What are you afraid of? Everybody’s scared of something.
The fear of heights is called Acrophobia.
Fear of spiders is called Arachnophobia.
The irrational fear of the number 13 is called Triskaidekaphobia.
And fear of getting the phone slammed in your face is called “Call Reluctance.”
Web designer John Petrowski, owner of The Website Shoppe, has logged countless thousands of cold calls over the years using the Mojo Dialer. (He used to be a health insurance sales whiz and recently shared his experiences using the Mojo Triple Line Power Dialer.)
Petrowski says it’s now time to dispel the “Myth of the Telemarketer and learn how to overcome call reluctance”.
“So the fear is that people will yell at you, they’ll scream at you and they’ll spit at you,” he says. “Maybe that will happen once a year. It’s never ever happened to me. If a local business owner wants to get their name out there, they might not be interested in your (B2B) service. But they are not going to yell at you.”
Whether you are a rookie or a veteran of phone sales, here are some tips that are worth considering to overcome call reluctance:
1. Don’t Pretend to Be a Prospect’s Best Friend — Everyone’s suspicious of the too-eager-to-please car salesman who calls you “buddy” or “big guy” like you went to high school together. Don’t be that guy. Even saying “How are you doing today?” sounds disingenuous. The prospect knows you are a telemarketer. Pretending to be a friend is a turnoff. Just saying “Hi, I’m John from The Website Shoppe and the reason I am calling is that I noticed…” makes a huge difference.
2. Try to Talk to the Decision Maker — If you are making B2B calls, don’t waste your time calling banks, doctors, dentists or attorneys. Those are the businesses most likely to be answered by a gatekeeper. The gatekeeper’s job is to NOT patch you through. Don’t waste your time.
3. Almost All Your Fear is in Picking Up the Phone — Being nervous before starting your calls is normal. It’s the stage fright of our industry. But once your Mojo system starts dialing numbers and you start talking to people, it becomes routine and feels natural.
4. Don’t Use Other People’s Scripts Verbatim — If you don’t feel good about your script, don’t use it. Personalize it. Modify it to reflect how you would normally talk to somebody in a conversation.
5. Be Patient When Perfecting Your Script — Most people are willing to throw in the towel after three hours of calls. It takes at least five hours on the phone to develop a pitch you feel comfortable with. Change and adapt your approach based on how people respond to you. Try out a few different scripts to see which ones resonate the best.
6. Don’t Go For The Kill on the First Call — You think someone is going to buy a health plan right then and there based on a 30-second pitch? The purpose of my calls is to get my information in front of them. The interested people will always pipe up.
7. Forget About Being “Strong” on the Phone — Salespeople are often taught that you can’t take no for an answer. Actually, you can. No means “no” and it’s time to move on to the next call. If someone taught me I was weak, I would say, “Why should I be wasting my time on someone who says no when there are thousands of people out there who may desperately need what I am offering.”
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How about you, Mojo users? What tips do you have to share with your fellow prospectors and phone sales professionals? Can you add tips on how to overcome call reluctance?
(Get a quick overview of how the Mojo system can help boost your sales confidence and productivity. Visit the Mojo YouTube Channel today!)
