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)

From my point of view, Fanatical Prospecting is a great personal development book. It is probably good for prospecting too. I don’t prospect. I fear rejection like any sane person, and according to Jeb Blount, the author of "Fanatical Prospecting:" "prospecting is hard, grueling, rejection-dense work.” Thus, I built my business ventures to avoid prospecting and rejection. My customers come to me; I don’t look for them. I qualify them before I get on the call with them. And I don’t really need new customers. My attrition rates are low. A few new customers a month is more than enough for me. When COVID robbed me of my health and sanity, I did nothing in my business for three months. My revenue slumped only by about 50%. I didn’t really need to read this book. I read it because it was a lecture in my mastermind. And I don’t regret it at all. No CONS Usually, I start my reviews with some negatives. Well, I cannot do it with Fanatical Prospecting. I’m the guy who didn’t need the book, and I’m delighted with it! I liked everything in Fanatical Prospecting. On the other hand, I can enumerate a massive list of… PROS 1. Very well written. I’m an avid reader. I read 50-100 books a year. And Fanatical Prospecting stood out, significantly. It’s a nonfiction book that reads a bit like a thriller. It has just enough stories to illustrate the points. These are real-life stories, short and to the point. The author doesn’t beat the dead horse. The material is meaty and delivered in a common, simple, understandable language. This is just a great read. Which leads me to another PRO… 2. Extremely Quotable. I have 157 highlights of this book in my Kindle. It easily positions it among the top 5% of the books I read. Maybe even 1%. Most of those highlights were great soundbites – powerful one-liners, like: "In sales you are owed nothing!” “Prospecting is hard, emotionally draining work, and it is the price you have to pay to earn a high income.” “Elite salespeople, like elite athletes, track everything.” “Effective delegation begins with effective communication.” The above is just a sample out of dozens and dozens of great quotes I highlighted. 3. Brother from Another Mother. I also liked the book because it was so in line with my own personal philosophy. I found myself nodding furiously in agreement about every other chapter. The importance of tracking? Checked. "You cannot be delusional and successful at the same time. Delusion gets you nowhere.” The importance of perseverance? Checked. "Just remember. In sales persistence always wins. Always.” The importance of small consistent daily actions? Checked. "Every major failure in my life has been a direct result of a collapse in my self-discipline to do the little things every day. Frankly, that is all failure really is.” Every fear is real? Checked. "This is why you feel physically anxious before you ask. Your mind reels, palms sweat, stomach tightens, and muscles become tense as you subconsciously prepare for ‘no.’ This is the root cause of your feeling of fear.” C’mon! This is the exact description of what I had felt when I worked on overcoming my shyness. To the letter. It’s like Jeb had been in my head and described my bodily sensations. 4. Secrets of Trade. Jeb has the amazing ability of getting to the essence of things. Fanatical Prospecting is full of tiny tidbits revealing secrets hidden in plain sight. Just a few of them: "The secret: Speak in public, regularly.” This refers to the secret of being good with sales calls. I wouldn’t have ever thought of it. But hey, Jeb is the expert here. If he states that public speaking makes you a better salesman, who am I to argue? "There is only one technique that really works for getting what you want on a prospecting touch. Ask.” Amen to that. We overcomplicate things, not only in the sales process, but in life. One technique; drop mike. "The easiest, fastest way to get someone’s attention is to use the most beautiful word in the world to them—their name.” How to Win Friends and Influence People 101. Yet, it’s the underutilized secret even for those who read the book. "The ‘single most powerful technique’ to get past gatekeepers is to use please twice.” “Yes, it’s as easy as this. ‘Please, could you connect me with your boss, please?'” 5. Ruthlessly Honest. I loved how the book started – from telling why the sales profession is so hard and so profitable at the same time. "Prospecting is hard, emotionally draining work, and it is the price you have to pay to earn a high income.” Jeb Blount doesn’t beat around the bush. He goes straight to the point and he doesn’t try to paint the sky pink. If something is “hard, grueling, rejection-dense” (another of his description of prospecting), he states it in plain words. The author is also not afraid to articulate his position on things that get on his nerves. They get on my nerves too. "Political correctness has run amuck.” “In your life, mediocrity is like a broke uncle. Once he moves into your house, it is nearly impossible to get him to leave.” 6. Funny. Not hilarious. Just funny enough to crack a smile from time to time and lighten the mood. And Jeb’s sense of humor is right down my alley. "Privacy? Forget about privacy. You are in sales.” “(…)smartphone. Twenty minutes later, you find yourself watching a video of a chimpanzee riding a giraffe around a circus tent and can’t remember how you got there.” “Get it through your thick skull that nobody cares about you or what you have to say. They want to talk about themselves.” 