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Kalactose

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Do you guys have any tips to be less anxious when cold calling? In my case, I need to meet people physically which makes it way worse. I've approached about a dozen people and saw success in one out of six people. I thought it would be easier but jeez, the conversation gets so awkward I just want to sink into the ground
 
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CaptainAmerica

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I figure I'm doing them a service by letting them know about options and solutions they might need. It's the cure for cancer trick. They have cancer: some problem, but all they know are symptoms and overwhelm. I call them up, chat them up.... 'what are you working on these days? that's great. I'm doing a thing that does xyz for people like you, working on that thing. Is that thing giving you problems? Maybe my solution can help'. Rinse and repeat.

And listen for issues that you don't solve, but could. My clients kept asking for liquidation services. Guess what I added?

This is where belief in your solution comes in. I couldn't sell overpriced credit repair, but I sold the heck out of Acuras to recently retired couples. What are you selling, and why don't you believe in its value?
 

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One out of six??? You're knocking it out of the park!

Some people really just are more awkward. It's hard to tell, I've never met you.

For cold calling, use "slybroadcast". You record a message, add a bunch of numbers, and it sends a voicemail to them. They'll think you called them, left a message, and want to talk to them. You make the message very enticing and sound very personal. You want them to think that you're someone worth talking to, and you can help them, and its a personal message that was meant for them. I wrote a post on here about it.

That way you can talk to tons of people in a scalable way, and then only talk to interested leads that call you back. If you wanted to take it a step further you could have the number get answered by an answering service that filters the call and only forwards very interested prospects to you to close.

But 1/6 is just fine. Keep your pipeline full, ignore the negatives, pound through it and talk to as many people as possible. It's just like talking to chicks. If you're getting dates with 1/6 that you ask....just ask more! You'll have a full schedule in no time.
 

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Do you guys have any tips to be less anxious when cold calling? In my case, I need to meet people physically which makes it way worse. I've approached about a dozen people and saw success in one out of six people. I thought it would be easier but jeez, the conversation gets so awkward I just want to sink into the ground
Nice job getting out there! Can you do another 12? Can you talk to double that - 24? Can you talk to 48? I think goals are distracting enough to take away some of the anxiety/stress of cold calling/sales. Wake up and focus on the goal and not the parts of the conversation that you don't enjoy. You can also try stress reducing essential oil, meditation in the morning, exercise (makes me too tired to be stressed), try to improve one aspect of the call only like try to improve listening only for example, recognizing that stress is a normal human response to cold calling and it's ok to feel that way and you can still be successful. You got this!
 
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Rabby

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Figure out who talks to all the people you sell to. Banker? Real Estate agent? Priest? Masseuse? Lawyer?

Now talk to 6 of them, and convince one to refer all the people who need your product/service.
 

Private Witt

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Figure out who talks to all the people you sell to. Banker? Real Estate agent? Priest? Masseuse? Lawyer?

Now talk to 6 of them, and convince one to refer all the people who need your product/service.

Im walking on air after reading this thread with my recent 4 out of 8 cold call successful landings on new local team members. And while not those same set of people Rabby listed, my new recruits are all connected to the different types of buyers I court in my industry. Once they are trained and my product hits the shelves Im gonna pound out referrals.

I hate cold calling, and at first was at 2/8 and felt horrible, but had some late runners to get to 4. My next recruiting round will be interesting as the new recruits know most of my building list.
 

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Try to have a system.
Like...

1) Intro: "Hey, is this X? Hey, nice to meet ya. I'm X. How are you?"

2) Rapport: "Where are you from? How long have you been doing X? No way, I've been doing X as well."

3) Find problem: "Can you tell me more about your situations - how can I be of help to you?"

4) Repeat back what you heard: "So from what I understand you're dealing with XYZ and ABC. And you need a solution for that?"

