fear of meeting new prospects

Quote:

Originally Posted by SalesGuy

David, excellent post. Great Advice!

I am in the right business with the right products for me and I have total confidence in our company - so all that is concrete and absolute. I've also sharpened and continue to sharpen my cold calling using http://www.highprobsell.com/ as my model BUT in spite of all that I ALMOST HATE COLD CALLING!

I do not like to do it, I can look at it from any perspective - I know all the mind games, numbers, etc. BUT I don't want to do it!

BUT I do it anyway because I have to do it to be successful - because I know what it can produce and what I need from my business activity - SO motivation is everything.

Do it with fear - do it with a replusion toward rejection - do it hating it - do whatever it is if you must do it to survive and be successful in what you do.

In the mean time figure out if what you're doing is what you should bd doing and WHY you have negative feelings.

I used to stand up in front of audiences with guitar in hand, microphone in front of mouth, ready to strum and sing and entertain - and those first few minutes were often filled with pain - stage fear! BUT I did it anyway because I wanted to entertain and I loved it once I got going - today when I do an occasional walk-on NO FEAR as I don't care what the outcome is - I'm not trying to make a point or do anything other than entertain myself.

Attitude is everything and with the right attitude you can eliminate much if not all of the negative feelings - still, cold calling isn't what I want to do but what I MUST DO to and as I relax myself with no expectation other than doing that for a couple of hours - it becomes simple and rewarding.

[QUOTE=MitchM]I am in the right business with the right products for me and I have total confidence in our company - so all that is concrete and absolute. I've also sharpened and continue to sharpen my cold calling using http://www.highprobsell.com/ as my model BUT in spite of all that I ALMOST HATE COLD CALLING!

If cold calling was easy then every tom dick or harry would be doing it, results would be easy and if anyone could do it then we'd get paid as much as a McDonalds trainee, it would be a real no brainer of a job.

Cold calling is a real challenge, it's a pain barrier, and like all winning atheletes we have to break through the pain barrier if we are going to be the best that we can be.

You are obviously one of those well disiplined winners Mitch who see cold calling as a challenge to be over come. No pain no gain to use the old cliche.
There maybe no fix for you that will make cold calling enjoyable but the bottom line is that like it or loath it you just get on and do it to the best of your ability and you get results because you're prepared to do it come what may.

It takes character to keep on keeping on.

I admire that.

warm regards

Dave Bowen

I suppose this might restate what's already been said here, but I like contributing to great discussions...

The best method I've experienced for overcoming call reluctance (specifically related to cold calling over the phone or in-person) is to set small, incremental goals and to "remind" myself who I'm preparing to talk with.

For example, on a "sales blitz" or if I have an appointment cancel, I may set a goal of 5 quick face-to-face cold calls. That takes a very small amount of time (if I'm parked in the right area), and, if I've targeted my prospects well, at least one good lead will turn up from those 5, which encourages me to continue pushing on (who knows what I'll turn up if I make 5 more!).

On the "reminding myself" part, here's what I do (after only a couple cold calls I'm usually good-to-go). I'll think thoughts like how confident I should be, how great I feel physically at that moment, how I love meeting people face-to-face for the first time, and how it's important that I demonstrate energy and optimism without coming across as an all-hype salesperson. As I do this, I feel a natural strength and vitality. I also feel my posture improve and my face soften. I'm not apologetic in words, tone, or body language when I do these things either -- I'm confident and friendly.

Now, I'm no Tony Robbins. I don't start my day with a spring in my step. I literally have to convince myself to do these things sometimes. But after only a short while I'm able to get into a groove. And the great thing is, I feel it's not contrived or manufactured. I simply have to get myself jump-started in order to perform well in my job.

I won't say it's just an attitude thing. I have to DO certain things. But it does start with the thoughts I think and the things I tell myself. Call it self-talk, whatever. All I know is that it works.

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Bowen

It's a little like speed dating...

Yikes! I think I've met you!

That aside, great post. I especially like the part of yes and no's move you forward, but maybe's hold you back.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MitchM

I do not like to do it, I can look at it from any perspective - I know all the mind games, numbers, etc. BUT I don't want to do it!

BUT I do it anyway because I have to do it to be successful - because I know what it can produce and what I need from my business activity - SO motivation is everything.

Do it with fear - do it with a replusion toward rejection - do it hating it - do whatever it is if you must do it to survive and be successful in what you do.

You are right on the money.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrandonH

set small, incremental goals

These words, while simple and obvious--HAVE BECOME MY LIFE PHILOSOPHY.

This was one of my biggest breakthoughs in the past year. For me this is divide and conquer. This is the difference between being productive and accomplishing nothing because I am a perfectionist and want to do it all--right now! (an impossible goal). When perfectionists can't do it perfectly--they don't do it all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Bowen

when I sometimes find myself, after all these years in selling, falling victim to the fear of cold calling ( and it happens to many of the best performers believe me ) I I play the numbers games.

