Three Ways to Overcome Your Fear of Making Prospecting Calls

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Feeling happy and fulfilled at work is essential to our overall success. Many sales people are required to make proactive prospecting calls, and it can be one of the most intimidating aspects of their job. However, having the fear of making the call is nothing to be embarrassed about. In fact, Shannon Goodson and George Dudley reported in their book Psychology of Sales Call Reluctance that 80 percent of new salespeople fail because of call reluctance, while 40 percent of veteran sales people stop prospecting because of it.

If you experience Sales Call Reluctance, you know that it can ruin how you feel about your job and it fills you with an instant sense of dread every time you go to pick up the phone. If you feel like this, you are experiencing one of the 12 types of Sales Call Reluctance. Not only can this affect your ability to succeed at your job, but it can also affect your overall sense of career satisfaction and fulfillment.

Unfortunately, our culture tends to stereotype salespeople in a negative way. Some people think of the sleazy over the top salesperson and this could not be further from the truth. The truth is that sales is a very noble profession and requires a specific set of skills. A good sales force is often the most important factor behind a company’s growth and success.

A surprising fact is that the number one carriers of Sales Call Reluctance are sales managers, sales trainers, and motivational speakers. This is not to say that everyone in this group carries sale call reluctance but you would surprised how easily this group can negatively influence those they are meant to inspire. For example, in a training a sales manager says, “We all know people hate talking to sales people” or “Get out and sell, but don’t be a salesperson!” They are instilling Role Rejection Sales Call Reluctance from the very beginning and fostering a sense of shame about selling. Role Rejection is highly contagious and the managers can be contaminating the very people they intend to inspire. We see this consistently within companies.

Here are three basic tips to overcoming your fear of making prospecting calls:

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About the Author

Connie KadanskyConnie Kadansky is a professional certified Sales Call Reluctance coach and President of Exceptional Sales Performance. She offers speaking, training, coaching and performance improvement services specifically addressing Sales Call Reluctance. She has a proven track record with diverse businesses, from entrepreneurs to Fortune 50 companies, both nationally and internationally. She credits her current status as a speaker to her longtime involvement with Toastmasters International and the National Speakers Association. Connie is a graduate of one of the most respected and accredited coaching schools, Adler School of Professional Coaching. She served as Vice President of Programs for the Phoenix Chapter of International Coaching Federation in 2011. For more information, please visit www.exceptionalsales.com.

The questions that matter most in a sales presentation.

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When you’re giving your sales presentation, do you really know what the customer is thinking or what they’re asking themselves as you’re presenting?

I doubt it. You’re too busy trying to sell.

Shake the hand. Smile the smile. Show the slides. Talk the talk. Do the demo. Ask the superficial questions. Try the close. Try to overcome, “the price is too high.” Propose the proposal. Do the sales dance.

Meanwhile the customer is thinking. He or she is asking themself questions about the validity of your product and your offer. They’re thinking about how your stuff might fit into their company. And while you’re talking they may be Googling.

While you are trying to prove a point, they are trying to verify your information. And in these times, they can do it in a nanosecond. And you can’t stop them.

While you’re talking, they may be wondering if you have a Twitter account. So they do a quick search and find out that you do not. What’s that about? How validating is that? If they ask you about it, you’ll just brush it off. Suppose the customer is exceptionally Twitter active? How does that make you look?

That’s a small ‘tip of the iceberg’ example of the thoughts that differentiate your sales presentation from the customer’s decision to buy. But let me take it deeper.

All customers, not just the decision maker, have a buying process. It’s a strategy and a process by which they make a purchase. And that purchase is based around the trust, safety, and comfort your customer feels when buying something from you.

In order to gain that trust, and that feeling of safety, they asked themselves a bunch of questions without ever saying a word. You answer those questions by the words you speak. Your job as a master salesperson is to answer those silent questions in a manner that drives the customer to say, “I’ll take it!”