5) Offer a solution and demonstrate how it helped someone else: "You know, I believe I have just what you need to help with your problems. We recently worked with another person that was in your shoes, they were dealing with XYZ and it was keeping them up at night. So what we did was ....ABC and now they're happily ever after.

I'm not really a cold caller like that, but I reckon systems can help you no matter what the situation. Cold calling, meeting new people, picking up women.

Then you tweak as you practice and gather data. If something is awkward, tweak that.
 
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Kevin88660

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Do you guys have any tips to be less anxious when cold calling? In my case, I need to meet people physically which makes it way worse. I've approached about a dozen people and saw success in one out of six people. I thought it would be easier but jeez, the conversation gets so awkward I just want to sink into the ground
You had success in one out of six and you wanted easier?
 

Walter Hay

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I have had huge success as a salesman, but I hated cold calling by phone.

I did well with cold calling businesses face to face, but that's not easy either, so I devised a system that I called "Warm Calling."

This is how it works:
Stuff an unsealed envelope with: A brochure, business card, price list if relevant, and if the product you are selling can be fitted in an envelope, include a free sample. Remember, don't seal the envelope. If the brochure and offer is good this will work without a sample.

Walk in - hand the envelope to the receptionist - ask him/her to pass it on to the person who would deal with the buying of such products - say thank you, turn and walk out.

Very often my phone rang before I got back to my car, depending on how far away I was parked. The person wanted to talk to me about the product, so I went straight back, and almost always got an order. Selling to someone who has asked to see you is easy.

Walter
 

Tony100

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I have had huge success as a salesman, but I hated cold calling by phone.

I did well with cold calling businesses face to face, but that's not easy either, so I devised a system that I called "Warm Calling."

This is how it works:
Stuff an unsealed envelope with: A brochure, business card, price list if relevant, and if the product you are selling can be fitted in an envelope, include a free sample. Remember, don't seal the envelope. If the brochure and offer is good this will work without a sample.

Walk in - hand the envelope to the receptionist - ask him/her to pass it on to the person who would deal with the buying of such products - say thank you, turn and walk out.

Very often my phone rang before I got back to my car, depending on how far away I was parked. The person wanted to talk to me about the product, so I went straight back, and almost always got an order. Selling to someone who has asked to see you is easy.

Walter
I used to do something similar. People love free samples. It worked especially well for smaller companies without the hierarchy.
 
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Rabby

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I have had huge success as a salesman, but I hated cold calling by phone.

I did well with cold calling businesses face to face, but that's not easy either, so I devised a system that I called "Warm Calling."

This is how it works:
Stuff an unsealed envelope with: A brochure, business card, price list if relevant, and if the product you are selling can be fitted in an envelope, include a free sample. Remember, don't seal the envelope. If the brochure and offer is good this will work without a sample.

Walk in - hand the envelope to the receptionist - ask him/her to pass it on to the person who would deal with the buying of such products - say thank you, turn and walk out.

Very often my phone rang before I got back to my car, depending on how far away I was parked. The person wanted to talk to me about the product, so I went straight back, and almost always got an order. Selling to someone who has asked to see you is easy.

Walter
This is great on so many levels. One, it's not annoying so you don't become the pushy sales guy who walks in and interrupts people for half an hour while they're on the clock. Two, the psychology is spot on. You just delivered something, that the person in charge will obviously want so much that you can walk out the door without needing to convince anyone. And hey, other people need the valuable envelopes you deliver too, so you're moving onto the next person fortunate enough to get a moment of your attention. I absolutely love it.
 

edj4success

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1 out of 6?! That's not bad at all my friend; good work.

One of the greatest pieces of advice I received when learning how to cold call is detaching from the outcome.

Essentially, the root of all anxiety is focused around the outcome: how many meetings can I schedule today? How credible did my sales pitch sound? Will he/she call me back after their meeting?

Like a savings account, call with the intentions of making a deposit, e.g. making the person aware of an industry problem they may not be privy, without the expectation of making a withdrawal.

