There’s an old saying: “There’s no such thing as a dumb question.” Unfortunately, this isn’t the case in sales. The wrong question can confuse a prospect, seem self-serving, or even be insulting.

Remember that the best way to demonstrate your knowledge and capabilities is by asking really great questions. Here are a few DOs and DON’Ts when it comes to asking questions:

We’ve all had those moments during our prospecting calls when our brain stops working and we say things we never thought would come out of our mouths. This is just human nature. However, there are bigger mistakes most of us make without knowing it. Here are the top 7 mistakes that salespeople make during their prospecting calls:

What objections are you hearing most often? Here are common examples:

When most of us hear an objection, we immediately feel the need to respond with a rebuttal. However, this can seem argumentative to prospects. It also tends to cause the prospect to rehash the objection and stay focused on it.

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The average salesperson spends more time trying to reach the right people than actually having conversations. Executives have created multiple barriers to protect their time. Here are 5 ways to gain access to people who seem impossible to reach:

Last week, I got a call from a salesperson I had in a recent workshop. He was telling me about a "hot" prospect he met with over a month ago who had suddenly turned cold. Here's the story:

He had a great first meeting with the prospect. His solution was well-received and the prospect even had the budget to pay for it. After the meeting, the prospect told him to follow up in a few days. Early the following week, he followed up and left a voice mail for the prospect. He called again the next day and left another message. And another. Then he tried sending an email or two, but still no response. Now a month has gone by and he has a better relationship with the prospect's voice mail system than he does with the prospect.

Every salesperson has had this happen countless times. You may have even learned to "beware of an easy prospect." But when a prospect stops responding to your follow-up efforts, what should you do? I recommend using an automated lead nurturing tool like BuzzBuilder Pro. Here are a few other tactics:

If you like to send a letter prior to calling a prospect, avoid sending generic sales letters and marketing materials. The right sales letter should intrigue the prospect and help you turn a cold call into a warm call. Here's a format that you can easily tailor to each prospect:

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Over the past several years, email has been one of the best prospecting tools I’ve used. However, the problem with the e-mails that most salespeople send is that they all tend to resemble SPAM. Do away with generic sales messages and never e-mail a brochure or marketing piece to a cold prospect.

While there are numerous times you can use e-mail, there are 4 key points in the sales process where I use it most:

There are literally hundreds of books and courses to teach you “101 closes.” The fact is most of them are too complicated and you simply don’t need them. People constantly ask me how to increase their closing ratio and gain more commitment from prospects. The answer is easy: show them the belief you have in your solution and the desire you have to help them.