Few people who join the proud profession of selling avoid the anxious and excited feelings that accompany the sales call. The anxiety we feel when making the sales call is a biological response to a stressful situation. Realising that our anxiety is a positive factor, not a negative factor, allows us to focus on the most important factor in call reluctance – US!
One of the best ways to recognise the strengths is to replay the tapes on our mind’s “video player” of the times we were successful. Recognise that no matter how successful, wealthy, or powerful your prospects may be, the person makes mistakes just like us. No one has been 100 percent successful in life, as a person become more successful, more obstacles, mistakes, and hurts have been overcome.
High self-esteem and a good self-image are vital because salesperson with these qualities will always consider themselves to be self-employed and will act accordingly. Selling professionals with high self-regard accept responsibility for sales results, never falling back on the old “I just got lucky” comment. They realise that RESULTS FOLLOW EFFORT when the effort comes from a competent, confident salesperson. Accept personal responsibility for building self-confidence and self-esteem, and we have taken the first step in overcoming call reluctance.
Financial pressure will take a toll on the strongest of us, to reach the peak as a professional salesperson, we must become a good manager of money. With money, we have options, without money, we have very few options. For those suffering from financial woes, the key in the short term is to start a savings account immediately and avoid the indiscriminate use of credit cards.
We can become a persuader when our financial future is not at stake and we can focus on the prospect instead of our own problems. If we transfer the feeling that we must make the sale for our benefit, the chances of making the sale are greatly negated. If we transfer the feeling that we want to make the sale for the prospect’s benefit, our chances are dramatically increased.
The salesperson who is COMPETENT in the use and understanding of the telephone and is confident of having that competence is going to be a far more effective salesperson than the one who is “afraid” of the telephone. One of the greatest causes of phone fear is failing to set an objective for the call. Determine why we are making the call.
Objections need to be anticipated, we can build in power phrases that overcome key objections before they occur. Objections are almost always predictable. Before making a phone call, we need to ensure that we are “dressed” and ready to make the calls. The fourth step in overcoming call reluctance is to “TAME THE TELEPHONE” and make it work for you instead of against you.
We must sincerely believe that no matter who we are, where we live or how good (or bad) our career has been to this point in our life, we were born to win the profession of selling. To be the winner we are allowed to become, we must PLAN to win, we must PREPARE to win and then we have every right to EXPECT to Win. Planning and preparation begin with the simplest of ideas. No matter how sophisticated our selling arena, we are never completely dressed without a smile. For physical appearance, we must dressed appropriately for the job. Regardless of industry, our attire must be neat, matched, first class, and in good taste. In less than three seconds, the prospect makes a decision about you based on three basic parts of “our” look. (1) Smile (2) Shirt and tie or blouse (3) shoes.
We must always plan ahead for the day, week, month, year and career. We must remember the will to win is nothing without the will to prepare to win. The fifth step in overcoming call reluctance: PLAN TO WIN, PREPARE TO WIN, AND EXPECT TO WIN IN THE WORLD OF SELLING.
The turnover rate of the sales industry could be extremely high and one solution to this problem is to TURN AN EXPERIENCE INTO AN EXPERIEMENT. Experiment by definition is limited in life span – and based on the experiences of some of the sales staff, the more limited the life span, the better. If we try this experiment, our life span as a sales professional will be increased.
To be successful in sales, to realise our potential and stabilise the production, we need to GET ON AN ORGANISED PROGRAM FOLLOWED IN A DISICPLINED MANNER. Doing the little things that make the big difference. Organisation, discipline and commitment make for consistent high-volume production. Step seven in overcoming call reluctance: GET ON A REGULAR SCHEDULE AND MAKE AN APPOINTMENT WITH YOURSELF TO BE FACE-TO-FACE WITH A PROSPECT AT THE SAME TIME EVERYDAY.
Courage has been described as an action we take not because of the absence of fear but we know that taking the action is the RIGHT (and in most cases the desirable) thing to do. By making an appointment with ourself to start every day at exactly the same time, and KEEPING THE APPOINTMENT, we can defeat procrastination and call reluctance. LOGIC WILL NOT CHANGE AN EMOTION, BUT ACTION WILL! Call reluctance is an emotion, and it will not be overcome consistently by logic. Get into action, support the action with logic, and sales success is sure to be ours.
REMEMBER: THE SECRET OF GETTING AHEAD IS GETTING STARTED.
(Adapted from “The Ultimate Handbook for the Complete Sales Professional – Ziglar on Selling”, Chapter 4 – Selling in the Real World – Dealing Effectively with Call Reluctance, by Zig Ziglar)