There are a lot of fears in running your own business and one is the fear of the phone.
It's not really a fear of the physical phone. That can't hurt us, unless yours has a really loud, annoying ring. It's just a black box sitting on our desk. It's not going to kill us if we pick it up. The real fear is the fear of rejection.
Back when I started my business, I had a booth at a trade show. I had a little form the attendees could fill out and they could check if they were interested in my organizing services and/or my speaking to a group. I came home with about 20 of the forms filled out.
I sat down one day to follow-up by phone with these people and I felt physically ill. It was like I was making cold calls but they were not cold - they were warm calls since they had already expressed interest in my services. I was so afraid of calling them because of the fear of rejection. I would make a call and I'd go do a load of laundry. I'd make a call and I'd make lunch. During the entire day I probably called 5 people total and every time I called I prayed that I'd get their answering machine! It was a horrible, horrible day.
Phone Fear Cure:
The issue was that I was calling to sell. The cure for the phone fear is to not call to sell; call to find out information and if they'd be a right fit for you. Call with the attitude of being curious.
"I'm just calling to see if my services are a right fit for you and if we'd work well together."That's all you're calling for. That takes away all the fear because there's no rejection in that. If they're not interested, that's fine. If they're not a right fit, that's fine. There's no rejection.
Another cure is a strategy we call the Storm Starter Strategy or SSS. The SSS is making one business development phone call a day.
When my coach first told me this, I started to feel ill because of what I just told you about my fear of the phone. I like getting calls, I like giving teleclasses or, if you email me about having me speak to your group about my coaching program, I'll gladly call you back. But I have this thing about just calling up people. But he told me I had to do it and I always listen to my coach. So I started regularly implementing the SSS and my business has exploded because I pick up the phone.
When someone e-mails me about my speaking engagements or my coaching program, I don't e-mail back. I pick up the phone and call them. They are shocked that someone actually called them. We always have a very nice conversation. Whether or not it works out, it's still a very nice conversation. I love Facebook, e-mail, all the social media avenues as much as the next person but we are losing personal connections, and that is hurting our business. Pick up the phone! Look in your database for people who've expressed in an interest in your service before, look for a group you could speak for or call someone you met at a networking event, etc.
Get a small spiral notebook and label it "SSS" for Storm Starter Strategy and start keeping track of these calls every day; one business development phone call a day.
It's not really a fear of the physical phone. That can't hurt us, unless yours has a really loud, annoying ring. It's just a black box sitting on our desk. It's not going to kill us if we pick it up. The real fear is the fear of rejection.
Back when I started my business, I had a booth at a trade show. I had a little form the attendees could fill out and they could check if they were interested in my organizing services and/or my speaking to a group. I came home with about 20 of the forms filled out.
I sat down one day to follow-up by phone with these people and I felt physically ill. It was like I was making cold calls but they were not cold - they were warm calls since they had already expressed interest in my services. I was so afraid of calling them because of the fear of rejection. I would make a call and I'd go do a load of laundry. I'd make a call and I'd make lunch. During the entire day I probably called 5 people total and every time I called I prayed that I'd get their answering machine! It was a horrible, horrible day.
Phone Fear Cure:
The issue was that I was calling to sell. The cure for the phone fear is to not call to sell; call to find out information and if they'd be a right fit for you. Call with the attitude of being curious.
"I'm just calling to see if my services are a right fit for you and if we'd work well together."That's all you're calling for. That takes away all the fear because there's no rejection in that. If they're not interested, that's fine. If they're not a right fit, that's fine. There's no rejection.
Another cure is a strategy we call the Storm Starter Strategy or SSS. The SSS is making one business development phone call a day.
When my coach first told me this, I started to feel ill because of what I just told you about my fear of the phone. I like getting calls, I like giving teleclasses or, if you email me about having me speak to your group about my coaching program, I'll gladly call you back. But I have this thing about just calling up people. But he told me I had to do it and I always listen to my coach. So I started regularly implementing the SSS and my business has exploded because I pick up the phone.
When someone e-mails me about my speaking engagements or my coaching program, I don't e-mail back. I pick up the phone and call them. They are shocked that someone actually called them. We always have a very nice conversation. Whether or not it works out, it's still a very nice conversation. I love Facebook, e-mail, all the social media avenues as much as the next person but we are losing personal connections, and that is hurting our business. Pick up the phone! Look in your database for people who've expressed in an interest in your service before, look for a group you could speak for or call someone you met at a networking event, etc.
Get a small spiral notebook and label it "SSS" for Storm Starter Strategy and start keeping track of these calls every day; one business development phone call a day.
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