Trust me, I understand! I've been there. Racing heart, clamy palms, lump in your throat, beads of sweat on your forehead.
When you finally gather enough nerve to make that first phone call, you find the number is disconnected. After a moment of relief, you then feel your skin flush, as you know you have to call the next number on the list.
This time, an answering machine. You leave a message an think 'Hey, this was easy!' and breeze through five more calls, as they were all machines.
Then, the dreaded "Hello?" and you are a deer in the headlights, you muggle all your words and sound like a drunken sailor muttering a strange collection of pirate speak. You feel like a total idiot.
Some people give up right here. Death by phone. They simply can not handle the stress of the unknown. Remember my post on FEAR a few weeks ago? Apply that right here to this article!
But really, ponder for a few moments. No blood was shed. No body parts are missing. No one got struck by lightening. The only thing maybe bruised a bit is the ego, other than that, no physical harm is done!
Yea, yea, perhaps Jane Smith from Boise, ID thinks you are a bit of dork, but you know what? Who cares! Did you sail across the pavement the first time you rode a bike? Nope. You fell, you skinned your knees, you rode onto the grass and fell over, you freaked the heck out of your parents almost crashing into the neighbor's car. BUT you keep going because you wanted to succeed. Odds are, you did. Practice makes perfect!
At this point it is all about choice. Move forward (remember you can not get from there to here without taking the steps in between) or quit.
Cold Calling is considered scary, but it is a choice to be scared. You choose to be scared, or choose not to be. That is the answer to the question. I have my methods of calling, they have their methods their of calling. Is there right or wrong? Not really a 'wrong' way persay. But yea, you could present yourself in a poor manner (see the next post)... So my advice to anyone wanting to do some cold calling, even warm calling (leads you've generated from your website) get with your sponsor and ask for some tips. It's not as hard as it seems, I've called hundreds of leads and hundreds successfully became team members. But hey, hundreds never answered, never responded, or just said no. I just refused to give up. Go for NO, the emphasis on the GO!
In the beginning, I was sweaty and stressed, but over time, it's as simple as riding a bike!
Alethea Anderson
Picking Up the Phone Daily
