This was a tweet I posted September 14th that keeps coming back into my head:

Action & Expertise combine to create Success… be sure you’re taking one, building the second, and defining the third for yourself! @upyourtelesales

Action

• be sure you’re taking one,

Currently I’m annoyed every time someone says “Work Smarter, not Harder.”

Why? because I truly believe the phrase was made for people who were already working hard! Today though it seems to be an excuse not to put in effort and take action.

I was doing a sales training program at a company and heard a salesperson say that who had been wandering around, getting coffee, chatting away with co-workers. BLECH – what that person needed to do was sit back down in their chair and dial the phone. Although I guess that is certainly smarter than what they were doing.

To misquote David Sandler, or perhaps Pete Morrissey the guy who taught me to sell to begin with – successful salespeople do the things unsuccessful salespeople fail to do.

The most basic of those things in telesales is to dial the phone – it is the foundation of everything else we do. Don’t confuse this idea with brute force (expertise is the next section after all) but without dialing the phone how will you talk to a human?

If you don’t talk to a human – how will you have a conversation? Perhaps even about business, their industry, or your product (crazy).

Which of course is how we find business opportunity – then talk some more to define it and qualify if we’re the best choice.

When we are the best choice… we sell stuff! To channel my inner soccer fan “S-C-O-R-E” horns blowing, flags waving.

So sit down in your chair and dial that phone! Come back tomorrow for: Expertise