5 Tried-and-True Ways to Overcome Your Reluctance to Call Prospects, According to Hoffman’s Founder

Welcome to “The Pipeline” — a weekly column from HubSpot, that includes actionable recommendation and perception from actual gross sales leaders.

It doesn’t matter how regularly you name prospects or what number of years you’ve been in gross sales, you’ll all the time really feel some nervousness earlier than you dial — and that’s an excellent factor. In the event you’re nervous, you’re taking it severely.

Anxiousness solely turns into an issue when it impacts your means or willingness to name. I’ve met reps who will do every little thing of their energy to keep away from making calls, which unsurprisingly hurts their means to fill their pipeline with new alternatives.

In the event you battle with a worry of calling patrons, use these 5 methods to beat it.

The best way to Overcome Your Reluctance to Name Prospects

1. Make getting a “no” the purpose.

After I was a gross sales supervisor, I’d maintain a calling contest with a “no” quota every time I wished my reps to spend extra time on the telephone. The winner was the primary one that obtained 25 “nos.” Relatively than feeling dejected each time they heard “no” from their prospects, my reps can be excited.

Why is that this contest efficient? As a result of the salespeople inevitably heard “sure” as nicely. It took certainly one of my reps 28 calls to hit her 25 “no” quota — as a result of three prospects determined to arrange one other assembly.

Actually, salespeople normally have a decrease failure fee whenever you run this contest. They’re much less anxious than typical, which ends up in confidence that’s obvious to patrons.

Don’t wait on your supervisor to run this contest — you are able to do it your self. Set your self a “no” quota, seize a notepad and a pen, and hold a working tally of the rejections you get. Whenever you hit your quota, award your self a prize.

2. Deal with the exercise — not the end result.

Measuring your prospecting exercise’s success by what number of conferences you e book might be harmful. Let’s say you’re aiming to land three conferences a day. You name 15 individuals, and each single one is busy, on trip, away from their desk, in a gathering, or just in a foul temper. By no fault of your individual, you haven’t managed to schedule a single assembly. You’re most likely going to be reluctant to hit the telephones once more tomorrow.

Reframe your considering by measuring success by exercise, not end result. On this means, you management whether or not or not you meet your purpose. As a substitute of making an attempt to e book three conferences, decide to asking 20 prospects for a gathering.

Even when each prospect says no, at the least you’ll be able to go dwelling realizing you completed your goal. And chances are high, a few of these individuals will say sure.

3. Put your self in the correct surroundings.

Once we don’t need to sort out a activity, we are able to discover infinite methods to fill our time. That’s why I counsel salespeople to place themselves in an surroundings the place they don’t have anything to do however name.

Put together your lead checklist, telephone numbers, and analysis, and go to a convention room or one other a part of the workplace together with your telephone. In the event you’re sitting at an empty desk with no distractions, I assure you’ll make calls.

Some reps can’t depart their desks. In that scenario, strive shutting off your wifi and even blocking particular websites. Do no matter it’s good to so calling is your solely possibility.

4. Swap leads with one other rep.

I take advantage of this technique on a regular basis to fight name nervousness. Whenever you’re struggling to choose up the telephone, discover one other member of your group and swap leads with them. They name 20 of your leads, and also you name 20 of theirs. If any of your leads come to fruition, they’ll give these names again, and vice versa.

Since you’re not calling your individual leads, you aren’t as emotionally hooked up to them. It turns into a lot much less nerve-wracking to choose up the telephone.

5. Do your homework.

Who wouldn’t be terrified of choosing up the telephone and calling a complete stranger? In the event you don’t analysis a prospect earlier than the decision, you’re not simply making it tougher to ascertain credibility and have an informed dialog: You’re additionally dialing up your individual nervousness.

When a purchaser’s background, tasks, particulars about their firm, and challenges they’re most likely dealing with, you’ll really feel way more assured calling them. Information is energy.

As well as, being ready transforms your function. As a substitute of a pesky telemarketer, you’re a subject professional with distinctive insights and recommendation to supply.

These methods will enable you to scale back your worry of dialing from a 9 to a 3. Your coronary heart will most likely nonetheless begin to race barely quicker earlier than you name a prospect, however bear in mind: Just a little worry isn’t a foul factor.