It's a little like speed dating... simply make lots of sales approaches..it doesn't matter if you get rejected or if you mess up, all you have to say to yourself is "NEXT!" and move onto the next call.

of course it's going to help you if you've thought through your presentation of your unique selling proposition and rehearsed it enough to feel confident that what you have to offer is a worth while value to your prospective customers.

Instead of trying to get peope to say YES to me i sometimes see how many straight NOs i can get. Its more difficult to get an outright rejection than you think. You'll get lots of maybes, i'll think about its, and call me in 6month times but you'll find very very few pack up and get the hell out of heres.

If rejection is your greatest fear try getting rejected. Its much harder than getting to YES.

Treat everyone as though you care about them and be sincere about it. If your product or service is a good one and you know that the customer will benefit from using it show him whats in it for him and don't take maybe for an answer. YES will do fine. NO will do fine. But never accept a Maybe.

Maybes hold you back. With a yes or a No you can move forward or move on.

when you are so busy making calls like this you really don't get time to be afraid.

I learned this leason from Brian Phillips of ESP, Nuneaton, UK (my Mr Miaggi )

I sincerely hope this advice works as well for you as it still does for me.

Warm regards

David Bowen

Thanks for the insight. Very helpful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by metromonster

Thanks for the insight. Very helpful.

Big and small goals go together but it's the big goals that drive the small incremental ones - without the big goals the small ones fizzle and evaporate - they die. That is, you can't begin to build from small, incremental goals without having a sufficient picture of how you want them to add up and toward what end.

I've failed many times because I set too small of goals - I didn't set them to incrementally get anywhere. I understand that thinking but I don't see it work much. In my business those who set small goals usually fail quickly. Motivation is also small.

BUT big goals fuel small goals - the incremental steps required to achieve the big goals. Small goals might be to talk with five serious people a day meaning to screen 100 people a day to find five serious to begin working with a couple of people - those are a sequence of small goals so to speak. But why? To arrive at a million dollar business in a specific amount of time - say two years.

That's how I've learned to think and act.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MitchM

BUT big goals fuel small goals - the incremental steps required to achieve the big goals. Small goals might be to talk with five serious people a day meaning to screen 100 people a day to find five serious to begin working with a couple of people - those are a sequence of small goals so to speak. But why? To arrive at a million dollar business in a specific amount of time - say two years.

That's how I've learned to think and act.

MitchM,

I agree. Having personally sold and led hundreds of sales people I can back up what you're saying. Big goals come first. Being sure of your personal "big picture" (values, principles, long-term goals) helps puts everything down from that in line.

Having said that, I think that small goals encourage action. For most people who can earn year-end bonuses in their jobs, that year-end bonus doesn't drive behavior TODAY. It guides improved behaviors over time, but shorter term goals drive more immediate behavior. Hence, the smaller, incremental goals.

Good discussion.

Mitch, it probably depends on your personality type as to what strategy works best for you. The big goals come first, of course, but the big goals are easy to set, carving out the path to reach them is not so easy.

I have broken the sale process down, for my particular product, into a series of steps. The goal of each step is only to get to the next step, not to make the sale. Of course I really wish I could just make the sale from step one, but I have finally realized that this is not probable and hence have stopped setting myself up for disappointment. Yes the sale is the goal, but looking too many steps ahead of the one I am on at the moment makes me feel discouraged and it dabilitates me. Remember, I only stated that this was a breakthrough for me. It has become my life philosophy because I am a person who becomes easily overwhelmed, and when that happens I accomplish nothing.

I actually learned this rediculously obvious principle on a website designed to help woman who cannot keep a clean house . Believe it or not many people whose houses are a total disaster are actually perfectionists. While this sounds rediculous, it is actually true. A perfectionist cannot bear the thought they are not doing something perfectly, so instead--they do nothing at all. If they don't have 2 hours to move the couch to vacuum under it, they simply don't vacuum opting to wait until they can "do it right."

The motto of this website is "You can do anthing for 15 minutes." If you hate cold calling, the thought of sitting at your desk making calls for an hour will seem like torture. You procrastinate. Soon you run out of time. Ok. I'll call tomorrow for sure. Tomorrow, you feel guilty because you didn't make a single call yesterday. You secretly vow to call for 2 hours today. Well if you thought ONE hour of cold calling made you feel lousy....It's an all or nothing (perfectionist) approach. By setting small incremental goals, you could cold call for 15 minutes. When you know in advance you can stop after only 15 minutes, you decide you can suffer though. Doing 4 of these easy stints is much easier to attain. Even if your goal was 4 but you only did 3--you have still accomplished 3x more than in the first method. You would be surprised how much you can accomplish in a 15 minute segment, if you hyper focus on it 15 minutes (without getting side tracked).

It is not about setting small goals. It's about taking big goals and dividing them into smaller short-term goals.

fear of meeting new prospects

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