When we talk about prospecting for the commercial/industrial sales professional we usually consider these facts. First, numerous studies have shown that sales are made after the 3rd call so the initial calls are simply relationship builders. Second, timely follow up is critical so that you can actually get to that 3rd call. Third, we have found that a low key and repeatable system for prospecting is easiest to measure and track effectiveness. That is also a brief description of our BLITZ CALL System of Prospecting and Making Cold Calls.

In 1972, I developed what is now our Prospecting System, when I was working in the grocery industry. I was with a large national company at the time and they decided to introduce a new product in June. They told us to present this product to as many of our grocery store managers as possible in 5 days. I was an eager young sales guy then so I thought to myself, "If I have 300 stores in my territory and I have 5 days to present this product, then I will need to call on 60 stores a day."

I made those 60 presentations and ended up selling more product than all the other sales people in Ohio combined. Not that I was so great at selling, simply because I asked everyone to buy. It was simply a Blitz Presentation with a lot of Blitz sales. After I made the presentation about 10 or 15 times, I could do it really really well. The entire presentation only took about 45 seconds and ended with a simple close, "Would you like to try 3 cases of our new ?" I learned early on in my career that is if you ask enough people to buy, you will sell a lot.

Now, the draw backs of this are obvious. You can exhaust yourself easily; I could not have kept up the pace of 60 calls a day. And of course I used a closed end question in my Close, so when someone said no the presentation was over and I was off to the next call, if they said yes I filled out the order and was off.

The whole idea of our Prospecting System today is to get you in front of lots of Prospects so you can begin to use your sales technique. But I find that there are still times when the good old Blitz Presentation is applicable.

This week I conducted our Prospecting Seminar and worked with a group of sales professionals who were blitzing their territory to announce two new services they are offering. They made as many calls as possible simply announcing the new services and inviting the Prospects to an open house at their new service center.

This was a great experience for me because I have not spent much time over the past few years focusing on this type of Blitz activity. I have been emphasizing the importance of continuous Prospecting throughout the year, making a specific number of calls each week to achieve my goals.

This Blitz Presentation can have many of the benefits of our BLITZ CALL System and I emphasized them to this sales force. They had a real exciting two days of heavy Prospecting; some people made 90 plus calls a day!

I strongly recommended that you make the same basic presentation each time. This way you get really good with your wording. Also, you can then concentrate on what the prospect is saying, read their body language.

Next, keep good records of who you call on. This is a great resource for the rest of your career. Once you have made that initial call you must follow up in a timely manner or you will have to cold call the company again! That is a waste of effort.

We hope that the folks I worked with this week will have a tremendous year with all of the new contacts they made during this Blitz Presentation effort. The more I think about it, the more I realize that many companies could benefit from an effort like this. But you need to do some prep work first so the individual sales professionals reap the harvest available to them.

In conclusion, if you want to give a jolt of excitement and success to your sales force, you should consider the Blitz Presentation and Sale.

Sell Well and Often

Bill Truax

Bill@BlitzCall.com

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.