I hate to admit it but there are times when I give someone advice and later, after having more time to think about it, I wish I would have said it differently.
This is the story of one of those times.
Yesterday I kicked off a program with over 300 network marketing people. It was the beginning of 6 weekly sessions of my Selling Skills program. The attendees wanted to learn to sell more effectively.
As I was wrapping up to leave, a young woman approached me and asked if she could talk with me for a moment. I never say no to a student, so we sat and talked.
As tears filled her eyes, our conversation began.
“I don’t know if I can do it”, she said.
“Do what?” I asked.
Showing discomfort, she answered, “Make the calls that I’m supposed to make”. I noticed her hand visibly shaking as she wiped a tear from her cheek.
“What is it about calling that frightens you so?”
“Just the thought that they think I’m trying to sell them something.”
“What bothers you about that?”
“I feel like I’m pressuring them.” She answered as if she suddenly discovered the real problem.
“Are you?” I asked, trying to understand her fear enough so I could give her the best lesson.
She looked at me with surprise and replied with a definite, “No!”, as if to question my sanity to even ask such a foolish question.
I gave her my standard advice and I’m sure it will be of help. But…
…the more I thought about it, the more I wish I would have offered her the following advice:
“You will learn to control your fear when you complete the following steps.”
One – Understand the fear. We are always 5 why’s or what’s to the true reason. Why do you feel this fear of calling? Why is that bothering you? And why is that a concern? Why are you letting those reasons stop you from doing what you know you need to do? What are you going to do about it?
Two – Accept the fear. Cowards have fear but so do heroes. The difference is the hero does not let it stop him.
Three – Decide how important the success is to you. How badly do you want to succeed at this? Is the desire greater than the fear?
Four - Change the purpose of your calls. Don’t make the calls to try to sell the prospect. Take the attitude that you are calling simply to see if they have an interest in talking about what you’re offering. This can take much of the pressure off both you and the prospect.
Five – Do it til you want to. Just like exercising, you may hate it at the beginning but when you do it often enough and long enough you will eventually not hate doing it. Maybe you won’t ever get over the hate or the fear but it does get easier and more comfortable as time goes by.
Remember the words of my brother Zig…”If you never take a chance you will never have a chance”.
Love,
Floyd
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