My silver bullet: I always assume that my call is interrupting a meeting or event in that person's life. I always open by thanking them for taking my call and asking if they have a moment before they run into their meeting. The person is usually grateful for respecting their time and giving me the opportunity to share why I called.

Food for thought, and keep up the work. You're doing the right thing by identifying what you're uncomfortable with and seeking out guidance.
 
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BizyDad

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I have had huge success as a salesman, but I hated cold calling by phone.

I did well with cold calling businesses face to face, but that's not easy either, so I devised a system that I called "Warm Calling."

This is how it works:
Stuff an unsealed envelope with: A brochure, business card, price list if relevant, and if the product you are selling can be fitted in an envelope, include a free sample. Remember, don't seal the envelope. If the brochure and offer is good this will work without a sample.

Walk in - hand the envelope to the receptionist - ask him/her to pass it on to the person who would deal with the buying of such products - say thank you, turn and walk out.

Very often my phone rang before I got back to my car, depending on how far away I was parked. The person wanted to talk to me about the product, so I went straight back, and almost always got an order. Selling to someone who has asked to see you is easy.

Walter
That's genius Walter.

In one of my first professional jobs, I used to mail a hundred letters a week. Then I would follow up on those hundred letters with phone calls. It made cold calling easier because I was following up on the letter I sent.

But your way so much more efficient. I wish I had thought of this 20 years ago. Lol.
 

WJK

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Do you guys have any tips to be less anxious when cold calling? In my case, I need to meet people physically which makes it way worse. I've approached about a dozen people and saw success in one out of six people. I thought it would be easier but jeez, the conversation gets so awkward I just want to sink into the ground
Practice, practice, practice... There's no substitute. I can turn on the charisma Or at times, I can turn it off. It's a set of social skills that I have learned over many years of being in selling situations. I was a very shy girl who liked to sit alone in the corner and read my books. I had to change in order to be successful.

So, I made it into a "dried bean problem". It was a KISS plan. (Keep It Simple Stupid)
I counted out, and put a baggie of dried beans into my left jacket pocket every morning. Every cold call I made, and everyone I talked to face-to-face, I took out one bean and moved it into my baggie in my right pocket. I didn't go home until all my beans were in my right pocket. I started out with a few beans per day and then upped the quota over time. Eventually, I used big beans for my successes and small beans for all of my strikeouts. It was a huge day for me when I ran out of big beans to transfer before I ran out of working hours!
 

Walter Hay

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@WJK I like working with a system, and the one you worked out for yourself is great.

My system to make as many face to face calls as possible in a day was to put pins in a huge wall map, join them with string, and write up a chart showing ETA and ETD for every planned call allowing for travel time between them. The pins were colored and I marked those colors on my timetable chart so that I never missed a green call (essential) or a yellow call (moderately important) but if running behind in my schedule I could bypass a red call (visit if time allowed.)

Most calls were brief so that I didn't waste my time or my target's time. By this means I averaged 17 calls a day whereas the average sales rep averaged 8. Result: More sales than the average rep.

Walter
P.S. My OCD probably helped.
 
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WJK

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@WJK I like working with a system, and the one you worked out for yourself is great.

My system to make as many face to face calls as possible in a day was to put pins in a huge wall map, join them with string, and write up a chart showing ETA and ETD for every planned call allowing for travel time between them. The pins were colored and I marked those colors on my timetable chart so that I never missed a green call (essential) or a yellow call (moderately important) but if running behind in my schedule I could bypass a red call (visit if time allowed.)

Most calls were brief so that I didn't waste my time or my target's time. By this means I averaged 17 calls a day whereas the average sales rep averaged 8. Result: More sales than the average rep.

