Why does cold calling produce so much fear? How strong is it? How long does it last? Does it affect everybody? If it stronger depending on the person? Do I really have to have it? Yeah and the answer to all these questions is yes, then yes again. The longer you are selling the better you get at it, but not always so and not for everyone. Why is that that we all have it?
The two basic principals in life are:
- All people have is fear of failure and fear of rejection. When you call a new company or an unknown Sr. executive, and they don’t answer the phone, or worse, hang up on you, the emotions do set in.
- You have to shrug them off but we are all human. It is not always that easy. Most of us ignore them, but they tend to surface sometime later whether in a day or even in months.
A normal amount of rejection comes with the job, but cold calling daily can build up fear that can affect our performance. This means we don’t make our numbers, the company does not make their projections, well you see the point, and it’s not a desirable thing. People in the trade have different theories or ways to manage this. In fact, many to most are good. This is a behavioral thing, and that takes time to correct, but the gains are worth it.
One technique I have used is what we call the “win program” (free “gifts of Knowledge”); it’s a relatively easy thing to do.
Just make a list of all the deals you closed, irrespective of the size of the order, which originated with a cold call. I have seen successful Reps who have 100 entries and some with 15 entries and they get the same results! It is not on quality, it is about quality and how you feel about your wins.
Another way you can cope better with the fear and rejection of cold calling is to do what we call, “substitution energy”. Simply, when you cold call, you think about nice things, like a vacation to Hawaii, a new car, a nicer home, all the things cold calling helps to bring you. You focus on the substitute and not the pain of rejection. It works well and you can use it right away. Understand where the fear comes from, just from typically rejection, and you are on way. It can make or break your career.
Pipeline fixes everything.
What do you do next? Send us an email and we’ll arrange for you to speak with Ed to chat about how these learnings can help build more sales just for your business.