In our training workshops we often get questions about how to get "referred leads" so sales professional don't have to prospect anymore. It seems as if we will go to any length to avoid having to make cold calls.

In the 28 years that I have been training sales professionals, I have seen very few who actually know how to actively pursue referred leads and even fewer who actually do.

Now when we talk about getting referred leads when making cold calls, most sales people will think I am crazy.

We I was cold calling in Houston with a salesman not long ago we got at least one referred lead from every cold call we made. Even I was amazed.

The way I do cold calls, they are simply brief calls made to meet the prospect, introduce myself and my company, get an appointment to comeback, and then get out. We are finding that many times the prospect will give you time right then. The idea behind the my prospecting system is that you should never simply drive past a good potential customer without stopping.

One of the things you find when you make cold calls on a regular basis is that you will have a lot of the prospects sit and talk with you. I am not sure why this is happening more now than before. It is either that people are getting more comfortable making the cold calls or the prospects are not being called enough and welcome the company. Either way, it is really fun to prospect in the field these days.

We were calling on people involved with quality assurance and I could see a plaque in everybody's office indicating membership in the local chapter of their association.

One of the first prospects we called on suggested that we call on one of his friends from the association in another company. We did and got an appointment two days later which included a complete tour of their testing facilities.

Acting on that premise, everyone that we called on for that week we simply asked, "Is there anyone else that you know in this area that we might call on?" They would give us a name and I would ask if it was all right to use their name. Everyone said it was OK.

My assignment was to help the salesman develop his skill at prospecting, making cold calls. But it turned into a week of going from one cold call to referred lead, after referred lead.

This may not work in every industry, but when you call on people who have a strong tie to a common organization or association, give it a try. The secret is simple you just have to do it.

Who knows, maybe you too will get referred leads when prospecting.

Sell Well and Often!

Bill Truax
Bill@BlitzCall.com
800-253-1214

Copyright 2006 WJ Truax

Bill Truax

Bill is President of TRUFIELD ENTERPRISES, Inc. a firm specializing in Sales Operations Consulting and skill based training programs for Managers, Sales Professionals, and Sales Managers. One of Bill?s unique qualities is that he spends a lot of time in Field Implementation ? working with sales professionals and managers in the field.

Bill holds a degree in Marketing from Indiana University where he also earned a Commercial Pilot's license and flew part time as a charter pilot.

After graduation he spent three years as an officer in the U.S. Army where he logged 3500 hours of instruction as Committee Group Chief in charge of demolition and booby trap training at Fort Lewis, Washington.

In early 1972 Bill moved to Cleveland as a salesman with the H.J. Heinz Co. and was selected by Heinz to be a member of their National Sales Training team.

He left Heinz and joined a Cleveland insurance firm prior to founding TRUFIELD in 1978.

Bill and his wife, Sue, co-authored the book, The BLITZ CALL?, A System for Fear Free Prospecting and Making Cold Calls. The book became an international best seller. They have published two more books on Prospecting, two CDs, and they developed and conduct BLITZ CALL Workshops, Seminars, and Train the Trainer programs.

Bill has spent literally thousands of hours in the field making cold calls with sales professionals to teach his BLITZ CALL System. When Bill is in the field he actually makes many of the BLITZ CALLs himself, regardless of the industry. This is to demonstrate that anyone can prospect you just need to know how.

Bill and Sue have also copy written several skill based training programs in the areas of Sales, Public Speaking, and Manners, Courtesy, and Etiquette, which they conduct for corporations throughout North America.

Along with consulting, Bill's focus is in skill-based training, designed to enhance the skills, performance, and promotability of the people with whom he works.

Bill frequently addresses Sales and Marketing classes at universities in Northern Ohio.

When Bill is not consulting or conducting programs he is involved in sales either for TRUFIELD or in the field with client salespeople and sales managers or working with managers helping to develop and share ways to increase effectiveness, motivation, and goal achievement. He has been actively involved in Selling, Speaking, Consulting, and Sales Production since 1972.