7. Productivity Tips. I consider the productivity tips sprinkled throughout the book to be the most universal message of Fanatical Prospecting. Seriously, stay-at-home moms could have used them with success. "For salespeople, though, most time management problems are self-inflicted.” Most time management problems are self-inflicted for every profession where you are free to choose your own schedule. Every freelancer, health practitioner with a private practice, business owner or even independent specialist in the corpo environment commits the same productivity sins. "The two biggest prospecting derailers for sales professionals are e-mail and mobile devices.” “Those are the two biggest derailers for everyone who works with a mobile device and/or email.” “You cannot be efficient when you are constantly being distracted.” The above applies to virtually everybody. Yet, with the stubbornness worthy of a better cause, everybody tries to multitask. "The most expensive thing you can do in sales is spend your time with the wrong prospect.” That hit too close to home. I already pre-qualify my prospects; yet, still the most worthless time I spent is on the prospecting calls with someone I shouldn’t have been speaking in the first place. 8. Personal Development. Especially the last part about mental toughness was very inspiring. If Jeb wasn’t a great salesman, he could’ve become a great motivational speaker. Mental toughness is just icing on the cake. The whole book is full of powerful statements which applies directly to one’s ability to be honest with themselves and do the work. Self-discipline, self-awareness, proper planning, mental attitude – those things are the part of the sales and prospecting processes as much as they are part of life. As I already stated, I didn’t need to read Fanatical Prospecting very much. I’m a business owner, but I’m in the early stage of my business, where my sales skills are not crucial for my success. However, as a solopreneur, I am my business. So, while the prospecting message was mostly an interesting piece of research for me, the personal development teachings ‘in the background’ were the most valuable for me. Summary I recommend this book for every entrepreneur. If your business depends on your sales skills, you will find it doubly valuable. However, I found "Fanatical Prospecting" a personal development book first and foremost. And a great one in this field too. The last time I checked, every single human being could have used some more personal development. Thus, I wholeheartedly recommend Jeb Blount’s book to everyone.

I read a lot of sales books and have for years. This one in particular kept showing up when I searched sales books but I kept overlooking it. Big mistake! I just got it last week and I haven't been able to put it down. In fact, it's already half highlighted! With that said, it's not perfect but parts are for me and that's why I am giving it 5 stars. A lot of the material are things I read before over the years but Jeb Blount has a way of writing about it that sticks and motivates. Here are some of the things made a big impact for me: 1. Chapter 1 The Case For Prospecting: This is my favorite chapter and is excellent for salespeople who need to know what prospecting is about or need a refresher. Jeb doesn't hold back here or sugar coat anything. He identifies why we should prospect for business, who superstars are and what they do and don't do and lastly, he tells it like it is. Prospecting sucks! But starving sucks more! This is a chapter to be reread any time you need a quick pick me upper when struggling with making calls. 2. Social selling: I am sooo thankful for his explanation on Social Selling and that is that it is NOT a replacement for cold calling, emailing, knocking on doors etc. Social selling is something you do to support prospecting. I think too many people try to say cold calling doesn't work and that's such nonsense. It does work today as much as ever! I spoke with a salesman who sells millions in software. He was telling me how he uses linkedin to sell. I thought he would tell me that he doesn't make cold calls. NOPE! He uses linkedin to find names, then he adds them and cold calls them at the same time. It forces him to make 50 cold calls a day. He uses linkedin two ways.. 1. he knows the prospects he's calling 2. he hopes by trying to add them before he dials, it will help him to get better results. Jeb talks very similarly about doing this too but his main message is this... social selling enhances cold calling, it doesn't replace it! This is a great lesson in modern day sales. 3. Time Blocking and 30days: This is not new but he really hits it home... we should all block time to make calls everyday. Just like any other appt. Put it on your calendar and treat it like your most important appts. 30 days: The activity(calls) you make in the next 30 days will be the sales you make in the next 60-90 days. Anytime you break the chain, you break the cycle and sales stop. Overall, its an excellent mix of motivation and technique. There are a ton of techniques on how to call, what to say, using a crm, how and when to update leads. There is a ton of material in here and they are broken up into short chapters which I really like. It's not overly wordy like this review is! haha There is also free access to his website where he has free videos on selling, podcasts, downloads etc... Last advice is this... but the audible book too. It's unabridged and read by Jeb. I've been reading it while listening to it. It really helps it sink in.

