One of the most popular myths surviving from the old-school days of sales training is the idea that you will have a better chance of reaching business prospects if you try calling either early in the morning or in the late afternoon, after regular business hours have ended. The theory behind this myth is that, because the receptionist and other gatekeepers are gone, the business owner will personally answer the phone himself.

As a business owner myself, I can tell you that this idea is a ridiculous idea that will only waste your time and make you even more frustrated with cold calling.

First of all, this idea dates back to the seventies and eighties, before voice mail existed. In those days, a business owner would occasionally pick up the phone because it would simply go on ringing if he didn't. Nowadays, phones are forwarded to voice mail outside of regular business hours. They usually don't even ring at all.

Secondly, if a business owner is in the office early or late, it's because he's trying to get a jump on the day and be productive without anyone or anything else in the office to distract him. As a result, he surely isn't going to answer the phone, or for that matter, take the phones off voice mail so they will ring. Chances are, the phone on his desk is turned off during this private productive time. And if you do manage to get the owner on the phone when he doesn't want to be disturbed, you greatly increase your chances of annoying him with your cold call, even more so than cold calls already annoy people.

Finally, if your funnel is so empty that you are resorting to the before- and after- hours tactic to drum up new business, you need to step back and take a look at the bigger picture. If you're in that situation, you definitely are lacking an effective lead-generation system. If you had one you wouldn't need to cold call at all, let alone early and late in the day! Self-marketing is the answer ... trying to call a business owner at seven in the morning is not.

Frank Rumbauskas

Frank J. Rumbauskas, Jr., author of the New York Times Best-Seller "Never Cold Call Again: Achieve Sales Greatness Without Cold Calling," spent several difficult years in sales, frustrated and convinced that there must be a better way than the familiar chants of "cold call more" and "increase your activity" so frequently heard from well-meaning but otherwise clueless sales managers.

While working as an account executive for a Fortune 100 company in the mid 1990s, Mr. Rumbauskas was mentored by another A.E. who went from entry- level sales to upper management in 3 years, something unheard of in this particular organization. This top producer revealed a very basic principle to Mr. Rumbauskas. He immediately applied it and suddenly began to achieve tremendous results. That simple principle forms the basis of this entire program. Mr. Rumbauskas has taken it, perfected it, designed systems around it, and is now able to apply it to any and all sales jobs. He went on to successfully start and run two sales agencies based on these principles before moving into sales training.

His biggest strength compared to other sales trainers and authors is the fact that he is now a business owner who meets with salespeople on a regular basis. He is careful to observe everything they do right as well as everything they do wrong, and his training materials reflect this firsthand experience.

Originally from Linden, New Jersey, Mr. Rumbauskas now resides in Phoenix, Arizona. He is actively involved with various community and civic organizations in the Phoenix area, and is an active entrepreneur - he owns a mortgage protection life insurance agency which uses the principles he teaches to generate business without cold calling, and is a major holder in an emerging wireless internet company. He enjoys reading the great number of success stories we receive from students of this program. If you have a success story you haven't yet shared with us, please do so!