Sales Leads: Are They the Solution or the Problem?

DALLAS - Oct. 14, 2013 - PRLog -- More leads don't necessarily equate to increased sales numbers. That's the word from Frank Rumbauskas, author of the New York Times best-seller Never Cold Call Again, who has recently been named the Best Sales Trainer in Dallas by his peers.

This declaration is a bit ironic, since Rumbauskas came to prominence through his Never Cold Call Again book and home-study course, along with having trained over 60,000 salespeople worldwide on how to generate leads without cold calling.

"The problem isn't necessarily 'more leads.' That could be considered equally bad advice as 'do more activity, make more calls' that is so frequently heard from unqualified and inexperienced sales managers. The real problem is that salespeople haven't been properly trained on what to do with leads once they have them."

He explains that since most salespeople have been trained to cold call, and leads generated from cold calling statistically have the lowest percentage of closing rates of all leads. As a result, salespeople don't expect cold called leads to close, and as such, they approach them with exactly that expectation.

"Instead of approaching leads generated through cold calling from a position of power and an expectation of success, salespeople sort of cower and supplicate to those prospects. They come across as begging for a sale, just as they did while making the cold call in the first place," Rumbauskas explains.

The solution? "First, teach salespeople how to sell from a position of power -- a position of having control of the prospect and the sales process right from the very start, and never, ever giving that power over to prospects. Second, put together a marketing program that generates leads for salespeople instead of forcing them to cold call. Leads generated from a well-designed and well-managed marketing program always, and I mean always, convert to sales at an infinitely higher rate than cold call leads."

For more insight into Frank's methods, systems, and teaching, you can find his website at http://www.nevercoldcallagain.net