When you're starting out in sales calling I know it can be scary. What if you mess up your script? What if the person gets angry and hangs up the phone? what if they pick up the phone and you don't know what to say? And then a lot of times when we are afraid of sales calling it might paralyze us and we end up just not making any calls. I'm gonna share with you five simple strategies you can use to get over your fear of sales calling so that you can start making more dials, generate more meetings and more sales. 1st is to Identify Your True Fears Now, the first step of overcoming your fear of sales calling is to first identify what you're actually afraid of. Now, a lot of times we might be afraid to make a call, right? But the thing is, sometimes we don't even realize what we are afraid of, right? And a lot of times fear also stems from the unknown, right? If we knew exactly what was gonna happen, there's nothing to be afraid of 'cause we can expect it, but because we don't know what's gonna happen when we make that call and pick up the phone, we don't know what the other person's gonna say, we're afraid of what might potentially happen. And the thing about fear is that a lot of times we're afraid of things that have no chance of even happening but we replay these negative thoughts in our head over and over and we get paralyzed because we can't do it. We're stuck in our own heads. So the first step of overcoming your fear of sales calling is to first identify exactly what you're actually afraid of. And a lot of times when you clearly identify what these things are, you start realizing, hey, it's actually not that scary, and even if it did happen, it's not that big of a deal. So what you should do is to sit down and you should write down all the things that you are maybe afraid of when it comes to sales calling. When we started our sales career, I was afraid of calling for these reasons. I was afraid that if I mess up my call, I would embarrass myself and laugh at me and judge me and be like, "Oh my God, Patrick sucks at selling." Right? I was afraid of judgment from other people. I was also afraid that let's say if I made a call and it went bad, I would feel emotionally hurt and sad and feel like, you know, I'm not a good salesperson, I was afraid that it would cost me my job because it's too emotionally difficult. I would also be afraid that let's say if I did, you know, talk to somebody that they might have an objection that I wasn't prepared for and I would stumble on my words and would totally kill the call, right? So those are the three things that I was generally afraid of when I was beginning. Now, when I wrote those things down, and I really clearly saw like, okay, this is what I am afraid of, I thought about it and I realized like, actually, are they, is that even a big deal? So like, for example, does it really matter if other people judge me and they say, "Oh my God, Owen sucks at sales calling." Not really because, well, first of all, not many people were that great at sales calling. I mean, they can't really judge because they're not even that great themselves, right? So there's no real truth to that. Second, the people that I was working with, they weren't the type of people that judge anyways, and they're the type of people that if they see you struggling, they're gonna come to your desk and they'd be like, "Hey, let me go ahead and give you some tips." That was just the reality of the work environment I was in. From that example, I worried that other people would judge me, but in fact, in reality, nobody is judging me. They are actually willing to help me if I need help, right? So all the fears that I had for that specific fear, it was just in my head, it didn't really exist. I was worried about nothing. Accept The Worst That Can Happen Now the next step of overcoming your fear of sales calling is to accept the worst that can happen. So once you have written down your different fears, right? Sometimes you might be afraid of nothing where like it's not really going to happen. And you realize, okay, it is not gonna happen. Now other times it actually might happen. So if your worst fears do happen, you wanna visualize in your head what your life will be like if those things actually happen and you start realizing, hmm, it's not actually as bad as you think. For example, I was afraid that, you know, if I made a phone call and someone had an objection I wasn't prepared for, I would stumble on my words, say something stupid, and they would kill the call, . So if that actually happen during a sales call, well does it really matter? If they gave me an objection that I didn't know what to say, does it really matter if I didn't handle that properly? They're just gonna be like, "Okay, I don't think it is a good fit, Patrick, bye." Hang up the phone and move to the next person. Am I gonna cry about it? Am I gonna get my feelings hurt? Do I need that customer to buy or can I just move on to the next one? Right? So if there's just one person that says, no, it doesn't actually matter. And also because they gave me that objection I wasn't prepared for, well, now I can go back and prepare for it so the next person that gives me that objection I know exactly what to say. So by getting that objection and getting that rejection, it actually made me better as a sales person for the next person I call, right? So the worst case scenario is somebody says no, and I get better at sales. Is that really something I should be afraid of? Because they're actually making me better. And if they're making me better as a salesperson, indirectly they're making me more money by saying no. So why am I afraid of making more money and becoming a better salesperson? I shouldn't be, right? So now once you accept the worst that can happen, you start to come up with different ideas of, okay, well, if this did happen, how do I actually become a better person? How does this actually help me in my life? 