More and more people are working from home in the midst of the current national emergency. Between their computers and phones, an incredible amount of business is being conducted. These devices are keeping companies open for business.

I’ve always felt that the phone is one of the most awesome tools we have available, especially to salespeople. We’ve all had years and years of experience using a phone, so why are so many people bad at using it?

Here are a few tips I’d like to pass on to you with the help of Art Sobczak, president of Business By Phone. Art has helped sales professionals prospect and sell effectively by phone for more than 35 years.

The first objective of every sales call is to have a plan of what you want to accomplish. Prepare your questions and decide how you want to persuade a prospect into taking action. Art also advises you to have a “secondary objective for each sales call ... something you’ll strive to accomplish at minimum, every time.” It could be as simple as sending the prospective customer your literature.

Always treat the gatekeeper or call screener with respect. Ask for their name and use it. Gather as much information as you can about the gatekeeper as well as the decision maker. Knowledge does not become power until it is used.

Once you reach a decision-maker, it’s important to first ask if this is a good time to talk. Start the conversation with good news and also have a positive close. Focus on the prospect and listen to what they have to say. The goal is to pique their curiosity and interest. Art says, “You must answer, ‘What’s in it for me?’ for the listener, or they will immediately begin the getting-rid-of-you process.”

If people have questions, be prepared. Have the information handy or know where you can get it fast. Ask only one question at a time and avoid questions like, “Is everything going OK? What are your needs? Are you having any problems now? How is your service?”

Then quantify the problem whenever possible. “How does that happen? How much do you think that is costing you? How much time does that take?”

Art says: “Resist the tendency to present. Some reps get so excited when they hear the slightest hint of an opportunity that they turn on the spigot of benefits.”

When it’s finally time to get a commitment, think big and ask large. Buyers will often move down from a large recommendation, but they rarely move up from a small one. Remember to never ask for more than what is in the best interest of the customer. The important thing is to ask for a decision. “Maybe” is the worst answer a salesperson can get because a maybe can last forever.

There will always be objections, so be prepared for them and resist the tendency to be defensive. If you have an indecisive prospect, Art advises that you get their mind off the buying decision and on the problem or pain. For example, “Jan, let’s look at this another way. What would happen if you did nothing about the situation?” Price is one of the biggest objections, but don’t be too quick to offer price concessions.

Chances are you will be sending some information out to the prospective customer. Tell them what to look for and make it meaningful. Always summarize the agreed-to actions by both parties to avoid disagreements. Agreements prevent disagreements.

Keep your attitude up despite dealing with rejection. Rejection is a part of life. But you can’t let the fear of rejection paralyze you from the start or you’ll never get any sales. Don’t take rejection personally.

Art said: “Imagine every day is the end-of-quota-period day,” noting that sales reps tend to pick up their pace when they reach this time and try to get a few more sales.

Take pride in how to properly use the phone because few people in the world do it well. It’s difficult to persuade someone to take action and make a decision based almost solely on the words and ideas that come from your mouth.

Make that small marvel of electronics and convenience in your hand your best friend. Continuously work at improving your phone skills and watch your business improve. It may never replace face-to-face interaction, but a friendly voice makes for a great connection.

Mackay’s Moral: You can ring up more business when you dial up your phone skills.

There's an old saying: “Worrying won’t stop the bad stuff from happening; it just stops you from enjoying the good.”

Such wisdom! It’s advice I take to heart and try to remember when I’m facing a situation like we’re going through today with the coronavirus pandemic.

Worry is the most destructive habit. I’m as bad about worrying as anyone. I always think about what can go wrong with any project. Over the years, I’ve learned that worrying doesn’t give you anything but wrinkles; something else to worry about. Worry doesn’t do any good. I know; most of the things I worried about didn’t happen.

Worry is wasting today’s time to clutter up tomorrow’s opportunities with yesterday’s troubles.

Dr. Charles Mayo, one of the co-founders of the Mayo Clinic, said: “Worry affects circulation, the heart and the glands, the whole nervous system, and profoundly affects the heart. I have never known a man who died from overwork, but many who died from doubt.”

In my most recent book, “You Haven’t Hit Your Peak Yet!” I wrote a chapter on “The Second Ten Commandments.” The first of these new commandments reads: “Thou shall not worry, for worry is the most unproductive of all human activities. You can’t saw sawdust. A day of worry is more exhausting than a day of work. People get so busy worrying about yesterday or tomorrow, they forget about today. And today is what you have to work with.”

