It’s easy to get anxious when you talk to someone, especially if it’s a business executive that needs an attitude adjustment.
In this post by Revenue 365’s David Mackey, we examine the five important steps to cancel out anxiety and boost the confidence levels of cold callers.
Identify why you’re anxious.
Is it because you don’t like talking on the phone? You’re afraid of something thinking you’re annoying and pushy? You don’t want yet another person to hang up on you? Once you can nail down the actual reason you get anxious, you can confront it head on. A lot of times, the anxiety comes from taking the whole situation personally. When you can identify the real reasons you get anxious, you can sort of coach yourself to think about the whole situation in a more positive (and realistic) manner.
Dig deeper: B2B Telemarketing Rules and How to Break Them (For the Best)
Change the way you think about cold calling.
Instead of thinking that your call is an unwanted interruption and a waste of time, think of your call as a way to inform your prospect about a valuable opportunity for their business. Stop thinking about you—how you sound, how well you presented the information, how long (or short) the conversation was. Make your call about educating and helping the prospect.
Dig deeper: How to Make your Outbound Campaign Standout: A B2B Telemarketing Guide
Create a rough outline of your conversation.
Notice two keywords: rough and outline. It may go against everything everyone else has taught you, but do not write out a word-for-word script. Do you ever read from a script when you’re talking to someone face-to-face? I sure hope not! With a full script, you just read right from it and lose any opportunity for deeper connection with the prospect. Conversations happen naturally, so should your sales call. However, it is wise to give yourself some guidelines. Write down a specific question, a statement that will transition you into learning about the goals or challenges of the company, or the names of connections you may have. You want your outline to be an aid, not a crutch.
Practice makes perfect.
The more you do something, the more natural it becomes. So, practice your sales calls ahead of time. Actually hold the phone in your hand (or put your headset on—whatever it is!) and do dry-runs of your calls. Practice your greeting, your transitional statements, and your questions until you’re comfortable. When you feel prepared and confident before the call actually happens, you’re much more likely to retain that confidence when it does happen.
Dig deeper: The Lifecycle of an Effective Telemarketing Call
Track your progress.
It can be easy to beat yourself up when you only remember how many failed calls you have had. When you actually record how you’re doing, you’ll have unbiased documentation of how you’re actually doing. Your results may surprise you!
Take it one call at a time.
Breathe in, and start with one call at a time. Before you know it, you’ll feel better about making sales calls.
Dig deeper: You Say Potato, I Say Patato: The Real Score Between Telemarketing and Telesales
Aside from telemarketing, employ other lead generation channels on your campaign and
