If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.

—Mark Twain

The most frequent question I get about telephone prospecting is:

“Jeb, what is the best time to call? I mean, is there a time when people will be more receptive to my calls? You know, like, is it better to contact a prospect during the morning than the end of the day? Or are there some days of the week that are better than others?”

This is followed by a longing expectation that I will reveal the secret code that will open them up to a utopian world where prospects always answer the phone, are always in chipper moods, receptive to recruiting pitches, agree to interviews without rejection, and qualify themselves.

I get this question from recruiters across all branches of the military—all the time. There are several reasons recruiters ask this question:

• They are truly interested in timing their calls more effectively.
• They are frustrated and just venting, in which case my answer falls on deaf ears.
• They are seeking a way out of making calls—an excuse.

Timing calls is the greatest excuse and cop-out for recruiters who don’t want to prospect by phone (or frankly, prospect at all).

• “I can’t call when people are getting ready for the day because it will disturb them.”
• “I can’t call in the early morning because people are sleeping.”
• “I can’t call on Friday because people are getting ready for the weekend and won’t be interested in talking.”
• “I can’t call on the weekend because people are doing things and won’t answer my calls.”
• “I can’t call on Monday because people are starting their week and won’t be interested in talking.”
• “I can’t call during the day because people are at school or at work and don’t want to be bothered.”
• “I can’t call before lunch because people are getting ready to go to lunch.”
• “I can’t call during lunch because people are eating and I don’t want to disturb them.”
• “I can’t call after lunch because people are just getting back.”
• “I can’t call in the afternoon because people are involved in after-school activities.”
• “I can’t call in the evening because people are eating dinner, doing homework, spending time with their families, sleeping.”
• “I can’t call before school, I can’t call during school, and I can’t call after school—because, because, because.”
• “No worries; I’ll just prospect tomorrow when people will be more likely to answer my calls.”

The excuses for not calling because the timing is wrong are endless and easy. So telephone prospecting is put off day after day, until the recruiting funnel is dead empty. Then these desperate recruiters end up in front of me looking for the top-secret call-timing technique that will make everything okay.

A great analogy for timing your calls is investing. The investor who attempts to time the market has historically failed to beat the investor who uses a dollar-cost-averaging strategy—making incremental investments on a regular schedule over time.

If you think about prospecting in the same vein, recruiters who prospect daily, on a regular schedule, are always more successful over time than those who try to time their prospecting. As in investing, statistics are always in the favor of the recruiter who does a little bit of prospecting every day. Never, ever underestimate the sheer power of a little bit of action applied every day.

Yes, there are times when your prospects are in school and less likely to answer the phone. However, many will text you back when you call and engage in a conversation with you, right in the middle of the school day. Yes, there are times when your prospects are at work. Despite that, they quite often answer the phone and give you a better time to reach them.

Certainly, it makes sense to schedule call blocks for the morning, afternoon, and evenings to give yourself the greatest statistical probability of reaching prospects. Likewise it’s a good idea to schedule blocks on Saturday mornings.

However, after working with recruiters and observing thousands of calls, it is clear to me that all the myths I hear about “the best time to call” are just bunk.

Forget about timing your calls and commit instead to daily prospecting blocks starting with a first-thing-in-the-morning call block. Why? Because when you start your day with prospecting it energizes you, builds your confidence, and helps you feel accomplished. It also means that prospecting will get done. It’s about front-loading your day with the most impactful thing you can do as a recruiter—getting prospects in for interviews.

Frenchman Nicholas Chamfort advised people to “swallow a toad in the morning if you want to encounter nothing more disgusting the rest of the day.” In his book Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy says that your “frog” is “the hardest, most important task of the day. It is the one task that can have the greatest positive impact on your results at the moment.”

Prospecting is the most important activity in recruiting. It is the one activity that will have the greatest positive impact on the health of your pipeline. It also sucks. It’s frustrating, uncomfortable, and covered with green frog slime.

Staring at the frog will not make it more appetizing. The same with prospecting. Thinking about it, pushing it off, or trying to time it will not make it any more appetizing.

The longer that frog sits there, the fouler it gets. That’s when the bargaining begins. Instead of just eating it and getting it over with, you start making deals with yourself to “double up” on your frog eating tomorrow.

It never works. Once you start procrastinating, you’ll never catch up. When you push prospecting off, more tasks, problems, and burning fires move in to take its place.

This is why you should block your first hour every day for telephone activity. Set the appointment with yourself and keep it. Your energy level, confidence, and enthusiasm will be at their peak at the beginning of the day. Plus prospects will have fewer things on their plate as they begin their day, which makes for less resistance and more yeses.

Embrace the suck and eat that frog.