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Freezing up during cold calls

Fendaril

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Sep 7, 2015
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Hello,

For some reason I freeze up during cold calls. Whenever a prospect on the other side of the phone asks me a question I just get paralyzed.

I did this telemarketing thing just yesterday and I was given a script to set appointments. Simple right? Part of the script was to say "Im calling from the cpa firm". The guy asked 'whats that?', and I hung up
was totally embarrassed, he tried calling back,felt like a moron. All I had to do was give the name of the CPA firm, but I was too pussy to answer the question.

It seems easy cold calling but hats off to the guys that have the balls to do it.
 
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Lex DeVille

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Hello,

For some reason I freeze up during cold calls. Whenever a prospect on the other side of the phone asks me a question I just get paralyzed.

I did this telemarketing thing just yesterday and I was given a script to set appointments. Simple right? Part of the script was to say "Im calling from the cpa firm". The guy asked 'whats that?', and I hung up
was totally embarrassed, he tried calling back,felt like a moron. All I had to do was give the name of the CPA firm, but I was too pussy to answer the question.

It seems easy cold calling but hats off to the guys that have the balls to do it.

F*ck that I hate cold-calling! :D

Anyway, how many calls have you made? I noticed I started to be a little less tense after about 10 calls or so.

Listening to some motivating music first also helps (me).

I haven't really frozen up on a cold-call, but I get really scattered sometimes.

One thing I've noticed most people appreciate is someone who owns their failures.

Anytime I fail at a cold-call or in-person I own it and say something like "dang, this is my first call/pitch etc. of the day! Sorry it had to be you, cause' I'm so tense and nervous I can't think straight." then they feel all sympathetic and you can move forward.

A lot of people say don't apologize, but I'm telling you it works. Go check out my raw review thread and you can see it in video. The first place I pitched an idea to I was failing hard and just owned it. After that things smoothed out.

May work, may not, but it's worth a try, right?

Also check out the NLP concept reframing.

This has helped me some, when I remember to use it haha.

Reframing from the context of you being an annoying sales person to you being someone calling to help the other person out.

I still need a lot of practice in that area, but over time we all get better.
 

Kung Fu Steve

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First off, hats off to you for being so honest!

There's obviously some big fears you have associated with the phone -- so your first step is going to learn to deal with the emotions. I've been doing a LOT of cold calling lately and maybe I can shed some light on this:

1. Preparation: if there's any one thing that creates call reluctance -- it's lack of preparation. You don't know who you're calling on and it puts you in kind of an awkward position. It's difficult to research everyone before you call them (especially if you're making 100+ calls per day), but a quick google search will at least give you a glimpse of who they are and what they do.

2. Preparation 2: Keep the script in front of you until you have it memorized (especially if you're not a natural on the phone... and actually even if you are).

Once you have it memorized you can say practically anything you want. If someone has a question/concern/objection as your boss or the most experienced person in the room what the proper response is to that, write it down, and then have it in a word document on the screen during a call.

3. Make it fun & physical:
as silly as it sounds you've got to print out a sheet a paper with numbers/boxes/whatever and check them off after each call. You need a visual representation of where you are for the day AND the physical act of crossing off another box/checking it/whatever FEELS good.

I actually just ordered a silly little kids scoreboard for myself. Every time I make a call I hit the home team button, every time I schedule a meeting, I hit the away team button. I know -- I know -- it sounds silly but each of these phone calls is potentially worth thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars directly in my pocket and i want to use every trick I can to get it.

4. Changing your perspective: Realize people get cold calls all day long. First, they are better than you at turning you down than you are at convincing them. They've just had a lot more practice at it.

When calling, be fun, be silly, be outrageous -- yeah it's not the most "professional" thing to do but shit -- they're probably going to hang up on you anyways and if they don't you've at least made their day a little more interesting :)

5. Watch this video a few times. Take notes.

 

Duane

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It can be tough, I've done some cold calling before and I froze up on my first few calls. I found one of my problems was that when someone asked me a question I felt obliged to answer them immediately when this isn't necessarily the case. I was talking way faster than normal, breathing light and none of that helped. It gives off this shady vibe tbh.