The following list of questions is exactly what goes through the mind of a prospective customer during your presentation. The list is long, and every customer may not ask themselves every one of these questions, but since you don’t know specifically which ones they are going to ask themselves, you better be prepared with answers to all of them.

Here are the questions the prospective customer is asking:

  • What do you offer?
  • What do you offer that no one else has?
  • What do you offer of value?
  • How does your product compare to others I have seen?
  • Does it really fill my need?
  • Can you deliver?
  • Is it real-world?
  • Will it work?
  • Will it work in our environment?
  • How will it impact our people?
  • How could it impact our success?
  • Will senior or executive management buy in?
  • Will my people use it?
  • How will we produce as a result of the purchase?
  • How will we profit as a result of the purchase?
  • How will it come together?
  • How do we buy it?
  • What’s the risk factor in buying?
  • Will you and your company keep its promises?
  • Do I trust you and the people I’m buying from, both as humans and their ability to deliver service after purchase?
  • Will you be my main contact after purchase or are you going to relegate me to ‘the service department?’
  • Do I believe you?
  • Do I have confidence in you?
  • Are you telling me the truth?
  • Do I have the trust and comfort to buy now?

HOLY COW! All that?
YES! All that and more!

This list of questions is by far the most comprehensive I have put together. They address both confidence in product and confidence in the salesperson.

The customer is seeking validation and wants to believe you. They need what you have and they’re going to buy what you offer. The only question is: From who? Depending on the answers to the above questions, they may not buy from you. OUCH!

Here are a few more thought-provoking challenges to help you understand the buying process:

1. The first sale that’s made is the salesperson. If the prospect doesn’t buy you, he’s not going to buy your product or service.
2. How’s your online reputation? What’s your Google ranking and reputation? NOT YOUR COMPANY. YOU!
3. What’s your social media reputation? Not Tweeting is a choice, but a poor one. How about LinkedIn? Do you have a business Facebook page?
4. Did you offer proof? Did you use ‘voice-of-customer’ as testimonial proof to your claims?
4.5 Does the buyer have enough peace of mind to purchase?

I have just given you a mind full of sales information, from the mind of the only person that matters in your sales conversations: the customer.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

We are on the path to 1,000 sales leads.

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Last week I wrote about the big picture of what it would take to attract 1,000 leads, both the philosophy and structure of what would create the attraction. I also talked about all the research I did to find ‘the best time’ to tweet, re-tweet, post, and take other social actions in order to get the full measure of exposure. Turns out no one really knows the best time. Pretty interesting.

CLARIFICATION of purpose and process:

THE WHY: These messages, promotions, and solicitations will be used to attract people interested in becoming Gitomer Certified Advisors. Certified Advisors will be able to use, teach, and resell my classroom and online offerings.

THE SYMPHONY: We are going to use all our social media sites and outlets, in harmony, to achieve this objective and strategic plan. In order to do so, I must message all of my LinkedIn connections, Twitter and Facebook followers, blog subscribers, e-zine subscribers, and YouTube subscribers. From there, I am going to send out a master email every week with the subject line “Build your own or expand your existing sales training business.” This same message contained in the email will be broadcast worldwide through all of my other social media and Internet sources.

Based on that information, and the fact that I am all about value-based (non advertising) messages, tweets, and posts, the campaign will take place “at random” until we discover the best times and places to elicit response.

Luckily we’re in the age of data analytics, so it should be a relatively easy task to see what comes from where, and when. It will not be a 100% accurate evaluation, but over a short period of time we’ll be able to take smarter (analyzed) guesses.

WHAT’S IN THIS FOR YOU? As you read (hopefully study) our plan of action, see which elements you might be able to use to build your own lead-generating program. For me, this will be the measure of how valuable my social media time investment has been. What could it be for you?

Achieving 1,000 leads will be an amazing return.