For those wondering if this book is worth the investment I'll cut to the chase and tell you that while there are several books dedicated to this topic, Fanatical Prospecting is simply the best book written on this topic right now. Let me tell you why. In my opinion Jeb's book puts the "X" exactly where it needs to be in prospecting. I confess to being one of those persons who is fascinated by cleverly thought out strategies, the psychology behind approaches and a hope for some new game-changing piece of information. (I'm admit always looking for a "paradigm shift".) After being sales professional and managing sales professionals for over two decades I've learned a simple truth - Fundamentals are 80% of the game. It's easy to get wrapped up in the minutia of having the perfect timing, channels, tactics, message creation, etc. Because I enjoy the psychology of sales for its own sake I suffer from this frequently myself. But the truth of it is, while having perfected versions of all those things can help, they are never as powerful as simple act of simply taking action to get started prospecting and developing some experience. The most important thing is to actually DO it. The rest of the book is oozing with solid tips and real-world advice on how to do that. I point this out because this is the 80% part of the 80/20 rule in prospecting and it's easy to forget. WHAT’S IN THE BOOK Lest you think that the only advice in the book is to simply DO-IT, let me share with you how enjoyable it was to find rock-solid advice on: - Mindset - what it should be and what holds people back. - Balancing your portfolio of prospecting activities - Jeb provides excellent insight on the different channels available and how to best balance them. - Laws and rules around the dynamics of prospecting. - Metrics around prospecting every professional should know. - The most common (erroneous) thought processes that cause sales professionals to sabotage their own prospecting efforts. - Career transforming time management tips. (this might be the most valuable part of the book for those unfamiliar with these concepts) - Prospecting objectives - There's really just a few things you are trying to do when you prospect and Jeb crystallizes these nicely. - Prioritizing your efforts - Jeb provides a straightforward model that, if followed, will produce results. Jeb devotes significant time on the hottest topic in selling today - social selling - and I believe Jeb's advice is 100% on the money with what is happening in the marketplace today. If your social selling model is not fully baked, Jeb will help you allocate your investment in this area so that you do not inadvertently waste hundreds of hours each year. WHAT MANY ARE EXPECTING If you are hoping for advice on scripts and what to say - you'll get them. If you want advice on how to navigate a conversation once you connect with a prospect - you'll get it. If you're looking for best practices on how to deal with voice mail and gatekeepers - it's in there. I enjoyed seeing advice on in-person prospecting and then moving on to some outstanding material on both email and text message prospecting. (Everything in the text messaging part was new to me.) In general, Jeb is tremendously talented at distilling sales dynamics down to their bare (might I say, blunt) essence. In my opinion, this makes the book tremendously valuable, because by refining these areas down to their very core he has saved hours for readers in areas that would otherwise represent books unto themselves. I should also mention that if you want to dig deeper you will find access to a tremendous number of resources available on-line to purchasers of the book. You can obviously tell that I thoroughly enjoyed this title and I have no reservations recommending it to everyone in sales (whether B2B or B2C) who want more opportunities in their pipeline and are ready to take their prospecting game to the next level. Enjoy!

