Overcoming Cold Call Anxiety

Cold call anxiety may feel a lot like stage fright or speaking in front of a lot of people. How do you call a complete stranger, out of the blue, and start talking to that person about a product or service you provide? If you start to stress, become nauseous or get nervous before picking up the phone, try some of these cold calling techniques to overcome this type of stress.

Michael Pedone, founder and CEO of SalesBuzz, reassures salespeople with relevant ideas to mitigate cold call anxiety. He believes you should understand and know that you are meant to have a sales position for a reason. You may not be the best when it comes to cold calling techniques, but you can close out a sale, crunch sales numbers or hook someone halfway through sales negotiations. Becoming an expert cold caller makes you a better overall salesperson.

Recognize that you have difficulty contacting sales leads who do not know you. Fine-tune your skills after you realize people do not return your calls, respond to your messages or put you through to the decision makers of the office. Understanding your failures leads to overcoming cold call anxiety.

Instead of trying to sell something, come from the perspective of helping a fellow human being. This mindset reduces negative feelings when cold calls reject your sales pitch or hang up after three seconds. The total stranger on the other line rejected your help rather than failed to give you his attention. Move on to the next person to discover if he accepts your assistance.

Create a script, and adapt it to the needs of the person you call. A script starts the call in a professional, polite manner. Even better, these words were spoken by successful salespeople who came before you. Cold call anxiety evaporates when you find winning scripts, in addition to your own style, hook the buyer more often than not. A script lets you practice your timing, tone and enunciation while on the phone. Learn to think on the fly, and alter the script when necessary.

Make a list of your sales leads, and keep track of what works and what doesn't. Write down and remember when a caller turns against you. Limit your leads, and work on only those people who make decisions within a company. If you met someone at a networking event two weeks ago who oversees multiple divisions of a company, that person presents a better lead than someone who just started in the copy room. Avoid wasting time and energy on people who lack power within a company structure to improve your rejection rate and ease your cold call anxiety.

You do not have to be the best salesperson in your company to succeed at cold calling. Lessen your cold call anxiety as you recognize your human nature, fix what could be wrong and make connections with people as you politely try to help them throughout your call.

Photo courtesy of Highways England Company Ltd at Flickr.com