Walter
P.S. My OCD probably helped.
I like your system too. I found that the key to selling is prospecting ALL the time. I like your priority rating with your different colored pins. That would work. When I did my dried beans, I was SO poor. And had dried beans in my kitchen that I could use. That was about it. Buying boxes of business cards at that time was a huge expenditure.

People still ask me why I work so hard. And I reply, "I don't ever want to go hungry again!" They laugh, but I'm very serious. That is one of my OCD triggers even today. I'll probably never be there again. BUT, when this pandemic hit, my pantry & freezers were full. I had a cupboard in my garage full of toilet paper and paper towels. I was ready for a rainy day or supply chain problems. Old habits die hard.
 

Walter Hay

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I like your system too. I found that the key to selling is prospecting ALL the time. I like your priority rating with your different colored pins. That would work. When I did my dried beans, I was SO poor. And had dried beans in my kitchen that I could use. That was about it. Buying boxes of business cards at that time was a huge expenditure.

People still ask me why I work so hard. And I reply, "I don't ever want to go hungry again!" They laugh, but I'm very serious. That is one of my OCD triggers even today. I'll probably never be there again. BUT, when this pandemic hit, my pantry & freezers were full. I had a cupboard in my garage full of toilet paper and paper towels. I was ready for a rainy day or supply chain problems. Old habits die hard.
Unless people have the experience of knowing what it is like to count every penny before you go to a shop they can't imagine what it is like.

Your post struck an emotional chord with me because I have experienced stealing food to eat, and eating scraps that my mother brought home from the restaurant where she washed dishes.

People think I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth! Not many know my story.

Walter
 

WJK

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Unless people have the experience of knowing what it is like to count every penny before you go to a shop the can't imagine what it is like.

Your post struck an emotional chord with me because I have experienced stealing food to eat, and eating scraps that my mother brought home from the restaurant where she washed dishes.

People think I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth!

Walter
I feel you. I too had very rough experiences when I was growing up and a young adult. BUT, that's our real strength. It's made us have a drive that others just can't muster. I know that I can move through the pack and end up way out front of them because of my determination.

Walter, you made me think about when I first moved to downtown Los Angeles to make my fortune and go to school. I was 19 years old and I went to a private college with a bunch of valley girls. Their daddies paid for their apartments and gave them a credit card for their expenses. I was SO green-eyed. I thought about all I could have done IF I had their resources. BUT, I went places that they could never follow. I left them in the dust long ago. My struggles became my advantage. I'm sure you're in a similar place.
 
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Thomas Wood

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Do you guys have any tips to be less anxious when cold calling? In my case, I need to meet people physically which makes it way worse. I've approached about a dozen people and saw success in one out of six people. I thought it would be easier but jeez, the conversation gets so awkward I just want to sink into the ground
Good job getting out there and selling! Most people are too fearful to cold call in the first place, so they just say “it’s not an effective way to sell anymore”, which of course is complete BS. I personally know a few $100 million plus net worth guys whose businesses were built on a cold calling sales model.

To preface: I did door to door sales for several years starting in college and a few years after I graduated, and I learned to love sales. I was making 35k a month commission when I left that to start my own business.

A few tips for cold calling:
1. Come in with a plan, script, or practiced idea of what you may say, including responses to common concerns. Running through the conversation verbally will help calm the nerves and know which direction you would like things to go in.
In my industry I listed out every common concern and wrote out 3 good resolves to each concern and then practiced them.
2. Practice non verbals:
SMILE: practice smiling during your conversation. I know this seems too basic, but smiling releasing endorphins in both you and your prospect, and it will bring down their guard.
Head nodding: small, planned head nods when you want agreement at the end of sentences.
Speaking slowly: fast talking makes you seem nervous so slow down your pace and it will seem more conversational.
3. ASK QUESTIONS: formulate good questions that will help you know if what you are selling is a good match for them and to find their “hot buttons”. When you find a hot button (aka something that is extremely important to them) focus almost exclusively how your product or service serves that need.
4: Find common ground: use things you notice about them to find common ground (ie. interest in sports, where they went to school, common interests, pets, kids etc)
5. Practice practice practice. Do rollplays if a friend or partner will do it with you. The more reps you put in, the better your sales muscles will activate. Like most things, sales and cold calling are skills that can be developed and learned.