This was the first audiobook I listened to after getting hired into my first B2B role, and overall it was a solid listen—especially if you’re new to sales or prospecting. The advice is practical and motivating, with a strong focus on mindset, consistency, and discipline, which was helpful as I was ramping into a new job. It reinforced a lot of core sales principles that are easy to overlook when you’re starting out. That said, I did find parts of the book to be repetitive. Some of the key points are driven home multiple times, which can feel a bit long if you’re already familiar with sales concepts. Still, the repetition may be helpful for someone brand new to the field. Pros: • Great foundational advice for B2B and prospecting • Motivating and confidence-building • Easy to follow in audiobook format Cons: • Repetitive in some sections Overall, I think this is a good audiobook for anyone starting their first sales or B2B role. While it wasn’t groundbreaking, it provided solid guidance and helped me get into the right mindset at the beginning of my new job

Until someone mentioned “Fanatical Prospecting,” I had never heard of the book or its author Jeb Blount. Noticing the book was #1 on Amazon’s telemarketing best seller list, I ordered a copy and began reading with an open mind. The book, especially at the beginning and the very end, is about 50% standard sales motivation content covering well-trodden material like the amygdala/lizard brain, Amy Cuddy’s TED talk on body language, etc. However, the other 50% delivers very practical processes and templates that make the book one of the better sales books available. All told, I felt the book was a must read. Here is my summary of key-take-ways: 1. Knowing that activity takes 90+ days to pay off, successful salespeople relentlessly fill their pipeline through a mixture of telephone, in-person, e-mail, social selling, text messaging, referrals, networking, inbound leads, trade shows, and cold calling. 2. Here is the brutal truth: Salespeople who ignore the phone fail.” 3. “Top performers organize their day into distinct time blocks dedicated to specific activities, concentrating their focus and eliminating distractions within those blocks… We schedule our prospecting blocks [on our calendars] into three “Power Hours” that are spread across the day—morning, midday, and afternoon.” 4. “While setting an appointment is your primary objective with prospects you have already prequalified as potential buyers, gathering information is your primary objective with prospects you have not qualified.” 5. “Our data and data that we've gathered and analyzed from a diverse set of sources indicate that it takes, on average: 1 to 3 touches to reengage an inactive customer 1 to 5 touches to engage a prospect who is in the buying window and is familiar with you and your brand 3 to 10 touches to engage a prospect who has a high degree of familiarity with you or your brand, but is not in the buying window 5 to 12 touches to engage a warm inbound lead 5 to 20 touches to engage a prospect who has some familiarity with you and your brand—buying window dependent 20 to 50 touches to engage a cold prospect who does not know you or your brand.” 6. “The bottom line is people don't want to be pitched or “sold” on social media. They prefer to connect, interact, and learn. For this reason, the social channel is better suited to building familiarity, lead nurturing, research, nuanced inbound prospecting, and trigger-event awareness.” 7. “Prospects meet with you for their reasons, not yours. You must articulate the value of spending time with you in the context of what is most important to them. Your message must demonstrate a sincere interest in listening to them, learning about them, and solving their unique problems.” 8. “Just saying, “I'd like 15 minutes of your time because I want to learn more about you and your company” works surprisingly well with many prospects.” 9. “When salespeople ask me when they should leave a voice mail, I always answer, “When it matters.”… Keep voice mail messages to 30 seconds.” 10. “Timing Teleprospecting Calls Is a Losing Strategy… So, forget about timing your calls and commit instead to a daily, first-thing-in-the-morning call block.” 