Fanatical prospecting
by Jeb Blount · first published 2015
79% recommend14% neutral7% critical
Why HN recommends it
Practical, mindset-focused guide to sales prospecting, especially cold calling and outreach routines. It suits people new to sales and those hiring salespeople who lack a sales background.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Mentions per year
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…off. Ideally with a small gift (coffee, food, candy, etc.) and come back in a few weeks to see if you catch them at a better time (again with a gift, until they talk). A solid entry level book would be Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount. Good Luck. *edit to fix book name
on “Ask HN: How to learn to sell?” ↗Building a Story Brand - How to communicate your value so people will listen. Fanatical Prospecting - the entire sales process. New books aren't changing the sales game... the same principles apply today as they did 50 years ago: fill a pipeline with outbound calls and then close as many accounts as…
on “Ask HN: Great startup B2B sales books (2017-)?” ↗Read "Fanatical Prospecting" by Jeb Blout. You'll need to make more than a few dozen calls - more like 100 per day. Every day. Keep doing it and you'll learn. Severe amounts of rejection are just part of the job. Shrug it off and…
on “Ask HN: Help. My startup is failing” ↗In addition to the great recommendations before these... To Sell is Human The little red book of selling Challenger Customer (now that they know about the Challenger sale) Fanatical Prospecting Something like "major account sales"
on “Ask HN: What are some good books/resources about sales?” ↗Coincidentally, the current book I'm reading came from a recommendation by a lot of people on HN to the question of how to be a better sales person: Fanatical Prospecting/Wiley by Jeb Blount I'm half way through and it's a good read so far.
on “Ask HN: What are you currently reading? Would you recommend it?” ↗Fanatical Prospecting and Objections by Jeb Blount. These are very full-time-sales-oriented books, and they may be too much for what you need. That said, they might be spot on. In general, I would: 1. Talk to your network.…
on “I'm an engineer that needs to sell my services. Any good books on sales?” ↗…way - industry SIC code, companies with between 8 to 15 employees, located in zip code or metro area, or state, or whatever. It's not too expensive - information is cheap. . Like everyone else says - Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount is the man. I say that the best way is to read that book, but start calling. It always is awkward at first, but after a week of calling it gets to be robotic and easy. A great offer is…
on “Ask HN: How to learn to sell?” ↗Was coming here to reply: Fanatical Prospecting - start there. Glad it is in the top comment mentions. Good book to get a solid base on all the sales jargon and learning the generic sales cycle that applies to all products and services and businesses.…
on “Ask HN: How to learn to sell?” ↗BlueTie is there any way I can get in touch with you? Agreed, Fanatical Prospecting is essential reading. And live prospecting for those types of offices is a good way to go initially and a reason why pharmaceutical sales reps do the same. They stop by, chat up gatekeepers and give them…
on “Ask HN: How to learn to sell?” ↗…trashy detective novels over the weekend but coming up I have: * How to Measure Anything * Deep Work * This is How They Tell Me the World Ends Recently though, I enjoyed Bob Igor’s book as well as Fanatical Prospecting (about inbound sales).
on “Ask HN: 2 weeks off work, what to do?” ↗Read Fanatical Prospecting. I hired a salesperson recently and found that book very interesting as someone who has no sales background myself. Really the gist of it is twofold: 1. Somebody who just picks up the phone and dials…
on “Ask HN: Cold CALLING. How the heck do I do that?” ↗A while ago I picked up Fanatical Prospecting as an audiobook and I would recommend it if you’re getting started. Its all about the mindset needed to thrive in sales. One thing it will do is help you decide if sales is for you.
on “Ask HN: Best Getting Started with Sales Book?” ↗…come back to this book constantly and I absolutely love it. Highly recommended. 5/5. Deep Work by Cal Newport - Could be summed up in a blog post. 3/5 (for the message; lower otherwise - maybe 2-2.5/5) Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount - Could be summed up in a blog post, but I think he makes a point on cold calling - if you need to do it, suck it up and do it. And that about sums it up. 2.5/5 (message is decent and he…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?” ↗"The Art of Profitability" by Adrian Slywotzky "The Myth of the Rational Voter" by Bryan Caplan "Fanatical Prospecting" by Jeb Blount "Fooling Some of the People All of the Time" by David Einhorn "Confidence Game" by Christine Richard "Mouth Matters; How Your Mouth Ages Your Body and What YOU Can Do About It" by Carol…
on “Ask HN: What books have you read in the first half of 2016?” ↗Fanatical Prospecting Should be the book name (I just tried to find it)
on “Ask HN: How to learn to sell?” ↗