'Cause a lot of times pain and bad experiences teach us the biggest lessons in our life that allow us to grow as human beings. So if those bad things that happen and we're so afraid of them, if they do happen, actually, is that actually a good thing? Does it actually make us better? Does it help us make more money and generate more sales? And a lot of times in sales, the answer is yes. So accept the worst that can happen, flip it around and turn it into something positive. And you might think, "Oh, well, Owen, I can't do that because, everything I think about is negative and how can a negative make me a better person?" Well, it's all about your perspective. If you believe that a negative experience is going to make your life, you know, just negative and pull you down and you're gonna quit sales and this and that, that's probably your reality, because that's a story you tell your head. But if you have a different perspective and you believe that all your negative experiences are just experiences to help you become a better person, well, that's also true for you as well. It's just how you see different opportunities. Do you see it as a pessimist, meaning that it's something that always pulls you down, or do you see life experience as something from a more optimistic perspective in things that can actually give you real-life lessons that you can use to become a better person? Again, it's all in your head. So once you accept the worst that can happen, flip it around and turn it to something positive. Understand Every Great Salesperson Gets Rejected Daily Now, the next tip that I have for you is you've got to understand every sales person gets rejected. No matter how great the salesperson actually is, they could be making it rain, you know, every single year, blowing their quotas out the water, even those people will get rejection sometimes, right? Not everybody will say no, not everyone is a good fit. So when you're starting your sales career you got to understand that the people you call you cannot expect everyone to say yes, probably you'll probably get 5% of the people you call to even agree to another meeting, right? That's just the truth. So in that sense, you're gonna get 95 nos and five yeses. So just accept that. Accept the fact that most people are going to say no and that's part of the job. And once you get those nos, then, well, you got a no and you can move on to the next person. That literally is a job. Sometimes, you know, some people have that mindset where, you know, instead of always looking for yes, they're looking for nos, right? They're qualifying the person and calling the person on the phone and they're looking for a no. They're finding a reason for why this person is not qualified, and they get that no and then yes, I got the no, I can move on to the next person. If they don't get a no they get a yes, great. They move on and they, you know, continue selling. So understand no is not a bad thing, right? In sales, this is what you want. You want a yes, you want a no, but you never want a maybe. If people say, yes, great, sell to them, if people say, no, they're not a good fit, okay, maybe follow up in the future, if anything changes, but you never want a maybe, if someone says, maybe, you're not sure, yes or no, you're wasting your time. So understand rejection is part of the game. Get the yes, get the no, but you never want a maybe. Now also, understand that when it comes to sales, you know, a lot of people are afraid of getting the no, but, flip it around, right? So as a salesperson, think of it like this, you've got a product service that you believe in, that's amazing. Anybody who is lucky enough to learn about it and buy this product, they're just going to completely change your life, completely change your business because your product is just that great, right? That's the mindset you wanna have, and you wanna work for a good company, obviously. So if that is that's true, well, think about it like this, how lucky is the person you call out of all the thousands of people you could have called that day at that time, and that moment, you specifically dialed that specific number to call this specific person. Of all the people in the entire world, you could have helped, you're helping them. How lucky is this person to receive your call that's going to change their life or change their business in some way? Right? If you can kind of have that mindset and that way, it kind of shift your whole perspective of what sales calling is. 