I spent the last couple weeks conducting extensive research into a wide selection of blogs that focus on leads and sales. During the exercise I gleaned some fabulous perspectives and learned a lot about how companies regard their marketing departments. 

A lot of blogs deal with ways and means of setting criteria for leads (like ours)  or lead generation. Needless to say, countless blogs focus specifically on the category of sales and every aspect of sales. One of the better sales blogs comes from renowned author and sales guru Dave Stein who shares his wisdom at www.DaveSteinsBlog.com, a blog worthy of being entered into your favorites. 

All in all, blogs like his bring information/education/enlightenment, for which we are all very thankful.    

Frankly, our interest is in helping people close more deals faster, and we are not at all interested in setting a reader up to subscribe to a paying service. 

The TEC-Insight Blog is all about helping people recognize a solid lead and to help them pursue it successfully and ASAP. 

Therefore this new blog series will be a learning exercise to assist one and all on ways and means to close a lead. 

Here are 7 principles and hints I use to close business. I will get into great detail on each topic in the coming weeks. Do you have some you can add? 

Part 1: 7 Essentials for Getting to Speak to the “Lead” 

1. Begin by getting off the PC ASAP and onto the phone.
2. Never make any calls unless you do extensive research! Know your prospect; know their product(s)—and know your product(s)— know them both inside and out.
3. Your first hurdle is the Gatekeeper: you must win the gatekeeper over.
4. Mental preparation: Set your posture, role, and persona, and believe it with all your heart (subsequent blog posts will deal with this extensively).
5. First callers should use the question format.
6. Be professional, considerate, brief, and thankful for their help.
7. Cold callers do not leave messages on voicemail! You could sound like a bumbling idiot.