Suppose you make a call to a sales prospect and find that your prospect has left the company? Don't panic! You are minutes away from closing a new sales appointment on your calendar... 

In this recorded call I had with a real sales prospect I found that the original contact I was calling had left the company 8 months ago. Uh-Oh! Time to think fast on my feet, so listen as I conjure up a quick story about working on a project awhile back with his predecessor. I'm thinking what difference does it make if the new contact doesn't know anything about it. I've got nothing to lose, and I want to get my foot in the door. 

As our call progresses you can hear my prospect resort to his usual 'bag of tricks' when he decides it's time to ask me to send him sales literature. But I'll have none of that nonsense because I am already one step ahead of this prospect's game plan. That's when I took control of things, set the agenda, and closed the appointment.

Then, once we get past the formalities of setting up the sales call on the calendar, we get down to what our agenda is going to be, and form an up front agreement as to how we are going to find a basis for doing some business together. 

The lesson you'll learn from this recorded ‘gold call' is really quite simple. Whenever you find that the prospect you are calling is no longer with the company, relax, and simply carry on the conversation with the new prospect contact as if you are simply continuing the conversation you had with the old prospect. Just make sure you have some fun with it.