Lastly,
I recommend visualizing how you want the sale to go each time before calling on someone. I truly believe in the power of the mind in helping achieve dreams.

Good Luck,
Tom
 

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Do you guys have any tips to be less anxious when cold calling? In my case, I need to meet people physically which makes it way worse. I've approached about a dozen people and saw success in one out of six people. I thought it would be easier but jeez, the conversation gets so awkward I just want to sink into the ground
Keep your head on "I'm trying to offer something valuable for this person, I'm trying to make their life better" and not on "oh shit this is so awkward I hope they like me". Everything else is tactics.

Headgame is 90% of it

Keep going. Read the Platinum Rule and Go Givers Sell More. You're not selling something, you're trying to give someone something of value. You're trying to help them. If they don't want it, great, build a relationship, thank them for their time and move on to your next lead.
 
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Called calling is cool but can be tough based on emotional involvement. Try at all times to remove emotions by trying to do this early in the morning, just when businesses are awake, here in South Africa I start at 8am. 1 out of 6 is a good record, keep it up.
 

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Called calling is cool but can be tough based on emotional involvement. Try at all times to remove emotions by trying to do this early in the morning, just when businesses are awake, here in South Africa I start at 8am. 1 out of 6 is a good record, keep it up.
This study shows that the best time to cold call is around 10am:

Would you say from your experience that 8am is better? People usually get to work at 8am and start to read emails and get ready, I've never cold called but 10am sounds more reasonable. What would you say?
 

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Do you guys have any tips to be less anxious when cold calling? In my case, I need to meet people physically which makes it way worse. I've approached about a dozen people and saw success in one out of six people. I thought it would be easier but jeez, the conversation gets so awkward I just want to sink into the ground
I'm just quickly jumping on and answering without reading any responses above. I have two really good tips that I'm going to relate to building a fire. When building a fire, you need a combination of sticks and big logs. The sticks help to start the fire, the logs keep the fire burning. Prospecting can be a lot like building a fire. You may be able to start but not keep going (all sticks, no logs) or you may have difficulties starting but the rare times you start you get done what you need to get done (all logs no sticks.) Obviously if you're having problems starting AND finishing, then you have no wood and both of these tips may help.


If you're struggling with the all sticks and no log problem, you really just have to put what you're doing into its proper perspective. If someone says that they're not interested, it's a major win. Your goal is to go out and collect as many "no's" as you possibly can and the yes's will come along the way. You legitimately should almost be sort of happy that someone says no. The worst thing that can happen in business is to have a prospect drag you along for weeks to months only to end up not buying as this is an extreme waste of your time. Your job when cold calling is to get the people who will waste your time firmly in the no camp and the quicker you can do that the better. A great book on this is called "Go for no" and it is a VERY quick and easy read (like an hour tops.)

Before I move on, there is one other thing I can add to the above that is going to be a little bit more advanced. You have to become very solid in the value that you provide to the point where you're not really selling them on an appointment as much as you are buying whether or not they're worthy of an appointment with you. It's borderline cocky, and it's a very thin line. I'm not certain one can take this stance in any business. I personally am in a very commoditized business but the particular product I sell does something that almost no one out there knows about (including the majority of the people who sell it) to the point that if they did people would be lined up around the block to buy it and I would be out of a job. But because the knowledge I have is so scarce and my time is limited, I am the buyer and not the seller on the rare times I do have to cold call anymore. If I don't like the way someone acts, then I move on. If I get a sense that they're going to be a pain in my a$$ down the line, BYE! If you've ever watched Seinfeld, it's very a very Soup Nazi like stance, you just don't have to be a Nazi about it, hahaha.

