The fear of cold calling: 5 precise tips to get over it

“Cold calling” is one of the sales tasks that most salespeople wish to skip. 

Why? 

Well, because it is the first contact with a prospect who has no prior knowledge about the call. 

Most sales professionals dread that first interaction with the prospect as they have no clue how the prospect would react to the cold call. They fear that the call will end in rejection, or they might infuriate the prospects by disturbing them. 

48% of sales are afraid to make cold calls.

Cold calling is an old but one of the most effective ways of reaching new opportunities. 

Even the brain behind Uber, Travis Kalanick, found his first few customers through cold calling. 

Quoting Travis Kalanick (Founder of Uber) – 

“I went to Google, typed in San Francisco chauffeur or San Francisco limousine, I just filled out an excel sheet, and I just started dialing for dollars, right? The first ten guys I called, three of them hung up before I got a few words out, a few of them would listen for like 45 seconds and then hung up, and three of them said, ‘I’m interested, let’s meet.’. And if you’re cold calling and three out of ten say ‘let’s meet’, you’ve got something.”

Well, that just proves cold calling is effective. 

So be confident as well as enthusiastic and overcome your fear of cold calling. 

Fear is nothing more than a state of mind – Napoleon Hill

Conquer the fear of cold calling 

Cold calling is, without a doubt, challenging. However, if you want to reach the end destination, i.e., success, then you need to overcome the challenges that come your way. 

Fear limits us; it causes anxiety, restlessness, and powerlessness. With a fearful mind, you cannot think clearly and have a meaningful conversation with the prospect.

Prospecting is an essential phase of the sales process. If you succumb to fear, you won’t be able to prospect successfully and ultimately fail in achieving your sales targets. 

So, do not surrender to the cold calling fear. 

Fear thrives in a place of inaction. Overcome your anxiety by taking one small step forward – Sarah Boyd

Below are few tips to get over the cold calling fear. 

1. Research before you dial the prospect’s number 

We often get nervous when we have to speak to a stranger. To establish a rapport, you need to know who you are calling. So make sure you invest a little time in gathering necessary information about the prospect.

You can quickly get the necessary information about your prospect through social media sites. Follow their post to find out their interest. Check if you two have any mutual connection.

You can even study the prospect’s company website to understand what they do. This might appear as a tedious task, but it helps in breaking the ice. 

You are more confident when you know about the prospects. The information about the prospect helps in striking a meaningful conversation. 

Besides, it even creates a good impression on the prospect that you’ve done your research before calling them.

So make sure you do not call without researching the prospect. 

2. Have a plan  

Often sales reps go blank during cold calls. This is because most of them don’t plan. 

Planning is crucial to get over the fear of cold calling. 

Proper planning and preparation prevents poor performance – Stephen Keague 

Once you do your research, plan what all you need to cover during the cold call. 

• What questions will you ask?
• What message do you need to convey? 
• What will be the opening sentence?
• What will be the closing statement? 

With the help of planning, you’ll know what to say next to engage the prospects and keep them on the call for a longer duration. 

3. Identify what are you afraid of 

Many thoughts might stop you from making the cold call. So, analyze and make a list of fears that are holding you back from making a cold call.  

Are you afraid that you might call the prospects at the wrong hour?  

Or 

They will say, “they are not interested.” 

Or 

You can’t articulate your thoughts when you are speaking to a stranger. 

Well, there is always a way to overcome the fear if you address rather than ignoring it. 

For instance, if you are scared about calling the prospect at the wrong hour. Then research and find out the best time to make a sales call.

Even if you call at the wrong time, apologize, and take a convenient time to call. Do get disappointed if the prospect doesn’t respond in an appropriate way. Stay calm, and do not let it affect the next call. If you are upset, you won’t be able to have a proper conversation with the next prospects who might show interest in what you are selling. 

You cannot afford to miss any opportunity in sales, so you should prepare yourself to handle every kind of criticism and rejection. Even if the prospect says he is not interested. Do not give up easily. Ask for a reason, explain how youtube helped other businesses in the prospect’s industry and how you can help them too. 

4. Practice with the help of mock calls 

Practice makes a man perfect. You need to practice to master the art of cold calling. 

Practice creates confidence. Confidence empowers you. – Simone Biles

Take the help of your team lead or the best sales performer in your team. Request them to conduct mock call sessions where they pretend to be as a buyer and you as a seller. 

Ask them to make the mock call as difficult as possible to prepare you for challenging sales scenarios. Practice continuously, until you are confident to face difficult situations during a sales call. 

5. Analyze and brush up your skills 

Keep analyzing your performance and work on improvement areas. Record your sales calls to find where you are going wrong. You can even ask your manager to listen to the recording and provide feedback. If you are facing any problem, discuss it with your manager and take their guidance. 

Track your progress and keep improving your skills. This is the only way you can reach your sales targets. 

Wrapping up 

Don’t let your fear consume you. Be confident and conquer your fear of cold calling. Plan and practice cold calling regularly. Don’t be in a hurry of calling, research, and try to know who you are calling before you dial the number. 

Make a list of challenges that you face during cold calls and try to address them. You’ll find many tips on the internet to cold call effectively. So, explore them. 

Take the help of the best CRM software to improve your performance and productivity. CRM, like Salesmate, comes with a built-in virtual phone system. You can easily get a number with your preferred area code and start making calls from within the CRM. You can record your cold call and listen to it later to analyze your performance. You can even add notes and transfer calls to your colleagues when required. Besides, you can also create insight reports to track your calls to optimize your performance and improve your calling experience.