Prospecting is your No. 1 job. Your No. 2 job is to sell yourself, and your No. 3 job is to sell your products and services.
There is no getting around it; to succeed, you must prospect consistently and comfortably. When you are ready to make your appointment setting calls, does your heart rate speed up, your mouth goes dry, and you think, I hate prospecting.
This shaky feeling is Sales Call Reluctance™, aka feeling vulnerable, and it makes us hesitant and uncomfortable. We play small so we can escape the potential judgment of others and our fear of the unfamiliar. What scares us is sometimes actually good for us, and if we can stomach sitting with it, vulnerability has the potential to transform itself into joy. Can you imagine the day when you joyfully prospect? If so, you’re on your road to significant success. But by pushing through, you are doing something far more healthy and transformative, according to Brené Brown, a professor and vulnerability researcher at the University of Houston.
Why feeling vulnerable is good for us
In Daring Greatly, Brené Brown describes vulnerability as “uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure.” It’s that unstable feeling we get when we step out of our comfort zone and prospect. It forces us to loosen control. If you run away the second those shaky feelings arise, you’re just reinforcing the voice in your head that says “I’m not cut out for this. I am not good enough.”
How Sales Call Reluctance shows up
That insecurity is present in all of us, and it’s so strong that we often go out of our way to avoid prospecting because it makes us feel inadequate. We emotionally “armor up” when we prospect to avoid feeling anxiety, uncertainty, and fear.
The particular armor changes from salesperson to salesperson. Still, it usually revolves around one of three methods: 1) striving for perfection, 2) numbing out, or 3) by “dress rehearsing tragedy” and imagining all the ways that things could go wrong. Do any of these sound familiar? What if the prospect hangs up on me? What if the prospect gets irritated at me?
All of these types of armor can make us feel safe and “in control” at the moment, but they’re doing us more harm than good. “Perfectionism is a 20-ton shield-we think it will protect us, but it keeps us from being seen,” notes Brene. Numbing our emotions is damaging because it has a widespread effect — you can’t numb fear without numbing joy at the same time.
Preliminary steps to get comfortable with prospecting
Awareness is an excellent place to start. Adopting a practice of openness and awareness of your thoughts, feelings, and triggers will help you recognize when you’re disengaging because you’re afraid.
Here are some things to keep in mind as a prospect.
It takes confidence and courage to prospect. Make a few prospecting calls every day with the attitude of “come what may” – no matter what happens; you will make your calls.
Let go of the constant worry about what prospects think of you. Most prospects are focused on their internal struggles, not you.
Don’t worry about being perfect. Don’t even consider it. No one is perfect, and the more you hold yourself to an impossible ideal, the more quickly you will give up.
Are you ready to be courageous and free yourself from Sales Call Reluctance?
I am facilitating a Positive Intelligence® coaching program that is making a transformational difference for salespeople. One recently said, “This is life-changing. I no longer fear prospecting.” A reverse mortgage loan officer shared, “I am setting more appointments with financial advisors.” A third commented, “I easily re-set quickly after a letdown.”
If you are committed to fulfilling your potential and want to put an end to your Call Reluctance for the rest of your career, put yourself on the path to life-mastery with this program.
The seven-week program only takes 1.5% of your day. The unique component of this program is that it has a daily app where you have 2-minute focuses and 2-minute coach challenges. We change when we are challenged.
Commit to doing the internal work, and you will have the tools to pull yourself forward, eliminating the stress around new business development. You will start enjoying the process and learning how to re-set yourself quickly after inevitable setbacks. You will set more appointments.
If you have a non-sales friend or relative who experiences overwhelm and stress, please share this link:
https://www.exceptionalsales.com/PQforyou I am not at liberty to advertise and promote pricing for the program via website or newsletter, due to intellectual property agreements with the developer of the program and app. If you feel this is the right time for you to confront your sabotaging mindset and behaviors, please call me at 602-380-5431 or email [email protected] and after a brief conversation, I’ll share the current pricing for individual and group programs.