Beat Phone Anxiety with this 👇
The year is 2014. I’ve landed my first sales job. I’m working in a small office of four people (including me).
I’d never made a single cold call and they didn’t offer training or role plays. 👀
Instead, a stack of papers with names, phone numbers and an oh-so-motivating pep talk: “Alright, let’s see what you can do!”
For the next three days, I found every reason to avoid the list. Didn’t pick up the phone once.
Then Friday came. No more stalling.
There were only a few people in the office and it was becoming obvious what I was doing: coming up with every to not pick up the phone.
It was time.
After hours of practicing on the drive to work each morning, I thought I was ready. And as I pick up the phone and hear the ring, panic sets in.
I immediately hang up and go to the bathroom. Mini-panic attack. Over a cold call?!
Yep, over a cold call.
I spent the next 5 minutes pulling myself together and working up the courage to make some damn calls. And guess what?
That’s exactly what I did.
And guess what else? The first person to answer was extremely nice. No meeting booked or deal closed, but the realization that I was 100% in my own head was good enough for me.
The rest is history. At every position to follow, I became the cold call guy.
New hires sat with me to learn how to make effective cold calls. Today, I’m writing to you about what I learned from this experience and how to best deal with phone anxiety, otherwise known as call reluctance.
Moral of the story: don’t give your uneducated assumptions too much credit.
Alright, let’s dig in. Here’s how you overcome call anxiety today:
Understand why you’re nervous to make a phone call to someone you don’t know. When you think about it, it’s all silly. You have absolutely nothing to lose and the reality is: even when cold calls go poorly, that prospect will forget about it by the next day. You’re probably nervous for a few primary reasons:
Rejection / Failure - the question of: “what if I mess up?” - it’s not a matter of if, but when. You will mess up, and that’s okay. The prospect won’t remember the call. Trust me, you’re not that important. To them, you’re just another salesperson blowing up their phone.
Lack of Preparation: this applies to just about anything in life. If you’re really nervous about something, that means you didn’t spend enough time in preparation.
Not sure what to say: this ties back to #2. Have a word-for-word script when you first start. You’ll sound like a robot and that’s fine. The words will flow eventually. At first, you just need to get them out of your mouth to show yourself you can do it.
Deploy perspective into the reality of the situation. This was a harsh truth for me but it’s helped me a lot throughout my career. Here’s the reality: cold calling is not real pressure. It’s not a real challenge. It’s not a real problem. If you’re in a position to feel stressed about cold calls, that means you have a job. Which means you have opportunity right in front of you. Being unemployed, unable to pay your bills, getting laid off with a partner and kids at home - those are real issues. We’re talking about phone calls. I say this to say; keep perspective. You being tasked with making cold calls is not real pressure.
Educate yourself on all the different ways you can start a cold call and carry a conversation. The more you know, the more comfortable and confident of a foundation you’ll have. Here are two Linkedin voices that will teach you different ways to level up your cold calling: Belal Batrawy and Becc Holland
Practice daily to make this entire process more natural. When you first shoot a basketball with proper technique, it’s uncomfortable. Same goes for holding a guitar properly or learning to use chopsticks. Doing things the right way isn’t comfortable at first, you gotta get your reps in until it becomes second nature. Same goes for cold calling. Practice with your teammates, boss, partner, and most importantly - your prospects. Sounds counterintuitive and as helpful as role plays are, nothing compares to the variability that accompanies a live cold call.
You’re not going to start off as a world-class cold calling expert, and you’ll never become one if you don’t address the basics of your anxiety followed by a s**t ton of practice.
If you focus on the four bullets mentioned above, you will become a skilled salesperson.
Final note: If you work-from-home, it’s easier to mess up now than it’s ever been. So you’re butchering phone calls in front of nobody, who cares?
Interested in learning more about cold calling?
Get access to a pre-recorded Sales Enablement session which includes an in-depth walkthrough of my Easy Contract Call Script Framework along with a live role play.