dance. Now, he was not all that good-looking on the outside, but he had a good personality and a positive mental attitude. He would go to the club every weekend ready to dance. He would ask one young lady after another for a dance. Did we mention he was not good-looking? Well, some might even describe him as just plain homely. At any rate, he was rejected time after time. A shipmate asked how he could put himself through all that rejection and still keep a smile on his face. He responded, “One out of every ten ladies I ask will dance with me. So, every no puts me that much closer to a yes”.   The same positive attitude toward phone prospecting can keep those rejection blues away. Phone Power Principles Once your recruiters have developed confidence and familiarity with basic phone techniques, they should develop discipline in the use of the phone to make it profitable. The following five basic rules will pay off with more appointments: 1. Chain yourself to the desk. Schedule time to use the phone wisely and use it. 2. Set a time limit that will fit your overall schedule and stick to it. 3. Don’t let anyone or anything disturb you. Save that cup of coffee for later. 4.  Don’t use the phone just because you need an appointment. When you believe the prospect will benefit from your phone call, you project enthusiasm over the phone. 5.   Don’t stop on an unsuccessful attempt. Stop on success. PHONE POWER STEPS The appointment power, phone/PDC technique, shown here in figure 6-1, gives a step-by-step plan for setting appointments. The technique also provides suggested dialogue covering some of the circumstances encountered by recruiters when using the telephone as a prospecting tool. We’ll start with determining the best time to call, then review the steps and analysis of phone power. Determining the Best Time to Call All phone prospectors know that some times of the day are better than others to contact prospects. You can logically narrow down some times. Knowing school hours, work shift schedules, and the like can reduce the number of attempts needed to make a contact. Every “not home” contact should include the question, “When is the best time to call back?” Adding this type of blueprinting information (more about blueprinting later) to the prospect card can increase phone efficiency. What about planning cold calls where no previous blueprinting has been done? How can a recruiter determine the best time for phone prospecting for his or her territory? Keeping a simple clock log can narrow down the most effective hours for phone prospecting. Have the recruiter keep track of all phone attempts and contacts  for  1  week.  The  recruiter  should  try  to schedule phone prospecting for a variety of times during this week. The more attempts that are made, the more accurate a picture can be drawn. Make a simple tick mark in the hour that the attempt is made and circle the mark if a contact with the prospect is made. At the end of the week, have the recruiter compute the attempt to contact ratios for the different times of the day. The lower the ratio, the more effective the time is for planning phone prospecting. Keep in mind, people’s schedules do change and the recruiter may want to recalculate the best time to call every 3 to 6 months. Smile Smiling is contagious and puts a pleasant lift into your voice. It’s difficult to sound enthusiastic with a frown on your face. If your recruiters have planned phone prospecting and appear tired or in a poor frame of mind, suggest that they take a few minutes to relax or revitalize before picking up the phone. Their attitude must be positive to reap results. Identification The identification step lets the person answering the phone know that the caller is a Navy representative. Trick calls or misleading representations have no place in  professional  phone  prospecting.  You  are  a representative of the Navy — be proud of that fact. Courtesy Statement Use a courtesy statement to convey to the prospect that you realize that a phone call is an interruption. The recruiter, in effect, is removing one of the reasons 6-2