Pick Up The Phone and Sell

CHAPTER 10LET'S TALK ABOUT OUR SPECIFIC FEARS AROUND PHONE SELLING

Now you know which mindsets are helpful for picking up the phone and being systematically present for customers and prospects. We've also established that fear of rejection and failure is the biggest reason we avoid doing so. In this chapter, I'd like to look at the specific fears and discomforts that make it difficult for us salespeople to go to the phone and call customers and prospects.

For each item, I'll lay out the fear, which is almost always worse in our minds than in reality, with potential consequences far worse than reality – and then I'll compare it to how customers actually see your effort. We'll look at the fear versus the reality.

This way, when you're feeling one of these resistances to picking up the phone, simply flip to this chapter and read the “reality” that matches your fear.

REMEMBER THAT YOU'RE MOSTLY CALLING PEOPLE YOU KNOW

One more important setup item before we dive into these fears: remember that the idea is to call people you know first and foremost. The odds are very high that you know hundreds of customers and prospects you are not regularly talking with on the phone. These are the most ideal people to call proactively because they know your name, and you know theirs. You've interacted before.

After you've called everyone in this group of people, you can call people who recognize your company name, if not your own name. Perhaps they dealt with somebody else at your organization. ...