Speaking slower and taking consistent deep breaths can help you keep your mind straight and even just taking a few seconds before you respond and thinking about the question they asked and slowing down your pace could help you out. This isn't in person, so it wouldn't be weird at all and sometimes people will be impatient, but those aren't the people you want appointments with anyways.

It'll make the conversation more natural over time as your response time will eventually balance out to a normal level once you get used to it. A veteran once told me that you can't give up prospecting in a cold market until you've given at least 100 calls/approaches. So I would just accept failure and grit through as many failures as you can, cause that's the only way you'll succeed.
 
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John Robert

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Cold calling builds strength, character, and skill. Thats awesome you have the opportunity.

One thing i did to help me through is that i looked at each czll like a videogame and i tried to see how far, or what level i could get to.

I would play around my my tonality, and even practice completely fake accents, and make up false back-stories for myself on some calls to make it fun.
 

marklov

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Cold calling is one of the fastest ways to build any business.
Nothing to be scared of really and it's a big part of what I do.

Instead of thinking of it as "cold calling" which sends shivers down your spine
think of it as "just checking for interest".

You introduce what you do, if they are interested you move
on to your pitch then maybe have a conversation.

A great way to relax during the call is to have something doing in front of you.

Like reading a forum while talking, your not trying to sound distracted during the call
but it takes your mind of the "result" of the call.

It's pretty fun once you get rid of the fear, the way to do that is just make calls
and rack up some success quickly, don't give fear the time to set in.
 
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Fendaril

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Sep 7, 2015
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First off, hats off to you for being so honest!

There's obviously some big fears you have associated with the phone -- so your first step is going to learn to deal with the emotions. I've been doing a LOT of cold calling lately and maybe I can shed some light on this:

1. Preparation: if there's any one thing that creates call reluctance -- it's lack of preparation. You don't know who you're calling on and it puts you in kind of an awkward position. It's difficult to research everyone before you call them (especially if you're making 100+ calls per day), but a quick google search will at least give you a glimpse of who they are and what they do.

2. Preparation 2: Keep the script in front of you until you have it memorized (especially if you're not a natural on the phone... and actually even if you are).

Once you have it memorized you can say practically anything you want. If someone has a question/concern/objection as your boss or the most experienced person in the room what the proper response is to that, write it down, and then have it in a word document on the screen during a call.

3. Make it fun & physical:
as silly as it sounds you've got to print out a sheet a paper with numbers/boxes/whatever and check them off after each call. You need a visual representation of where you are for the day AND the physical act of crossing off another box/checking it/whatever FEELS good.

I actually just ordered a silly little kids scoreboard for myself. Every time I make a call I hit the home team button, every time I schedule a meeting, I hit the away team button. I know -- I know -- it sounds silly but each of these phone calls is potentially worth thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars directly in my pocket and i want to use every trick I can to get it.

4. Changing your perspective: Realize people get cold calls all day long. First, they are better than you at turning you down than you are at convincing them. They've just had a lot more practice at it.

When calling, be fun, be silly, be outrageous -- yeah it's not the most "professional" thing to do but shit -- they're probably going to hang up on you anyways and if they don't you've at least made their day a little more interesting :)

5. Watch this video a few times. Take notes.


Have you seen your success go up when you used the gatekeeper trick?
 
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Kung Fu Steve

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Have you seen your success go up when you used the gatekeeper trick?

Honestly I only use it about 25% of the time.

I'm not sure what it is -- probably something to do with my intonation or how relaxed I am -- I probably sound like a friend so 75% of the time they just let me through without a second thought.

My challenge is not normally getting through the gate keepers it's getting the decision maker to pick up the phone after that. These days it seems everything transfers to their cell and no one picks up unknown numbers on their cell.

