There are many adages that have been taught to budding salespeople over the years. Most of these are based on years of experience boiled down and then summed up in a few succinct words. One of the first of these that comes to mind is, “Plan Your Work, Work Your Plan.” In those six words is the wisdom of the ages, wisdom that applies to nearly any undertaking, whether it is sales or digging a ditch. When you are confronted with a task, plan, plan and plan; figure out what you are going to do, how you are going to do it and what tools are needed to successfully complete the job.

Sales volume is in direct proportion to the volume of prospecting by the salesperson. Sales cannot be made without prospects. Sales is a numbers game; the more prospective customers a salesperson calls on, the more sales are made and the more prospecting a salesperson does, the more prospects they have to call on. Sporadic prospecting results in inconsistent sales figures, up-and-down sales volume. In times of plenty (lots of leads to work) it is natural for reps to prospect less, but there should be consistent prospecting in order to assure a constant flow of leads to be worked.

In a response to a recent article by sales systems guru, Ari Galper, the author revealed that he had received numerous e-mails from his salesman readership, most of whom reported an abject fear of making cold calls, particularly by telephone. The fear of rejection was the most cited reason for the “cold calling chills,” but all respondents said they would find many excuses for not making the calls they all knew were necessary. Quite simply: Salespeople who don’t make cold calls, don’t make sales.

The ability to converse has a huge impact on the success of business school MBAs, much more so than their grade-point-averages which had no bearing whatsoever. According to a study conducted by Stanford University School of Business, conversational skills (we’re not talking about public speaking here) had a greater influence on the successes of the study group, than did their academic achievements. In her book, The Fine Art of Small Talk, Debra Fine told about having such poor communication skills that she avoided people at networking events and meetings, even hiding in the restroom during breaks. (Did you pick up on the pun in her book title?) Fine points out that the art of making small talk, engaging in a conversation, is an acquired skill. She taught herself and is now a motivational speaker.