As I coach and train leaders and their sales teams to bust out of their comfort zones with the goal of opening new accounts, several key practices have bubbled up as some of the best. So, here are the top three:

1.) Stop taking, "think it overs," "get back to me's" or "we'll let you knows" when cold calling. The only acceptable conclusion to every cold call is a "yes" or a "no" for an appointment. I'd suggest you do this because salespeople waste a lot of time calling on prospects that continue to say "maybe" or give them some kind of put-off. Meanwhile, there are virtually an unlimited number of prospects, for most businesses, that sales people could be cold calling.

Technique: One rule of effective cold calling is to get a "yes" or "no" at the end of every conversation. So, learn how to deal with the stalls, objections and put-offs when prospecting. For example, when someone says, "Call me in a month" say, "Sure, now suppose it was two months from now and I called you and we were on the phone, what do you suppose you'd be telling me then?" This technique effectively, and with finesse, eliminates the "call me in a month" put-offs. I call it the "take it to the future move." Note that while asking what they'd say if you call them further in the future than they asked, it's quite disarming!

2.) Start a lead generation program or expand on what you have. When I ask most sales people how many ways are they generating leads, they might have two or three. You need to have about eight to have some security and on-going, steady results instead of the peaks and valleys the most sales people suffer from! Different approaches fit for different industries.

Possible choices: networking and/or business groups; business journal, chamber advertising, web based networking groups - such as BlitzTime, newspaper, direct mail, inserts, trade shows, e-marketing, billboard, radio, TV, internet advertizing, blogging - such as Ezine, website optimization, sponsored links on search engines and social networks such as LinkedIn.

3.) Get focused on referrals and introductions. This is where 98% of companies and sales people are losing money. They hardly get any of the referrals they could. Have you set a referral goal at the end of each day as to how many you will ask for tomorrow?

Technique: Before you go on an appointment with a client, visit their LinkedIn profile. One of their connections could be a good candidate for your product or service. When you visit your client, ask them if they could help you by way of providing an introduction to the individual as they know them.

Finally, make a commitment to yourself to growing your business through acquiring new accounts. Commit a certain amount of time each week to finding new accounts. Learn how to do it effectively and consistently.

As David Sandler once said, "It's not where or how fast you start, it persistence that counts." Is now a good time to start?