Here's how I start practically every call:

THEM: "ABC company, this is so-and-so how may I help you?"

ME: "Heeey so-and-so, is John around?" -or- "HEY, is John around by chance?" -or- "Yo! John around?"

(depends on how many calls I've made that day... I get bored easily :p)

You'd be surprised how often this gets me through.

THEM: "Yeah I think he's here..." -or- "It looks like he's with a client" -or- "He's in a meeting, I can send you to his voicemail?"

So I guess these are a little different for me but I'm sick of leaving voicemails, I don't do it anymore. They never call me back anyway -- I must suck at leaving voicemails. So I just call them back an hour later or in the afternoon.

What I've been doing at this point is I kind of go "hmmmmm... mmmmm.... I mean... I GUESS you can send me to his voicemail... is he going to be long you think?"

It's kind of funny because if I just draw out my hmmming and hawing they usually just offer his cell phone... which is pretty funny to me... but if they don't by the time I get done "thinking out loud" I'll say something like...

"Hmmm I don't really want to bug him, it's not that urgent... tell you what, do you have his cell phone handy? I'll just send him a text quick and he can get back to me when he's free."

I've never not had that work.

Now... on the other hand there are PROFESSIONAL phone people out there (like this video says) who won't let you through ever no matter what... for me it's 'on to the next one' -- I'd rather not bother.

If you MUST get through to that person I highly recommend Chet's process. Just see how many times you can send them to the boss before they give up and put you through...

I guess otherwise I'm such a people person that I just start chatting them up. The gatekeeper is fairly inconsequential anyways so you might as well just make friends with them and have a normal conversation... I tend to ask weird questions about their business, how long they've been in it, are they from around here, etc. etc.

Usually it's a woman... and I'm pretty good with women so it's an easy conversation to me....

But you'd better believe I write those things down and the next time I call you know she's going to put me through without any hassle.

I have the hardest time with men -- they are too much like me. "What the hell do you want, no I don't want any, leave me the hell alone."

Anyways, I'm rambling again. Hope some of this helps.
 

Pete799p

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Hello,

For some reason I freeze up during cold calls. Whenever a prospect on the other side of the phone asks me a question I just get paralyzed.

I did this telemarketing thing just yesterday and I was given a script to set appointments. Simple right? Part of the script was to say "Im calling from the cpa firm". The guy asked 'whats that?', and I hung up
was totally embarrassed, he tried calling back,felt like a moron. All I had to do was give the name of the CPA firm, but I was too pussy to answer the question.

It seems easy cold calling but hats off to the guys that have the balls to do it.


Call the guy back. Seriously, call him back and launch back into your script. My bet is that he wont even remember you. It will be in that moment that you realize that the stakes for screwing up a call are quite a bit lower then you and your mind are making them out to be.

Worst case (actually best case) he remembers you. Then apologize for getting disconnected and move on through the process. You will come to find that getting somebody to remember you is actually one of the hardest parts of cold calling.

Good luck and have fun out there!
 
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Ubermensch

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Call the guy back. Seriously, call him back and launch back into your script. My bet is that he wont even remember you. It will be in that moment that you realize that the stakes for screwing up a call are quite a bit lower then you and your mind are making them out to be.

Worst case (actually best case) he remembers you. Then apologize for getting disconnected and move on through the process. You will come to find that getting somebody to remember you is actually one of the hardest parts of cold calling.

Good luck and have fun out there!

Great advice.
 

Ubermensch

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PICK UP THE PHONE AND START DIALING!


Coffee is for closers!


Since we're video-bombing closer shit...


Listen how he asks for "just a small trade" to start. Listen to how he overcomes the "I have to talk to my wife" or "I have to talk to my advisers" objection.



Same lined repeated here, over and over just as in Glen Gary Glen Ross and the Alec Baldwin coffee is for closers scene. Always Be Closing.
 
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Ubermensch

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More...

This one is of the Boiler Room gang quoting the Bud Fox Gordon Gekko scene in the first Wall STreet movie.