'Cause typically when people sales call, they think like, "Oh man, nobody wants to hear from me, nobody wants to buy. Everyone thinks I'm annoying. So, you know, why am I even trying in this job?" If that's your reality, then that's gonna be how you experience sales. But if you flip it around and you actually think of yourself as the prize, you are the thing that is gonna change lives, and the person you call is the one that's actually lucky, well, the whole dynamic of the conversation your attitude of how you enter the call is going to be completely different because you're not coming in a place of desperation, like, "Oh my God, please pick up the phone and listen to what I have to say." It's more like, "I'm calling you, I'm gonna help you out, luck, this is your lucky day." Right? Totally different mindset. And people can feel the difference subconsciously and the how you sound, what you say, you know, there is a difference. So have the mindset that you are helping another person versus they are helping you. Make sales Calling A Game The next tip I have for you is you wanna make sales calling a game, right? So, you know, as you do your sales calls there gonna be points where you're not motivated. You don't wanna make those dials, you feel emotionally drained and it's tiring. And I understand, I've been there. So you want, let's say you wanna do, you know, your goal is 30 dials, right? You dialed 34 numbers in the next hour. And then maybe, I don't know, a percentage of those people actually pick up. So you're like, okay, let's make it a game. How fast can you get those 30 dials? So you go, boom, boom, boom, call, no one picks up, voicemail. Bam. Next, call, voicemail, bam. Next, call. Oh, someone pick up the phone, sell, right? So it's like, you start making it a game, you compete with your peers, you compete with your organization and you make it fun. You know, because sales doesn't have to be this dreaded thing that people are like, "Oh my God, I don't wanna make this next call (mumbling) Like you chose to be in sales for a reason, right? For whatever reason, you decide to join us. This is the game you decided to join. This is the sport you decided to play. So if it is a professional sport and you're getting paid to do it, you might as well make it a game and have fun with it, right? Although it's serious, it's your career at the same time, you know, you gotta game-ify it, make it fun, make it interesting for everyone to compete against one another in a positive way so that you can have more motivation to keep pushing through even when the times get tough. Learn From Others And then the next tip I have for you is you want to learn from others because it's not enough just to keep trying things and doing it by yourself, because a lot of times it's a lot easier just to learn from another person. Since we’re already working in a company with a lot of salespeople, try to find people who are good at sales, right? Who are the top performers when it comes to sales calling say like, "Hey, look, I heard, you're really good. I wanna see you in action. Can I just like shadow you and just sit next to you as you're making your phone calls so I can just learn your greatness or how you're doing it so I can learn it myself?" And most of the time people are gonna be like, "Yeah, sure." You know, if they're really confident and they're good, they have no problem letting another person listen in because you know, hopefully you work in an environment where people are a lot friendlier and they help each other out. So shout out different people who are good, listen to their calls, And on top of that, obviously watching youtube videos, reading different books, you know, everybody has a different style of learning, some people like learning from in-person, some people like videos, audio, tapes, books, whatever it is, find the thing that works best for you. But I found that, you know, seeing someone live doing it, and you're there and you're watching them, you're just seeing like how they do everything and how, their mindset when they go into a meeting, that's very powerful because if they're really good, you can kind of just mimic what they're already doing in your own style, change things up that fit your style as well, and then do the thing that you need to do, right? So definitely learn from others. Don't just try it by yourself because, you know, sales is difficult to figure out by yourself especially if you're just not a natural with people. So you're gonna have to learn from others, you know, see their systems, see their methodology, and just follow the steps and see if it works for you. And once you learn these steps, you know, you start overcoming your fears because fear again stems from the unknown. So when you see other people do it, you start to think, oh, actually it shouldn't be that hard, 'cause this guy is doing it. It seems pretty easy. So why am I afraid? Right? So once you start seeing other people do it, you see it in action, you see people selling, you're like, okay, I got this. It's not that big of a deal. And so with that said, those are gonna be my tips when it comes to overcoming your fear of sales calling.
