You're all familiar with the idea of the sales funnel, right? You go out and cold call, prospect and generate as many leads as you can. Well, here's something that is bit more productive!

"How are you today?" Nothing defines you as a telemarketer or salesperson more than that opening delivered in an obligatory, insincere way (the way 80% of your competition delivers it).

What are you doing to succeed in today's economic climate? If you're like most sales reps (80%) you're probably showing up and grumbling about the recession, hoping you don't get fired before it ends, and hoping you can make enough sales to pay the rent.

Cold calls - the very sound of it probably sends chills down your spine. 80% of sales reps have found hundreds of ways to procrastinate and avoid making cold calls, but the top 20% understand the correlation between calls and deals.

First, I'd like to thank you all for your Ezine topic requests. I'll do my best to answer them, and generally I look for multiple requests on the same subject. And there are a lot of them because let's face it - we're all struggling with the same objections though in different forms.

I received an Ezine topic request this week on how to handle ongoing customer contacts without appearing to be a pest or without seeming to call just for another order (which was the reason this sales rep was calling!) Do you ever face this situation?

A disconnect exists between sales managers and recruiters that causes challenges for both. Together, they can resolve this issue by creating their company's Sales Talent Screening Program.

I remember a time -- and it doesn't seem like that long ago -- when voicemail was all the rage. There was no e-mail, so people tended to honor and even return voicemail messages. It was a good time...

Here are two secrets of top 20% sales performers - The most important word they use, and the five best openings they use when cold calling.

People ask me all the time what I think makes up a qualified lead. It's simple, I tell them. There are five things that every Top 20% producer knows when he or she hangs up the phone with a prospect.