves them?
  2. <...

About the Author

Michael D. Krause is the founder of Sales Sense Solutions, a sales consultancy.

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