This week inside sales warriors have a new book to add to their reading list, Art Sobczak’s new book, Smart Calling. Finally a book that differentiates between prospecting as a necessity and discourages cold calling by calling it “distasteful.”
I’ve blogged about Art in the past, A Pioneer Celebrates 25 Years, I like to refer to him as the ”godfather of inside sales” because I remember, many years ago, listening to his audio Telesales College and felt grateful that someone finally recognized telesales as a viable profession and explored the necessary skills for success. Art has published many books throughout the years and his latest one has received accolades as in it’s first week has reached #1 in Amazon rankings.
What I like about this book is that it endorses the phone as the primary tool. That’s right, at a time when we are surrounded by social media influences, blasted with emails and connect rates continue to decline, Art still makes a case for the phone and even dispels common prospecting myths. In Smart Calling, he defines it as:
1. Acquiring intelligence about people, companies, and industries prior to speaking with a decision maker.
2. Using that information within a proven prospecting and sales process, speaking in a conversational, consultative dialigue that puts both you and the prospect at east.
3. Consequently helping prospects take actions (buying from you) that they feel good aboout and from which they gain value.
Art is solid on details and his organized explanations are perfect for ambitious inside sales professionals who want to immediately try his recommendations.
The good news is that my book has a new friend to hang out with on Border’s bookshelves- Smart Move!
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