If you are in sales, of any form, any kind, you have suffered from call reluctance. What does that mean? It’s those times you don’t want to pick up the phone. It might be when we are cold calling. It might be when we are doing follow up with current clients. It’s when you get referrals and you don’t want to call. It’s when you have that upset customer you don’t want to call. It comes in many forms and can be paralyzing.
The best part is…. There’s ways to overcome it!
- Be Planned – Know the first 10-15 people you are going to call. You can be smart enough, to be dumb enough, not to have to think about it.
- Set a goal for calls – How many calls are you going to make? Tell your co-worker, tell a friend, tell your mom. I don’t care who you tell, but tell someone how many people you are going to call.
- Set a goal for conversations – Same as above. Tell somene. Tell everyone. Let them now how many people you want to talk to. Not just call.- commit
- It’s just one call – To the people you are calling, it’s just one call, to you it’s 10/20/30/40 – but it’s just one to them. Remember that. They won’t remember at 4:35 in the afternoon that they told you no at 8:47 am. Don’t overthink it
- Look for no’s. What does this mean? How do we have a conversation that we can move on – get them to say no, but at the same time “not right now” no – you can still contact them in the future, just might not be a good fit today. Move them to make a decision one way or the other
- Why do you do what you do? I bet if I asked you that question you would tell me you want to help people. If we truly want to help people, and we suffer from call reluctance, are we thinking about ourselves, or are we thinking about them? If we are thinking about them it doesn’t matter if they say no.
- Use names. Names are powerful. Who are you referred by? Who do you have in common? Get permission to use those names. It builds trust.
- Use our script. This is BY FAR the most important one. If you don’t have one, make one. Take the thinking out of it. Mine still sits on my desk to this day. I use to every time I make calls
- Commit to the call. What does that mean? It means when they answer you know the name, you use the script, you aren’t looking at other things, you aren’t distracted, they have your FULL attention. Commit to them.
- Positive Self-Talk. What are you saying to yourself in the morning? Before you call? Even right before that call? Are you energetic and ready or telling yourself they will say no anyway. It makes a HUGE difference
- Motivational videos – go to youtube. This can help immensely. Get your mind right
- Read testimonials. Even if they aren’t yours. If you, your company or anyone has testimonials read them. What you do helps people. This reassures exactly that.
- Set a time to make your first call and an end. We can do anything for an hour. Anything
- Don’t overthink it. The more you think the more your mind will get in the way. Just dial. Get a list and fire off. You’ll be happy you did.
It doesn’t matter where you are in your business. Dials/activity lead to results. Don’t kid yourself and tell yourself it doesn’t. It’s part of the game. Go into it to win.