Six Steps to Overcoming Phone Fear
It’s hard to believe, but it has been a year since I started this blog. My intention from the beginning was to share challenges and fears that I have faced during my career, share ideas to make your business more successful and hopefully to provide inspiration to my readers.
Since our start we have grown to several thousand unique viewers monthly and are being read in over one hundred and twenty countries. My book “Showing Up To Play” is scheduled to be released by BQB Publishing on June 21st of this year. I want to thank everyone for the hundreds of emails and calls I have received over this past year regarding how my posts have helped their lives and their businesses. I hope that I can continue to add value and will work to bring the best possible content to each post. Thank you for support.
Over the next month my blog site will be relocating and the look will change. My hope is to make the site less congested and more focused on the message that I am trying to convey in my post. I will continue to not allow advertisers on the site (although I will encourage readers to check out my new book…..you can’t blame me for that). The content will not mention specific companies or products. I truly want to focus on the internal issues that hold us back in this life and business.
Finally in celebration of my first year I am going to repost today my very first blog. It was entitled ” I’m not lazy, I’m an insurance agent and I’m just scared as hell.” It is one of my favorites, enjoy.
Well, here I am, my first day as a new sales agent and I gotta make that first phone call. Man, do I hate telemarketers. I don’t want to be hated…I wonder if the person I’m going to call will hate me. Gee…I hope not. No, that can’t be! All of these other people in the office call people and I like them…mostly. Except that one guy. He’s such a know it all. I wish he would just shut up in the sales meetings. I’m going to go get a cup of coffee.
OK, let me get started and pick up the phone. Man, this phone is heavy…where is the speakerphone! If I call, what’s the worst that could happen? I guess the person could come find me and kill me! No, that probably wouldn’t happen…would it? No way! OK, the worst thing they could do is hang up on me. It’s awfully rude to hang up on someone. Well, that’s what I would do if a telemarketer called me…man, I hate telemarketers. I wonder if there are any donuts left?
When I first started in the business, I showed up at the office two days in a row and they made me the manager. Back in those days, that’s sorta how it was done. I’m not sure it’s much different today. Since that time I have seen many agents come and go out of this great business. To figure out what makes one person successful, while so many others fail, is an issue that the sales industry has struggled with for years. Obviously, we know that most people leave because they aren’t making enough money. This can be blamed on a number of issues. Training and leadership are certainly among these. I believe the number one reason people fail is lack of activity. Now listen, you don’t have to have an MBA to figure that one out. Let’s take a deeper look into why there would be a lack of activity in an industry that can offer such great rewards for those who work hard.
The answer is not an easy one to figure out. The go-to solution for most managers is that the agent has a lack of motivation. I’m not going to say that some of us don’t need a little extra inspiration from time to time, but I do find it hard to believe that a person would choose to go through what it takes to either get an insurance license or join a sales organization if they don’t intend to work.
I think the problem is much deeper and my perspective is based on my personal experience as a sales agent and a sales manager over the last 32 years…FEAR!!!! You may be asking, why would you be afraid of sales? That’s an issue that could take up a blog on its own. What I have found is that there are many things that we fear consciously and subconsciously in both our sales life and our personal life. Some of these are:
Fear of rejection
Fear of failure
Fear of success
Fear of the lack of knowledge
My intention is to spend time in future entries about the depths of these fears, why they exist and how we develop them. I believe by understanding these things we can enrich our lives in many ways. Believe it or not, these fears carry over into all aspects of our life. More on that later.
Let’s focus on how we can overcome these fears or at least make it tolerable to do what we are afraid of so we can be successful. I think the number one thing we must do first is face the fact that these fears do exist in one form or another. Then, we can take a look at the next steps.
Take advantage of all available training. Don’t try and become an expert, but make sure that whatever training is offered; whether it is classroom or self-paced online training, you have completed it and taken it seriously. CONFIDENCE CAN HELP OVERCOME FEAR!
Commit to a sales script. Know the script and don’t vary from it. We get hung up on what we are saying instead of understanding the process that comes from using it consistently and owning it.
Why am I doing this? If you focus on the reward that you will receive from attacking your fears; the rewards will help you overcome these fears. When your dreams are bigger than your fears, you can overcome anything.
What good can be done for others? We need to understand that when we are successful, the impact that we can have on a family is immeasurable. We can save a family’s home if Mom or Dad becomes disabled. We can make sure that a family can survive financially if a breadwinner is lost prematurely. Focusing on doing good for others can definitely overcome fear.
Know the numbers. Believe and understand that sales is totally mathematical. The more you call the closer you come to making a sale. This is a tough one because that doesn’t really help you much if the fear takes you over. Knowing this can help you move to action.
TAKE ACTION! Action can overcome fear.
These are just a few simple ideas to help you overcome the fear that is in all of us. I hope you find them helpful.
For now, I’m off to get another donut.
Good Selling, Bob
Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