For the first two months of this year I spent a lot of time in bookstores, in the middle of a promotion tour for my book. Browsing the shelves, I found plenty of self-help books. Some of the most popular books I saw were about worry, stress and simplifying your life.

Dale Carnegie's “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living” has been one of my favorite books for the last 50 years. It was first published in 1948, but the advice it contains is just as fresh and valuable as it was then and is right-on for these uncertain times. Two sections that really knocked my socks off were about businesspeople trying to solve problems without the added burden of worrying. Carnegie credits Willis H. Carrier (whose name appears on many of our air conditioners) with these silver bullets:

1. Analyze the situation honestly and figure out what is the worst possible thing that could happen.

2. Prepare yourself mentally to accept the worst, if necessary.

3. Then calmly try to improve upon the worst, which you have already agreed mentally to accept.

Also from Carnegie's book, this particular list describes how to “Break the Worry Habit Before It Breaks You”:

-- Keep busy.

-- Don’t fuss about trifles.

-- Cooperate with the inevitable.

-- Decide just how much anxiety a thing may be worth and refuse to give it more.

-- Don’t worry about the past.

I love this story of a little clock that almost worried itself to death. It worked itself into a frazzle thinking about how often it would have to tick in the coming year.

“I’ll have to tick two times per second, which means 120 times a minute, 7,200 times every hour and 172,800 every day!” Then it went further -- 1,209,600 every week, and a whopping 63 million times, give or take, over the next 12 months! The more it thought about that number, the more worried it became. Finally, anxiety overtook the little clock and it stopped ticking.

And it was miserable. So it consulted a psychiatrist. “I just don’t have what it takes to tick that often,” it complained.

The doctor asked, “How many ticks must you tick at one time?” The clock replied, “Just one.” The doctor suggested, “How about using your energy to just tick one tick at a time, and I think you’ll be just fine.”

So the little clock wound itself up, decided to take one tick at a time and ticked happily ever after. Taking life one tick at a time, instead of worrying about what will happen down the road, will buy you time that you would have wasted with untimely fears.

Mackay’s Moral: Worry pulls tomorrow’s cloud over today’s sunshine.

You might recall the popular movie “The Bucket List,” in which two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die.

I recently received an email from a loyal reader asking if I had a bucket list and if I might write a column on the importance of having such a list because “many seniors just live one day at a time with no long-term plan.”

Well I don’t want to be among that group, and I hope you don’t either, no matter what your age. As I like to say, don’t count the years, make the years count. I’m not ready to hang it up yet and doubt that I ever will be. I still have too much to live for. I was about to go on a round-the-world trip with my wife in late March and April, but the trip has since been canceled due to the coronavirus. One of my bucket-list items was to visit as many countries as I could.

My good friend Lou Holtz told me that years ago he wrote down 107 things that he wanted to do in his life. He wanted to go to the White House, be on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson, see the pope, win a college football national championship, coach at Notre Dame, make a hole-in-one in golf and a lot of other crazy but achievable things. Once he accomplished all 107 things, what did he do? He wrote down another 100 items, and he’s checking off the items on that list too.

Some people might get turned off by creating a bucket list -- thinking it’s a little morbid -- or by creating a list that is too difficult to achieve. I disagree. I believe having a bucket list keeps you motivated and goal-oriented. If nothing else, it makes you think about what you want to do in your life.

I remember taking a road trip with some friends years ago in which we took turns describing our perfect day. The range of ideas was remarkable, and often not what we would have predicted from each other. Our slogan from that trip became “When was the last time you did something for the first time?”

I’m a big believer in writing myself little notes to remind me of my bucket-list items. For example, when I started out working as an envelope salesman, I dreamed of owning a factory. It became a reality for me at age 26. Another bucket-list item for me was selling to the No. 1 envelope user in the Twin Cities, General Mills. I even put a note in my hat. It took a few years, but I knocked that one off too.

When I decided to write my first book, I put a note on my desk that said: “Be a New York Times best-selling author.” That happened with “Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.” That feeling of accomplishment led me to write seven more books, including my latest from January of this year, “You Haven’t Hit Your Peak Yet!” That title came from a note on my bathroom mirror, reminding me that I still have mountains to conquer.

Having a bucket list drastically improves your life. It gives you a sense of purpose. I know it helps my time management because it makes me focus on my goals. I become more productive and efficient.

A lot of times people are too busy plowing through their daily to-do lists and lose track of what they really want to experience. Creating a bucket list can happen at any time in your life -- young or old. It’s never too late to create a list of things you want to achieve. And while no one can go back and make a brand-new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand-new ending.

Mackay’s Moral: Make the rest of your life the best of your life.