Author: Brent Widman

We are sales people.  Whether you want to admit it or not, we are all in this together.  We all chose this profession for better or for worse.  So many people succeed, and so many people fail. The hard part to figure out is, why are there so many that are right in the middle?

Is that you?  Do you wish you made more money? Do you wish you had more time? Do you wish you sold more? Are you that person that does just enough, or gets to a certain point and they get comfortable?

I had a coaching call the other day and some of these things really resonated with me.

We began talking about how they were down.  How things just weren’t going the way they wanted them to go.  How they had just lost two big sales to the competition and they thought they did everything right.  They were down on themselves. They were living in that scarcity mentality. They wanted to and thought they had to close everything. This is because they weren’t doing the work they needed to get past it. You can’t get mad at the results if you aren’t putting in the work to get results.

Do you know why this happens?

Because we ride the rollercoaster…

I was driving to the gas station one day and I was thinking to myself, what happens when the bottom drops out? What happens when people stop buying? What happens if I stop making the money that I need/should be making? What will I do WHEN this happens, not IF. I remember sitting at the stop light, in my car asking myself these questions.  So I picked up the phone. I picked up the phone and called my mentor, team leader, coach and just all around one of my best friends.  And you know what she said?

Are you doing the activity?

Are you making the dials?

Are you talking to people?

Are you asking for referrals?

Are you setting appointments?

I answered “yes” to these questions. This has changed my train of thought since that day. No longer do I look at what might happen, but I go out and do what I have to to make it happen.

You have to ask yourself, can you answer yes to these questions each and every day?  If not, you will get on that roller coaster and not get off.  If you are doing those things, you no longer have to ride it. It will just keep going up, as long as you continue to get better at what you do. As long as you continue to put the work in, adding to your vocation, pushing yourself out of that comfort zone.  Stop taking the easy way and go out and live the life you want to live.

Get off the Roller Coaster. Do the things you need to do to be successful.

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!

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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

9. 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.

10. 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

11. Motivational videos – go to youtube. This can help immensely.  Get your mind right

12. 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.

13. Set a time to make your first call and an end. We can do anything for an hour. Anything

14. 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.