Here’s the detailed outreach game plan:

  • Strategic E-Blast. An initial mailing to my entire list on a Wednesday morning. Thereafter on the following Monday. And 11 days later on a Friday. This gives me maximum penetration of my own list. The email will link to my promo video and information site (gitomercertifiedadvisors.com). The copy in the email will be short and sweet. It will make NO promises other than “start or build your own sales training business using my material and my brand.”
  • Facebook posts on both my personal and business page. We will link the post to our informational video promo, and offer a value message rather than an ad. It will be a message based on better presentations or better selling. It will ask questions and create a desire to find out more. When they click the link, there will be no registration barriers whatsoever.
  • Facebook testimonial posts from existing advisors. Both video and text. This will authenticate my requests, and make interested people less reluctant to respond.
  • Daily tweets with varying messages. All with a shortened link to take the interested people right to my info site. No barriers to the information.
  • Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter ads that will target similar sites and messages. That’s right, you can put target ads on the competition’s social media pages. Love it.
  • A small but targeted LinkedIn ad campaign. Similar to the ads on my competition’s pages, but intended to reach people based on background and title.
  • Daily LinkedIn messaging to my entire group of 19,000+ connections. Sending them a link, requesting they take a look AND make their contacts aware of the opportunity.
  • Targeted LinkedIn messaging. Searching for people with training, sales management, and coaching backgrounds and inviting them to “take a look.”
  • Several short YouTube information videos in addition to my existing ones. They will be loaded with keywords and hash tags.
  • Blog posts twice a week with information on how to be a better sales trainer or coach. Value-based information with an ability to click for more information.
  • Weekly e-zine ads and informational tips. Similar to the blog, my weekly e-zine, Sales Caffeine, will feature training tips and a “for info on how to become a Gitomer Certified Advisor and build your business using my name, my brand and my material,” click here button.

THE EXPECTED RESULTS: A steady flow of semi-qualified incoming leads who will discover our team of knowledgeable, friendly people who can convert them to happy, enthusiastic buyers.

THE PLATFORM IS THE MEDIUM: The reason I’m able to attract anyone to my message is because I have (slowly) built a solid platform of customers and followers. So can you. I started with ONE. Pretty low number. So can you.

Study my sites and follow my results. Those lessons will teach you the real law of attraction: VALUE ATTRACTION.

If you’d like to see the exact email and subject line I’m using, and links to all my social sites, go to www.gitomer.com and enter the word ADVISOR in the GitBit box.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

A game plan to generate a thousand social media leads.

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I have a goal and a plan to attract 1,000 leads in the next 30 days.

Six months ago I launched my Gitomer Certified Advisor program. It allows others in the coaching and training field to use my brand and sell my classroom training and my online platform along with their offerings – or by itself.

After a very successful (but limited) launch, I want to take the program to the next level and need to find interested and qualified people to do so.

THINK ABOUT YOU AS I TELL YOU ABOUT ME. Before I get into the strategy and actions I’m going to take, I want you to understand why I’m writing about the process. I want you to compare it to how you attract, how you prospect, and how you connect with willing buyers.

  • How do you get leads?
  • How do you prospects?
  • What is your strategy to socially involve and attract?
  • Is your personal platform strong enough to attract?
  • What is your social media lead-conversion rate?

The answers to these questions will significantly impact results.

BIG PICTURE: The strategy for this ‘attraction campaign’ is to use every form of social media and electronic outreach to find interested people, and offer them multiple ways to connect with me. The goal is to give information immediately without a barrier of registering or giving me their information. I want to get my messages BOTH responded to and passed along.

THE TARGETS: In order to get 1,000 leads, I am going to mass mail my contacts and connections AND specifically target existing coaches, existing sales trainers (corporate and independent), and anyone looking to start their own sales training business that wants to use the Jeffrey Gitomer brand to increase authenticity. As a Gitomer Certified Advisor, I provide them with the content, the brand, and the training to make it happen.

