--- title: Zig While They Zag | The Sales Blog description: "Zig while they Zag: there are many of your peers who believe the ideas being spewed by the self-loathing. Click to know about!" image: https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/shutterstock_467786540.jpg --- ### [Now booking SKO meetings for 2026/27! 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They take their words as gospel, particularly when it absolves the person of responsibility for the more difficult parts of selling like proactively prospecting, and growing their business acumen and their ability to offer advice. Many of your peers are zagging, based on the debilitating, disempowered mindset of those who suggest that salespeople are doomed, irrelevant, and soon to be completely [automated](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/augmentation-or-automation). While they zag, you should zig. ## Zig **Many of your peers have given up cold calling, and with it, prospecting**. They’ve settled into the warm comfortable role of [order-taker](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/five-signs-that-you-are-an-order-taker). Some believe the great lie that the phone is no longer a useful tool, and that using it makes them a telemarketer. They believe that interrupting someone is a cardinal sin, one that causes them to be something less than consultative, or it will prevent them from being a trusted advisor. **Zig**: Go against the grain here and prioritize prospecting, especially using the telephone to proactively call your dream clients. **Some have given up targeting and pursuing their dream clients altogether, trading the proactive creation of opportunities for the passive, reactive waiting game.** There are many salespeople who are now completely dependent on SDRs, inbound marketing or, in the very worst of all cases, automating all attempts to engage a prospective client. **Zig**: Trade a passive, reactive approach based on waiting for someone else to develop an opportunity for you for taking your results into your own hands and targeting and pursuing your clients. **Most dangerously, some have traded building their personal brand building by gaining a dominating information disparity by developing their business acumen for posting on social media**. There is good reason to be known, and to be known as a value creator. The social tools can cover half of that, the being known half. That approach does nothing about the “value creator” piece. If your dream client knew what they needed to know to produce the results they want, they’d already be producing those results. **Zig**: While your peers believe and behave as if their prospective clients have [information parity](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/how-to-maintain-information-disparity), knowing everything that they know, you zig and develop a dominating information disparity by putting in the work to develop an unassailable business acumen. One final zig. While many of your peers zag towards disempowering and debilitating beliefs, you zag towards those that empower you. [Zig](http://ziglar.com) would have. Never let anyone feed you their fears. ###### Tags: [Sales](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/sales) [2017](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/2017) Post by [Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/author/anthony-iannarino) on August 12, 2017 Written and edited by human brains and human hands. ![Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/ai-blog-profile-crop.jpg) Anthony Iannarino is an American writer. He has published daily at [thesalesblog.com](https://www.thesalesblog.com) for more than 14 years, amassing over 5,300 articles and making this platform a destination for salespeople and sales leaders. Anthony is also the author of four best-selling books documenting modern sales methodologies and a fifth book for sales leaders seeking revenue growth. His latest book for an even wider audience is titled, The Negativity Fast: Proven Techniques to Increase Positivity, Reduce Fear, and Boost Success. Anthony speaks to sales organizations worldwide, delivering cutting-edge sales strategies and tactics that work in this ever-evolving B2B landscape. He also provides workshops and seminars. Connect with Anthony on LinkedIn, X or Youtube. You can email Anthony at [iannarino@gmail.com](mailto:iannarino@gmail.com) [Follow me on my website](https://www.thesalesblog.com/anthony-iannarino) [Follow me on Facebook ](https://www.facebook.com/thesalesblog) [Follow me on LinkedIn ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/iannarino/) [Follow me on Twitter ](http://www.twitter.com/iannarino) [![AISA-square-ad-SKOs-26-27](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hs-fs/hubfs/AISA-square-ad-SKOs-26-27.jpg?width=400&height=400&name=AISA-square-ad-SKOs-26-27.jpg)](https://www.thesalesblog.com/authority) [![ai-cold-calling-video-sidebar-offer-1](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hs-fs/hubfs/ai-cold-calling-video-sidebar-offer-1.jpg?width=318&height=179&name=ai-cold-calling-video-sidebar-offer-1.jpg)](https://www.thesalesblog.com/free-cold-calling-video) ![salescall-planner-ebook-v3-1-cover (1)](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hs-fs/hubfs/salescall-planner-ebook-v3-1-cover%20(1).jpg?width=768&height=994&name=salescall-planner-ebook-v3-1-cover%20(1).jpg) ### Free Sales eBook: Sales Call Planner Planning your sales call improves the likelihood of making a successful call, and it demonstrates to your dream client your professionalism. 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