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Stop Being A Telephone Coward!

Guest post by: Chris

Article Overview: Chris Randolph, author of "The Sales Edge" and several other books on professional selling, marketing, internet marketing, personal development and motivation shares a couple ideas on how to overcome the fear of the telephone, sometimes called "call reluctance".

Stop Being A Telephone Coward!

If you're like me, you use the phone on a constant and daily basis. I've made roughly over 280,000 cold calls on the phone and I've been pretty successful at it. But I'll let you in on a little secret... Every time I pick up that 100lb phone and start to dial, I get nervous, anxious and my heart rate increases with fear!

So how do I do it? I can only share what works for me and the thousands of sales professionals that I teach these techniques to.

Concrete and Unshakable Belief in Your Product or Service

You can be offering lotions, potions, programs, cakes, tires, meat, wine, mortgages, insurance or professional services. It doesn't matter. Whatever your product or service is, you must believe in what you're offering. In your heart of hearts, you must know that you're selling something of value that fulfills a pressing need for the prospect. Your product or service must assist the prospect in some way shape or form.

So what do you do if you're not 100% sure of the advantages or benefits your prospect will receive? Answer these questions:

1. How will my prospect be better off if they become a client?

2. Will they sell more, save time, increase production, be more secure, save money, have peace of mind, be more attractive, etc?

3. What are the benefits of my product or service?

You must have the conviction and confidence that you're helping rather than hurting. If you cannot reconcile these feelings and realize that you're selling something that has no value, MOVE ON!

You'll never be successful in selling if you don't believe in what you're selling.

Put Yourself In Your Prospects' Shoes

Find out why your prospect should say yes to your product. Make sure you have uncovered the needs and the problems of the prospect that your product fulfills and eradicates respectively.

How would you do this? The easiest way is to ask current and existing clients why they said yes to you. Another thing you could do is ask the people that said "No", why they said no.

Rejection Is Going To Happen, So Expect It!

It's absolutely unavoidable that you're going to experience rejection. Because of the sheer numbers of people you'll be talking to, it's going to happen all the time.

What you must remember is that it's not personal and it's not about you. When they say "No", they are not saying it to you. They're saying it to your product or service.

Also, they may be overwhelmed right now, maybe they had a bad day at work, just argued with their husband, and kids came back with a note from school. They may not realize they need your product or service.

You must remember that they don't even know you and they're not going to hunt you down just because you called. As a sales professional, rejection is part of daily life. So don't let rejection get you down!

In fact, tell yourself this; you feel sorry when they say "No" because they don't get the opportunity to solve their problem and they sure as heck don't get YOU!

Accept The Rejection, Expect The Rejection and Punch Through It!

Now that you know you're going to get rejected, steel yourself to going through this and punch through it.

There's always a phase of seeming immobility or a wall that you can't get through. Think about this... when a plane is taking off, the hardest portion of that takeoff is when its starting its roll, moving from inertia. It gets easier as it moves along.

You need to get past the rejection and get to the other side. Nobody likes to be told "No". It's very easy to allow this feeling to overtake you and to just put your hands up in surrender.

If you do have the fear, it's okay, there's nothing wrong with it. Realize that it's there and understand it. You see, in my opinion, courage is not the absence of fear... it's in spite of it. You can be afraid of it, but if you still do it, that's bravery, isn't it?

Don't Stop Dialing

Remember the airplane we were talking about earlier? When you first start, you are just rolling out. When you get rejection, it's like placing little speed bumps in your way. Get over the speed bumps. Build your momentum with each call that you make. When you stop, for any reason, you're going to have to start again.

Make sure you have your lead list, your notes, scripts, water to drink and anything else you'll need during your telephone time. Don't stop for any reason.

Get Started Now

The best time to make your cold calls is now. Make a decision and stick with it.

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Article Tags: call reluctance, chris randolph, couple ideas, coward, fear, get the sales edge, marketing internet marketing, motivation, personal development, professional selling



Related Forum Posts
Decide your market first - Stop for a second and decide exactly who it is that you want to sell your product to. Once you've done this you'll have a far better idea of where to find them and what it is that they're interested in Cheers
Other Great Books... - Feel The Fear And Do It AnyWay - Susan Jeffers How To Stop Worrying And Do It Anyway - Dale Carnegie ('What's the worst that could happen - the worst?' Then prepare yourself for that and reality is such a relief!).
JW Site redesign - I agree the Font is a little small. Also on the homepage I believe it will be effective for you to display an offer to sample your services - I believe you had one in your previous site. This is only constructive feedback.... I'm not sure about the length of the "quote" page - possibly too many questions. I wouldn't fill it out after seeing it but would pick up the phone to call you and deliver my thoughts over the phone. Maybe if you reduce the questions down to three/five questions without me having to explain in detail what I am looking for - I would complete it. One of your final questions would be: what's the best time to contact you? You can call the prospect then to get more details and you would record it during that session. I did this when I ran my webdesign company and it worked really well. my questions were: Name? Telephone? Email? Briefly describe your ideal website? Best day and time to call? I captured the details during the call-back.
Re: New Idea...suggestions please - People, it's easier than you think in some cases. Say you are replying to a question and you are about to refer to company ABC's website. Stop and explore their site for their affiliate program. If they have one, register and use your affiliate link in your post. If this takes time, you can post a regular link first, then come back and edit your reply by swapping for your affiliate link. If you post regularly, you'll soon have accounts at all the affiliate exchanges and you'll start getting money from your referrals. How about it?
Re: What is your biggest challenge? Today? - [quote="GT Bulmer":10b1rb6o]sounds like keeping one foot on the dock and one in the boat, doesn't it?) I've had suggestions of interest from other high profile potential clients but I have chosen not to pursue them at this time.[/quote:10b1rb6o] Hi GT, Who knows, perhaps you'll need to take that leap of faith and "burn your bridges" (of escape/going back) like Dale Carnegie suggests in "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" to get to the next level and reach your income goal. Complacency and comfort can be death.


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