TIMED SOCIAL MESSAGES: Posting time and frequency are directly proportionate to the audience reached and their likelihood of response. From my personal experience, my social media consulting expert, Joe Soto, and the article, The Scientific Guide to Posting Tweets, Facebook Posts, Emails and Blogs at the Best Time in The Huffington Post, the best times to post on social media are as follows http://blog.bufferapp.com/best-time-to-tweet-post-to-facebook-send-emails-publish-blogposts:

Facebook. Best post times are between 1 pm and 3 pm Monday through Friday; engagement rates are 18 percent higher on Thursdays and Fridays.

Twitter. Tweet later in the day. Re-tweets on Twitter are higher at 5 pm compared to any other time during the day; the best times to post are between noon and 6 pm. This same study found that people are on Twitter 181 percent more during their commute. Think about it. Aren’t you more likely to be all about your life and how to improve it before or after work?

LinkedIn The Media Bistro suggests LinkedIn is most often used right before and after work hours (specifically on Tuesday and Thursday, but no one knows exactly (except maybe LinkedIn).

Blog readers read in the morning, with the ‘sweet spot’ being Thursdays around 11 am. But that’s a subjective opinion as well.

YouTube has no ‘best time.’ By comparison to others, its visitors are more search oriented, so I intend to be both searchable and findable. And my new video posts will go out to all my existing subscribers.

CRAP SHOOT REFINED: No one really knows. All messages are different, and all experts are flawed. (I’ve been proving that for years.) I believe that content is a bigger key than what time you post it. And key words will get you found. So that’s where I’m concentrating. I’m going out to my audience, and asking them to go out to their audience (re-tweet, repost, forward, like, comment, and anything else that spreads the word organically).

My overall goal is to generate at least 1,000 leads by May. You may think that is an aggressive goal, but highly achievable through social media and email. Generating 1,000 leads will create a pipeline that will lead me to one sale per day by June 2014.

And I am going to give you the complete detailed outreach plan for you to use as a guide to creating your own game plan for new leads – next week.

If you’d like to see the exact email and subject line I’m going to use, go to www.gitomer.com and enter the word ADVISOR in the GitBit box.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

Lessons Learned from Corporate Branding and Rebranding Efforts of Note

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Lesson: Don’t fix what’s not broken
Coca-Cola learned not to tamper with a beloved brand in 1985 when it decided to re-stage its iconic brand with “New Coke.” The public was outraged and let Coca-Cola know they didn’t want a “new” Coke. They wanted their old Coke, literally a quintessential icon in American popular culture. Coke responded within a few months and brought back “Classic Coke.” Classic Coke sales rebounded. Although New Coke remained on the shelves, it eventually faded from store shelves. Some commentators felt the move to New Coke was a marketing gimmick to regenerate interest and sales in the brand after sales erosion due to the “Pepsi Challenge” taste test campaign. Don Keough, company President, responded to the charge saying “We’re not that dumb, and we’re not that smart”.

Lesson: Expansion may require a bigger umbrella
International Harvester changed its name to Navistar International in 1986 when it sold its farm equipment business and entered the truck, diesel engine, and bus markets. Although the name is “made up,” it broadened the brand and has strong connotations of movement and direction. As a 2013 company report* stated, “Navistar was selected as a name with a strong sound, a resonance to Harvester, and a connection to its root words “navigate” and “star.” It does all of those things and has since become the name of the holding company over multiple Navistar divisions, International Trucks, and MaxxForce Diesel engines.

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CEO Miller IngenuityWith more than three decades of management, executive, consulting and speaking experience in markets all over the world, Miller Ingenuity CEO Steve Blue is a globally regarded business growth authority and ‘turnaround specialist’ who has transformed companies into industry giants and enthralled audiences with his dynamic keynotes. In his upcoming book, Outdo, Outsmart… Outlast: A Practical Guide to Managed, Measured and Meaningful Growth, he reveals why seeking growth and surviving growth are equally perilous, and require different sets of plans to weather the storms. Steve may be reached at www.StevenLBlue.com.