How I got over my Cold Calling Fears

My hands used to shake, I used to sweat profusely when dealing with negative potential clients, I'd sit in front of the phone blankly staring at the wall thinking about the call...THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN ANYMORE! 

How did I get over my cold calling fears? Well in multiple ways...I had TONS of issues, but they all mainly dealt with the fear of rejection or the fear of failure once I really thought about them. After realizing what the fear was I figured out how to confront it, interesting how you need to mature your character to succeed in business, something I rarely hear people discuss. So how did I get rid of my fear of failure? Multiple ways.

1) Reduced the volume of cold calls I make.

I used to make 30+ cold calls a day. Cold calling takes energy no matter who you are and I've figured out its like a muscle you build so start low if you can. Perhaps do 1 cold call tomorrow, then 2 the next day and slowly increase as you get more comfortable. You'll find your fear of rejection slips away as you gain experience with your product, build up your sales skills and cold calling starts taking less energy; the cycle will only become more positive the more you do it. 

2) Create the fear of regret in your life.

This sounds bad, but if you fear losing out on something it'll prompt you to take action in your life, which will most likely lead to success. Whenever I want skip a day of calling I always think about how bad I'll regret it.  I think about how all my progress will go down the drain if I don't put in any effort today and that gets me enough energy for the first call (which is the hardest). As each day goes by and I spend more time on the phone I grow more and more comfortable and I have to use the fear of regret less. Warm up by calling current clients, that can help as well if you can't even make the first call.

3) I keep in contact with people who have turned me down or laugh past them.

Keeping in contact with PLEASURABLE people who have turned you down does a couple of things. A) It tells you its ok to be rejected and helps your mind find peace with that. B) It shows you that people who have rejected or will reject you aren't scary. C) It gets you valuable feedback that can lead to future business with that person.

Laugh past cruel people. You can't get along with everyone, I'm sure you've had a bad day and said something you regret once in a while too so give them the benefit of the doubt. You should also know that cruel people are VERY RARE and make hilarious stories. Remember rejection gives you more power. There's really nothing a potential client can do to hurt you, worst case scenario they hang up and you move on.

*Bonus Tip

Take notes after every cold call good or bad and review them. Leave nothing to chance in business get the most juice out of each call. If you're not keeping notes on what you can do better next time then you won't know how much you're improving everyday.