Ballet is an art form that began in the 1400s and became more standardized in the 1600s in the court of Louis XIV. Louis was known as the Sun King., Tthe name came from a role he danced in a ballet. In 1661 Louis XIV established the Acadmie Royale de Danse to train dancers and dance teachers. By the 1800s the technique was pretty much solidified into a form very close to what we see today.

Ballet, the art and the training of a dancer, has a tradition that is now handed down from generation to generation. The training a dancer receives today is similar to the training a dancer would have received in the 1800s. Yes, there are differences, stylistic and technical. Certainly better nutrition, better health care, and the ability to start training at a young age has also had an impact on what a dancer today can physically achieve. The engineering of the pointe shoe has also changed significantly, allowing the ballerina to dance en pointe for longer periods of time. The framework for all of this, however, was set in the 1800s.

Today, if you take a ballet class any place in the world, the structure of the class is the same, the steps are the same and the approach is the same. The timing, the position and the execution of any given step is not open to discussion. Neither is the posture or the alignment or the classical line. Why? For one reasonit works.

Now lets talk about introductory calling. (You knew Id get here eventually, didnt you?) In many of the workshops I conduct, participants are generally opposed to the idea of working with a script. They tell me they feel uncomfortable, canned, phony and insincere. They also tell me that every conversation is different.

Hmmm..

When you make introductory calls, the only thing that really counts is results. Here are the numbers: If you are calling to schedule meetings, in a given time frame how many times do you dial the telephone? How many decision-makers do you reach during that time? And how many appointments do you schedule? Your feelings dont count.

Some words are stronger than other words, some phrases are more persuasive. Some words or phrases are more powerful, more evocative, better selling words than others. If you say something to a prospect that works to get the result that you wantwhy would you ever want to say anything else? If what you are doing does not get the result you want then you have to tweak your approach until you get a better result.

Its easy to recognize what works and what doesntcount and keep records. Keep records of the number of times you dial the phone, the number of decision-makers you reach and the number of appointments you schedule. If you are scheduling one meeting without of every three or four decision-makers with whom you speak, you are doing fine. Keep doing exactly what you are doing. If you are not scheduling that number of meetings, find better words and phrases with which to entice your prospects. Track your results. You will quickly be able to figure out what works and what does not. Once you know what workskeep doing the same thingit works!

Every conversation is not different. The reality is that most conversations with most prospects are very much the same. When asking for a meeting, most prospects respond: I have a vendor, Send a brochure, Im too busy or Im not interested. You need a response to each of these objections and you need a response that works. Once you find a response that worksnote it down and keep using it. It works. (For a complete listing of objections and effective answers see Cold Calling for Women: Opening Doors & Closing Sales, Chapter 12, page 121, Specific Answers to Specific Objections or Cold Calling College, Module 3. To order visit: http://www.wendyweiss.com.)

Great actors have the ability to work with scripts and make them lifelike every time. You can do this too. It takes some concentration. Part of what makes great dancers great is the discipline and concentration to start at the beginning, follow through and continue to do what works. Great sales people are great because they have the ability to plan, think strategically, discover what works and then they have the concentration and discipline to follow through and continue doing what works.

Where do you fit in? Only you can decide.

Wendy Weiss

Wendy Weiss, The Queen of Cold Calling & Selling Success, is a sales trainer, sales coach and author. She helps entrepreneurs, business owners and sales professionals gain confidence, reach more prospects, close more sales and make more money. Her clients include Avon Products, ADP, Sprint and thousands of entrepreneurs throughout the country.

Wendy has been featured in BusinessWeek, Entrepreneur Magazine, Selling Power, Sales & Marketing Management and various other business and sales publications. Wendy?s e-mail newsletter, Opening Doors & Closing Sales has an international readership and her columns are syndicated to 168 different print and Internet publications.

Wendy is the author of the recently released, self-study program, Cold Calling College, and the book, Cold Calling for Women.

She is also a former ballet dancer who believes that everything she knows in life she learned in ballet class.