Diving into the art of cold calling, the discussion covers the essential timing for prospecting and when to classify leads. The host breaks down lead categorization into List Leads, MQLs, and Hot Leads, clarifying when they should enter the sales pipeline. Strategies for optimizing first-time appointments as key sales metrics are explored, emphasizing the balance between qualification and data accuracy. The importance of disciplined deal creation and maximizing cold call efficiency is highlighted, showcasing how to turn prospects into solid opportunities.
16:11
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
menu_book Books
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
volunteer_activism ADVICE
When to Create Pipeline Deals
Create deals in your pipeline only when there's true mutual buy-in to step into the sales process.
For inbound, only hot leads with an open buying window go straight into the pipeline, while list leads and MQLs do not.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Put Deals in Pipeline at FTA
Put outbound opportunities in the pipeline once a first-time appointment (FTA) is scheduled with the prospect.
Booking FTAs is the key metric for pipeline health and helps track reps’ productivity and show rates.
insights INSIGHT
Early Pipeline Entry Benefits
Waiting until deals are nearly closed to add them to the pipeline causes missed insights.
Early pipeline inclusion lets you diagnose issues earlier and forecast sales more accurately.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
The Ultimate Guide to Powerful Closing and Sales Negotiation Tactics that Unlock YES and Seal the Deal
Jeb Blount
INKED is a sales-specific negotiation primer that addresses the challenges faced by sales professionals in today's market. The book provides strategies, tactics, techniques, and human-influence frameworks to level the playing field against savvy buyers. It emphasizes the importance of emotional discipline, preparation, and understanding power, leverage, and motivation dynamics in negotiations. The book includes actionable advice and real-world examples to help sales professionals improve their closing rates and negotiate more effectively[1][2][5].
Sales EQ
How Ultra High Performers Leverage Sales-Specific Emotional Intelligence to Close the Complex Deal
Jeb Blount Jr.
In 'Sales EQ', Jeb Blount emphasizes the importance of emotional intelligence in sales, highlighting that emotions play a crucial role in decision-making rather than just rational logic. The book explains how top sales performers use four key pillars of Sales EQ: empathy, self-awareness, self-control, and sales drive. It also discusses the alignment of sales, buying, and decision processes, the use of micro-commitments, and the answering of critical questions that stakeholders ask themselves during the sales process. Blount provides practical advice on mastering the psychology of influence and managing emotions to achieve ultra-high sales performance.
Fanatical Prospecting
The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social Selling, Telephone, Email, Text, and Cold Calling
Jeb Blount Jr.
Fanatical Prospecting is a detailed guide that explains the importance and methods of prospecting in sales. The book outlines innovative approaches to prospecting, including the use of social media, telephone, email, text messaging, and cold calling. It emphasizes the need for a balanced prospecting methodology to avoid sales slumps and keep the pipeline full of qualified opportunities. Key concepts include the 30-Day Rule, the Law of Replacement, the Law of Familiarity, the 5 C’s of Social Selling, and various frameworks for effective prospecting. The book is designed to help salespeople, sales leaders, entrepreneurs, and executives improve their sales productivity and grow their income by consistently and effectively prospecting[1][3][5].
Tyler Goss, from Tampa, has two critical sales questions: 1) How do we achieve those "crazy" prospecting numbers I talk about in my books? 2) When should a lead become a pipeline opportunity?
In this podcast, I break down these answers in plain English.
When to Create a Deal: Finding the Sweet Spot
There's no shortage of opinions on when to create a deal in your CRM. Some sales leaders will tell you to create a deal before you even make the first call (ridiculous). Others won't let you create one until the contract is practically signed (equally absurd).
Here's my take: Both extremes are problematic. You need a pipeline that gives you meaningful data. Here's how we handle this at Sales Gravy:
For Inbound Leads:
We categorize inbound leads into three distinct groups:
1. List Leads
These are people who sign up for our newsletter or download basic resources where we only ask for a name and email address. They're joining our community, and while some might become customers down the road, they're not pipeline opportunities yet.
2. MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads)
These folks have given us more detailed information through webinars or content downloads. They've provided their phone number, email address, company, role, etc. There's an implicit understanding that we might reach out, but they haven't expressed a direct interest in buying. I don't want these in my pipeline just yet.
3. Hot Leads
These people come to us with their hands up, saying things like: "We've got a team of nine and want to do sales training" or "Our SKO is in February, and we want to hire Jeb. How much does he cost?" These leads have an open buying window and go straight into the pipeline. We'll close 95% of these because they've already self-identified as buyers.
For Outbound Prospecting:
When prospecting outbound we only put opportunities into the pipeline after the prospect has agreed to a first-time appointment (FTA).
Here's why: First-time appointments are your Money Ball metric—they indicate the health of your prospecting efforts. When an FTA is in your pipeline, you can measure critical data points like:
Show/no-show rates by rep
Advancement rates from FTA to next stages
Conversion rates from FTA to closed business
If I have a rep setting tons of FTAs with only a 10% show rate, I need to diagnose that problem. If another rep is advancing 50% of their FTAs to the next stage, that tells me something completely different.
The qualification point is simple: Both parties have agreed to step into the sales process. That's when it becomes a pipeline opportunity.
Some organizations resist this approach because they only want "fully qualified" opportunities in their pipeline. I get it, but you're missing valuable data if you wait too long.
Consider this example: If you work in an industry where everyone's under contract, and you know contract expiration dates, you might be tempted to automatically add prospects to your pipeline as their contract end dates approach. I wouldn't do that. Wait until you've had a conversation where they agree to meet with you to discuss options. That agreement to step into the process is your trigger.
If you're putting everything into your pipeline, you're diluting your data. If you're waiting until deals are practically closed, why even have a pipeline? The sweet spot is somewhere in between—and for most B2B sales organizations, it's at the first-time appointment stage.
Maximizing Prospecting Efficiency: How We Make So Many Calls
Tyler also asked about those "crazy" prospecting numbers I mention in my books. How do my teams make hundreds of calls during designated call blocks? The answer boils down to three key principles:
1. Separate List Building from Prospecting
Research and building lists is NOT prospecting. When we're prospecting, we're just chopping wood. We have our lists ready in advance, and when it's time to prospect, that's all we do.
Sales Gravy: Jeb Blount 