11. “The feeling of rejection happens the moment you get a reflex response, brush-off, or objection (RBO)… Overcoming doesn't work. There is a universal law of human behavior: You cannot argue another person into believing that they are wrong. The more you push another person, the more they dig their heels in and resist you… There is a better way. Rather than attempting to overcome—defeating or prevailing over your prospect—you should disrupt their expectations and thought patterns when they push back with a no. The key is a disruptive statement or question that turns them around so that they lean toward you rather than move away from away from you… When they say they're busy, instead of arguing them into how you will only take a little bit of their time, say, “I figured you would be.” Agreeing with them disrupts their thought pattern… When they say, “Just send me some information,” say, “Tell me specifically what you are looking for.” This calls their bluff and forces engagement… When they say, “I'm not interested,” say, “That makes sense. Most people aren't.” Their brain isn't ready for you to agree with them… One phrase you want to avoid is “I understand.” When you use the phrase “I understand,” you sound just like every other schmuck who uses this phrase as insincere filler so they can get back to pitching. It demonstrates zero empathy and tells your prospect that you are not listening and don't care.” 12. The salespeople-help-salespeople hack is an awesome secret weapon.” 13. “Truly effective salespeople understand that it is all about asking the prospect the right questions and demonstrating that you can help them solve a particular problem or issue.” 14. Don't send bulk e-mail. Prospecting e-mail is one to one. It is one e-mail from your address sent to one individual, one e-mail at a time… Avoid attaching images… Avoid hyperlinks… never use “Hi” or “Hello” or “Dear” or any other salutation in front of your prospect's name. No one in business does that except salespeople. “Hi __” is a complete turnoff for prospects.”

This is by far one of my favorite works from Jeb. I keep my copy on my desk for daily reference. This is a fantastic book that I highly recommend.

OUTLEARN = OUTEARN If there’s one skill that separates top producers from everyone else, it’s prospecting and Fanatical Prospecting nails it. Practical, direct, and immediately actionable, this book gives you the tools and mindset to fill your pipeline fast. It’s not theory... it’s a daily playbook. One of the core sales books every seller and sales leader should read, reread, and live by.

I can see why Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount is the #1 selling in it's main category. The author covers cold calling, referral selling (although that chapter is a little short), selling socially, and more. But he cover completely the reasons reps don't prospect. He knows their excuses for putting off calling prospects on the phone. He summed it up nicely on page 18 (of the hardback edition), "It is not the "cold" call that is hard, it is the interrupting. Reps are just afraid to make the call, not the cold call". And I have found that to be true. And the author seems to completely understand the reason for sales slumps, and he explains the cure....keeping accurate records of your sales activity. Because the reason for a sales slump is almost universally, that the rep has simply stopped prospecting, and doesn't want to admit it. Blount says this on page 39 "You cannot be delusional and successful at the same time". Then goes on to give the reason reps don't keep records...it's easier to delude themselves into thinking they are working, when they are not. The author talks about "perfectionism" in the most profitable way, that it's a way of deluding yourself that "not actually working is a virtue, when it's just fear of rejection. "I'm just a perfectionist, I guess" kills sales..and sales careers. Blount expands the purpose of the prospecting call to include; set an appointment, gather information and qualify, close a sale, and build familiarity. By doing that, you can keep prospects on a "track". It isn't just one "yes or no" call. Every call can build on the last call, each moving the sale forward. You learn about personal branding, the "Marketing" aspect of selling. The author devotes a good amount of time on this, essentially telling you to make the person more aware of you, before the prospecting call. And that is really good advice. On page 141 is about the smartest thing I've ever read in a book on sales prospecting. I won't spoil it for you, but it's an approach that is completely non-salesy, and is going to be seen as highly complimentary to the prospect. I suggest you use the approach, as written in the book. I think you'll be surprises at how effective it will be for you. You get a very straight forward template on how to make a great prospecting call, that starts on page 154. Several pages after that, giving the complete approach and script ideas... make the book a good value, all on its own. He also talks about in person prospecting, e-mail prospecting, using voice mail, and text messaging to prospect. A solid course on the subject of sales prospecting. If the author gave exactly the same information in a three day seminar, and charged $500 for it, I'd feel it was a bargain.