What? You have clients who want you to call them and you ‘re not … what the heck? I’ve seen it time and time again and probably what’s worse, being completely transparent, I’ve fallen into that bad habit too.
Recently while talking to a friend of mine, Matt Maudlin of MEMO Marketing, our conversation lead to how one of his clients wasn’t calling a list of prospects that a recent e-mail campaign Matt had created for this particular client had generated. Based on the campaign Matt developed for this client, prospects interested in making a purchased had selected options in the different e-mails of the campaign that indicated they were, qualified, willing and able to make a purchase. The campaign generated a list of 14 qualified prospects… but Matt’s client just couldn’t seem to make the calls to close the deal.
The above may sound absurd, but I assure you it’s as true as you’re reading this and there’s a lesson here for us all. I was wondering how this could be and which element of Sales Call Reluctance (oh by the way, sales call reluctance is a real thing) might be showing in the example. Matt said, “…you know, it’s funny how being excited and being scared create the same physiological symptoms…”
It’s true! Think about it… if you were to describe to me what symptoms you would have if you were really excited, you would say something like; “I feel like I have butterflies in my stomach, my heart rate is increased, my palms are sweaty…”and on and on. You would be exactly correct, those are the symptoms that are present when most folks are excited. Now think about how you would feel if you were afraid or scared. You would most likely say; “I feel like I have butterflies in my stomach, my heart rate is increased, my palms are sweaty…” and on and on.
So, what’s the difference? Here’s what I’ve found, psychologists tell us that it’s in how you view the outcome that makes the major difference. Fear means you see, create a vision of, things not working out to your favor. Excitement means you see things working out to your favor and you are more ready to work through the fear and the symptoms associated with it to achieve your desired results. With fear, you would be more apt to stop at some point before reaching your desired results.
What do you do about it? Here’s an idea that’s worked for me and for clients: play a trick on your mind… first you really have to believe that you can reach the outcome, the goal you’re after. The goal has to be realistic although it should be a stretch! As you start to experience “the symptoms” remember a time when you were excited in an anticipatory way and keep that image/thought in mind as you progress toward the realization of your goal. Be confident in your execution of the skills you need to reach your goal.
Just so you know, you cannot control the outcome but you can control your input. There are just too many variables that are associated with achieving the outcome. You can control the level of your skills and the steps you take in the process to reach a goal. These are what you practice and become a master at doing. It’s like taking Dramamine to control seasickness.
Here’s what I mean. If you take Dramamine, you will have the predicable results of not being seasick anymore. The same is true if you practice, then focus on your skills and you will have a predictable outcome of reaching your goal more often. Especially when you add the thinking behind the process of looking forward to a good/positive outcome. Give it a try and let me know your story.