If you have the logs but don't have any sticks, first off, recognize that nerves are normal. Jack Nicklaus was arguably the best golfer ever to live and he was once quoted as saying "the day the nerves go away is the day I retire because it means I no longer care about playing this game well." With that said, there is a way to lessen the nerves a bit. Grab one or maybe two drinks before you start. If you have had issues with alcohol in the past, I apologize that this won't work for you, but it is a great way to numb the nerves just enough to get started. The goal is not to get drunk. The goal is to get a very very minor buzz just enough so that your inhibitions are dropped. It doesn't take much and unless you're a bigger guy/gal one drink should usually do the trick.

Hope that helped, good selling!



Edit: I just went back and read the rest of this thread after writing the above, and all I can say is WOW. The advice throughout this thread is absolutely tremendous. I have yet to come across a forum thread anywhere on the internet where there have been this many posts and not a single piece of advice was bad. I'm really impressed!
 
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WJK

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I'm just quickly jumping on and answering without reading any responses above. I have two really good tips that I'm going to relate to building a fire. When building a fire, you need a combination of sticks and big logs. The sticks help to start the fire, the logs keep the fire burning. Prospecting can be a lot like building a fire. You may be able to start but not keep going (all sticks, no logs) or you may have difficulties starting but the rare times you start you get done what you need to get done (all logs no sticks.) Obviously if you're having problems starting AND finishing, then you have no wood and both of these tips may help.


If you're struggling with the all sticks and no log problem, you really just have to put what you're doing into its proper perspective. If someone says that they're not interested, it's a major win. Your goal is to go out and collect as many "no's" as you possibly can and the yes's will come along the way. You legitimately should almost be sort of happy that someone says no. The worst thing that can happen in business is to have a prospect drag you along for weeks to months only to end up not buying as this is an extreme waste of your time. Your job when cold calling is to get the people who will waste your time firmly in the no camp and the quicker you can do that the better. A great book on this is called "Go for no" and it is a VERY quick and easy read (like an hour tops.)

Before I move on, there is one other thing I can add to the above that is going to be a little bit more advanced. You have to become very solid in the value that you provide to the point where you're not really selling them on an appointment as much as you are buying whether or not they're worthy of an appointment with you. It's borderline cocky, and it's a very thin line. I'm not certain one can take this stance in any business. I personally am in a very commoditized business but the particular product I sell does something that almost no one out there knows about (including the majority of the people who sell it) to the point that if they did people would be lined up around the block to buy it and I would be out of a job. But because the knowledge I have is so scarce and my time is limited, I am the buyer and not the seller on the rare times I do have to cold call anymore. If I don't like the way someone acts, then I move on. If I get a sense that they're going to be a pain in my a$$ down the line, BYE! If you've ever watched Seinfeld, it's very a very Soup Nazi like stance, you just don't have to be a Nazi about it, hahaha.

If you have the logs but don't have any sticks, first off, recognize that nerves are normal. Jack Nicklaus was arguably the best golfer ever to live and he was once quoted as saying "the day the nerves go away is the day I retire because it means I no longer care about playing this game well." With that said, there is a way to lessen the nerves a bit. Grab one or maybe two drinks before you start. If you have had issues with alcohol in the past, I apologize that this won't work for you, but it is a great way to numb the nerves just enough to get started. The goal is not to get drunk. The goal is to get a very very minor buzz just enough so that your inhibitions are dropped. It doesn't take much and unless you're a bigger guy/gal one drink should usually do the trick.

Hope that helped, good selling!



Edit: I just went back and read the rest of this thread after writing the above, and all I can say is WOW. The advice throughout this thread is absolutely tremendous. I have yet to come across a forum thread anywhere on the internet where there have been this many posts and not a single piece of advice was bad. I'm really impressed!
Your sticks and logs are a great illustration of how it works! Thx for sharing.
 

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