The Father of Telephone Prospecting

You call it COLD CALLING.

And if by this two word phrase we are referring to B2B selling and the goal of getting an appointment, or appointment setting, then we are talking about the same sales practice.

In the 1950's a man who started a business part time began to use the phone to get appointments with furniture sales retailers. That began his learning of TELEPHONE PROSPECTING. In 1961 he emigrated from England to Canada and got a job in a office equipment company. After leaving that one he ended up at APECO, the company that had been the top photocopier company prior to Xerox.

APECO taught prospecting as a skill, which is the first professional skills training he had on the topic, ten years after he started this practice on his own during a time when sales people were exclusively still "wearing out shoe leather".
In 1964 this man, Mr. Peter Burke, MySalesDad©, won the National Sales contest at APECO in his first full year with the company.

He was so good at getting through to key individuals in businesses that he began to be asked to teach these skills. This he did at APECO, DENNISON(1967), OLIVETTI(1973), CALCAN (1977) and, eventually, through his own sales training company, PRO-FORMANCE MASTERS (1983). It was partly as a result of these requests that Peter became a trainer. And through training and his own desire to eliminate the very negative phrase for telephone prospecting that he changed COLD CALLING.

We know it as GOLD CALLING® !

Roll forward to 2007. Twenty four years after starting his own sales training company, now in his 79th year of living, he has now been recorded for the first time.

This new recording, done by Peter Burke or what many refer to him as The Father or Telephone Prospecting©, starts with an interview, during this discussion with me, his son, he reveals what has changed and how it has changed, as well as what has not. This revelation includes the fact that what he did then, way back in the 50's, works equally well in the new millennium!

It would also be very accurate to say that the phrases "mastering telephone prospecting", "the master of telephone prospecting" refer just as accurately to Peter Burke's skills and/or training.

Using repetition to increase retention, this audio is the only product ever created that has a high probability of teaching you one of the greatest skills in B2B selling, which is the use of the phone to get into new accounts, called Gold Calling®.

Prior to the 1950's telephones were not commonly used for selling. This was the 30's, before the 2nd world war, it was the depression. Things were tough all over and the expansion of the use of the telephone was stunted. It was not until the post war boom in the 50's that telephone use exploded and became common in all businesses and households.

This is why the skills of telephone prospecting were not known or taught then. It is why he was self taught. And how he became THE FATHER of this skill, though Inventor might be a strong word to use, he certainly was one of the inventors of this particular skill.

The audio recording and the book he co-authored entitled "The disappearing art of prospecting©" will soon be released. For now you can subscribe for a free copy of the MySalesTrainer monthly training program by clicking the link.

Stay tuned for more on the recording and the book.