On Monday mornings, prospects are too busy. On Friday afternoons, prospects are gone. Don’t want to bother the prospect by calling too early? They’ve probably left the office by mid-afternoon, and by the middle of the week, they’re very busy. So what should an advisor do?

One of the questions I am frequently asked is, “When is the best time to make calls?” I’m always hesitant to answer this question, simply because I never want to give prospectors and new business-development pros a reason not to make calls. I’m always afraid that if I mention times that are better than others, people could interpret that to mean they should not make calls at those other times.

It’s true that good times to reach high-level corporate decision-makers and/or business owners can be before or after business hours. Many times, high-level decision-makers or business owners go to work early or stay late. If you track your calls, which you should be doing, you may also notice some trends of when you are able to reach your prospects directly.

The bottom line is that you really never know when you might be able to reach a given prospect, so it’s always worth trying. To prove my point, the following is an email message I recently received from a client. As you’ll see, his conclusions and results go against what passes for the common wisdom of when one can reach a prospect:

“Friday afternoons after 2 p.m., have been the best times for me to reach people in their offices. I managed to get through to half a dozen people this afternoon. Every one of them either agreed to meet with me, or referred me down a level to someone else in their organization. The person who referred me down a level is the person who runs the entire home loan division for Bank of America--a very big fish. People may be tempted to take Friday afternoon off, I know I always am, but it’s a spectacularly good time to call people.”

--Ray Parrish
InSight Consulting Partners

So there you go. People say Monday mornings are bad. Friday afternoons are bad. Too early is bad. Too late is bad. These are all excuses not to make calls. Go forth and prospect!

If you’d like help developing a cold-calling campaign, I invite you to download my complimentary eBook, The Cold Calling Survival Guide: Start Setting Appointments in the Next 24 Hours.

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By Wendy Weiss

Wendy Weiss, “The Queen of Cold Calling,” is a sales trainer, author and sales coach. Contact her at wendy@wendyweiss.com. Visit her at http://www.wendyweiss.com.