Cold Calling: Just Swallow the Frog Already! Part 1

Isn?t it amazing that in every job we do, there are always a few dreaded activities that we seem to want to avoid doing at all costs. And some of those very activities dictate whether we experience huge success or massive failure at our jobs. Never has this been truer or more applicable in sales and the world of cold calling?..

What do you dread doing the most?

If you are like most salespeople in the world, it is the dreaded ?cold calling?. Picking up the phone for that first call or knocking on that first door can be a terrifying and stomach churning start to your day. It can be such a deterrent at times that you may find yourself doing just about anything to avoid doing it. And if you are in the world of professional selling, unless you overcome the fear of ?getting started?, you are already aware that your career will be short circuit and self sabotaged quickly unless you get over it. Let?s take a look at the main reasons salespeople don?t like to cold call prospects.

1. Reason #1. Fear of rejection!

If you knew that you had a prospect list full of people that would absolutely say ?YES!? to your proposal, you would absolutely have no issue cold calling everyday. There is something exciting and encouraging about people agreeing to do business with you, as well as agreeing with you that your solution is the best one for them. We long for validation and acceptance as individuals and in the world of sales, but unfortunately, we often find it in short supply.

The truth is we experience nothing like that in the real world. We often are the ones looking for a needle in the haystack, taking 100 rejections to every 1 yes as we visit door after door, or make call after call. The overwhelming negative odds can loom in darkness over you to the point of them becoming suffocating and paralyzing. The ?paralysis by analysis? kicks in as we try to come up with tricks or shortcuts to increase our odds in the field. Anything to even double the odds would be encouraging, or would it? It?s not an easy chore, this world of selling, and those outside of sales have no earthly idea why anyone would want to put up with daily, day-long rejection in hopes of that gold nugget. Most would rather live in squalor than deal with the mental anguish of daylong rejection month after month, and year after year. Doesn?t that sound exciting? If you dread cold calling, you fear rejection! But there is hope?..

2. Reason # 2 We don?t like to interrupt people.

If you had an upbringing in a respectful environment as a child, the idea of sales and cold calling may rebel in concept against your very nature and the very fiber of your being. ?You want me to go in there and interrupt them?? Yes, that is your job. Interrupt people all day long, when they haven?t requested to see you or to hear from you, and find a way to make them happy about it, and hopefully in the process become a customer. That sounds wonderful.

You know, for social butterflies, that might be so-getting to talk to new people all day long and winning them over with your friendly smile, but for most salespeople I know, they don?t like to interrupt people. If you disagree with that concept, then consider the opposite. If you DO like to interrupt people, then I must wonder about YOU. The very path our society is taking has less and less to do with people interaction. We don?t like to be interrupted or bothered unless it is on our terms.

You scan your groceries yourself instead of waiting for a checker in line. You scan your card to get gas without talking to a soul. You shop online to avoid going to malls. You tell people to just send you an email on the topic, even when they are right in front of you. We check in for our flights online. We want email confirmation of our order. Don?t call me. Text messaging is booming.

You see, we all know this is the way it really is whether we have thought about it in those terms or not. So when we go and do exactly what we would prefer not to be done to us, there is some little part of us that will take any route possible to short circuit our cold calling efforts. We don?t like to bother people or to be bothered.

Do you like taking telemarketing calls at night during dinner? Do you enjoy spam? How about junk mail? How about a sales guy coming in to your office when you have a deadline and persistently wanting to show you what?s in the box? Here is a bone chilling reality. If I want what you have to sell, I know just where to find it. And I can and will call you when I?m ready. And I will have done my research online to know the answers to my questions before I even ask you. That way, I know if you are telling me the truth, and I?ll know if you know what you are talking about. Wow. How times have changed.

3. Reason #3 Salespeople are sometimes lazy!

I know it?s hard to believe, but it is true. Sometimes the most social people in the world, the ones with the great personalities that can get people to smile and open up that seem to gravitate toward sales, just don?t like to do mundane and repetitive things over and over and over.(See their paperwork) They like change. They like new and challenging adventures. As much as non sales people can?t imagine ever wanting to take the rejection of sales, they can?t imagine being chained to their desk like non sales people for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for the rest of their lives.

The problem is, once the salesperson leaves the office, there are SOOOO many fun and exciting things to do that are better than cold calling. Like all of them. Yeah it?s true; it?s not hard to find something more exciting to do than cold calling. Cold calling is mentally and emotionally draining. You have to get ?up? and be ready to ?perform? all day long. You have to smile and be happy. We?ve all had sales people approach us that were less than enthusiastic, and we have no desire to speak with them. Shoot, if they are not excited about their job or their product, than how can I be? Sales takes a huge mental and physical reserve to be successful day in and day out, and not all sales people are able to maintain a consistent regimen that keeps them refreshed day in and day out for the rigors of cold calling.

Cold calling is in fact a big, ugly green frog to us. It is one that you are holding in your hand right now. And one that your boss just said you need to swallow. Isn?t that exciting? Part II covers just how you can swallow that ugly green frog, and learn to enjoy every minute of it.

Steve Norris is a Texas based Energy Efficient Electrical Contractor and Independent Telecom Broker for over 80 carriers nationwide, and he specializes in hardware solutions for multi-location businesses with advanced infrastructure needs. Over 90% of his clients are able to implement new Dallas Business Telephone Systems at little or no cost with his proprietary TeleTAP solution.