Listen as the kid who works in the boiler room slams him with a hard objection immediately.

The lame telemarketer just takes it.

Telemarketer breaks out of his script mode and tries to start selling. He starts talking like an actual human being.

Listen to how he says "it's not what I want, it's about what you want."

This is the answer to the "sell this pen" riddle. How long have you been the market for a pen?

Below, listen how he overcomes the "wife" objection, just as Belfort does in my post below this one. He just wants to get in the door, just wants the guy to give him a shot on this one.


Listen to how he handles the objection. Listen to how he pushes for the close. Listen to how he closes all the time!



"You give me one shot here, on a blue chip stock..."

1:30 - 2:30 Listen to how he overcomes the "wife" objection. He asks for one shot.
 
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Fox

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Hello,

For some reason I freeze up during cold calls. Whenever a prospect on the other side of the phone asks me a question I just get paralyzed.

I did this telemarketing thing just yesterday and I was given a script to set appointments. Simple right? Part of the script was to say "Im calling from the cpa firm". The guy asked 'whats that?', and I hung up
was totally embarrassed, he tried calling back,felt like a moron. All I had to do was give the name of the CPA firm, but I was too pussy to answer the question.

It seems easy cold calling but hats off to the guys that have the balls to do it.

I worked in a call center when I was younger for a while. I sucked bad in the beginning but became one of the best after a few months. Practice really is key. If you want then make some other calls first to warm up.

- Call a hotel and ask about room rates and whats on the menu. Practice tonality and just being solid on the phone. Try make them laugh.
- Call ads from craigslist and pretend you are interested in buying. Practice haggling, asking questions and just general rapport.
- Call some job advertisements. Pretend you will apply and see if you can set up an interview. Practice sounding confident and assertive.

Warm up like you would at the gym. Have some breathing exercises and powerful stretches. Visualize success and belief in what you are doing.

Keep a call log and write down what worked and what didn't. Fine tune your dialogue and you will kill it! After a few 100 phone calls you will have a new skill for live. Phone sales are a great skill and really do continue with you forever.
 

Fendaril

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Sep 7, 2015
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30
31
More...

This one is of the Boiler Room gang quoting the Bud Fox Gordon Gekko scene in the first Wall STreet movie.


Listen as the kid who works in the boiler room slams him with a hard objection immediately.

The lame telemarketer just takes it.

Telemarketer breaks out of his script mode and tries to start selling. He starts talking like an actual human being.

Listen to how he says "it's not what I want, it's about what you want."

This is the answer to the "sell this pen" riddle. How long have you been the market for a pen?

Below, listen how he overcomes the "wife" objection, just as Belfort does in my post below this one. He just wants to get in the door, just wants the guy to give him a shot on this one.


Listen to how he handles the objection. Listen to how he pushes for the close. Listen to how he closes all the time!



"You give me one shot here, on a blue chip stock..."

1:30 - 2:30 Listen to how he overcomes the "wife" objection. He asks for one shot.

That's interesting how he pushed for the close.

I think with me it's a matter of fear of failure to convince the prospect.

I think that it won't matter how hard I push, I'd just be wasting my time.

Meanwhile they probably would have said yes if i pushed a little harder.
 

Ubermensch

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I'm giving you a crash course - with the clips from movies that typically inspire a $ales $uper hero - in Wall Street with this post.

Try to absorb - or understand - this psychologically.

That's interesting how he pushed for the close.

I think with me it's a matter of fear of failure to convince the prospect.

I think that it won't matter how hard I push, I'd just be wasting my time.

Meanwhile they probably would have said yes if i pushed a little harder.

Learn from Gordon Gekko.


It's not about the money. It's about the game, the game between people.

And that's all it is.


It's not about "how much is enough." It's a zero sum game.


What's your number ($$$)?

More.


Some quality and comedic advice here.

Although, I would suggest replacing the "cocaine" with the some bullet coffee.
 
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