How to Avoid the Stress Associated with Cold Calling
Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2024 10:04 am
If you're a business owner or manager, you probably want to find new customers while keeping your current clientele happy.
This also makes you a salesperson.
This role includes calling potential customers, cultivating relationships with them and, ultimately, soliciting a sale.
Making sales is essential to your success. Yet it often falls to the bottom of your to-do list. You either do it in between tasks or neglect it altogether. Why is that?
We hate being refused.
Our minds naturally hate rejection. This aversion triggers a stress response that limits our ability to communicate and bond with others.
Here's what sales expert Ari Galper says about cold calling: "In some ways, the fear of cold calling is practically an epidemic, but not the kind you read about on TV or in the newspapers. It's a silent, personal epidemic, a psychological battle that takes place in our hearts and minds. The fear of reaching out to others is the number one reason we don't get results (new sales)."
What makes us react the way we do to the idea of calling a potential client?
The 3 F's of Survival
As a species, our survival instinct is defined at its core by strong terms called the 3 Fs: Cope, Flight, Freeze. This is how our bodies naturally respond to what they perceive as a threat to our well-being.
Hormones released by a fear response can cause significant physical symptoms, including:
Increased heart rate and blood pressure
Muscle contraction
Pupil dilation
Increased blood glucose level
Cold calling elicits a fear response
The fear of rejection associated with cold calling can trigger all linkedIn database of these unpleasant reactions. No wonder so many of us dread the initial contact with a potential client and would rather do anything else.
But there is good news. Limiting your sales contacts to people who are likely to be interested in your offering will significantly increase your confidence.
You can implement a sales strategy based on four simple steps.
4 Steps to Increase Your Sales Without Increasing Your Stress
Step 1 – Pre-qualify your prospects. Research them in every way possible and see if your offering might interest them. Use social media , websites, and references to learn more about them and the products and services they might need.
Step 2 – Call to test the waters. The person who answers won’t necessarily be the prospect, but someone from the front desk, accounting, or human resources. Ask if the company would be interested in the product you’re selling, and who you could talk to about it. Hopefully, you’ll get the right person’s email address.
If you reach the prospect, don’t launch into a sales pitch. Politely ask if they want to learn more about what you have to offer. Just get their permission to move on to the next step.
Step 3 – After receiving permission , send a brief email – I emphasize the word brief – asking if she or he consents to you calling to continue the discussion.
Step 4 – Call the potential client.
Have a plan. What outcome are you aiming for?
Have a human attitude. Better yet, be yourself. Nobody likes being sold something.
Ask to meet the person, send them a price proposal, etc.
Have a backup/follow-up plan if the sale doesn't close by then. How will you stay in touch?
Set a number of potential clients to contact each day/week/month and do it. You'll feel better afterwards.
A satisfying experience
It can be very rewarding to see how much you can grow your business by following a few easy steps. With practice, you'll get the hang of it.
A final word: remember that it is human to feel anxiety.
Do you have any tips for making cold calling more effective? We’d love to hear about them.
This also makes you a salesperson.
This role includes calling potential customers, cultivating relationships with them and, ultimately, soliciting a sale.
Making sales is essential to your success. Yet it often falls to the bottom of your to-do list. You either do it in between tasks or neglect it altogether. Why is that?
We hate being refused.
Our minds naturally hate rejection. This aversion triggers a stress response that limits our ability to communicate and bond with others.
Here's what sales expert Ari Galper says about cold calling: "In some ways, the fear of cold calling is practically an epidemic, but not the kind you read about on TV or in the newspapers. It's a silent, personal epidemic, a psychological battle that takes place in our hearts and minds. The fear of reaching out to others is the number one reason we don't get results (new sales)."
What makes us react the way we do to the idea of calling a potential client?
The 3 F's of Survival
As a species, our survival instinct is defined at its core by strong terms called the 3 Fs: Cope, Flight, Freeze. This is how our bodies naturally respond to what they perceive as a threat to our well-being.
Hormones released by a fear response can cause significant physical symptoms, including:
Increased heart rate and blood pressure
Muscle contraction
Pupil dilation
Increased blood glucose level
Cold calling elicits a fear response
The fear of rejection associated with cold calling can trigger all linkedIn database of these unpleasant reactions. No wonder so many of us dread the initial contact with a potential client and would rather do anything else.
But there is good news. Limiting your sales contacts to people who are likely to be interested in your offering will significantly increase your confidence.
You can implement a sales strategy based on four simple steps.
4 Steps to Increase Your Sales Without Increasing Your Stress
Step 1 – Pre-qualify your prospects. Research them in every way possible and see if your offering might interest them. Use social media , websites, and references to learn more about them and the products and services they might need.
Step 2 – Call to test the waters. The person who answers won’t necessarily be the prospect, but someone from the front desk, accounting, or human resources. Ask if the company would be interested in the product you’re selling, and who you could talk to about it. Hopefully, you’ll get the right person’s email address.
If you reach the prospect, don’t launch into a sales pitch. Politely ask if they want to learn more about what you have to offer. Just get their permission to move on to the next step.
Step 3 – After receiving permission , send a brief email – I emphasize the word brief – asking if she or he consents to you calling to continue the discussion.
Step 4 – Call the potential client.
Have a plan. What outcome are you aiming for?
Have a human attitude. Better yet, be yourself. Nobody likes being sold something.
Ask to meet the person, send them a price proposal, etc.
Have a backup/follow-up plan if the sale doesn't close by then. How will you stay in touch?
Set a number of potential clients to contact each day/week/month and do it. You'll feel better afterwards.
A satisfying experience
It can be very rewarding to see how much you can grow your business by following a few easy steps. With practice, you'll get the hang of it.
A final word: remember that it is human to feel anxiety.
Do you have any tips for making cold calling more effective? We’d love to hear about them.