Salespeople today are afraid to pick up the phone. Phone anxiety is real.
ValueSelling recently surveyed B2B sales reps’ top prospecting challenges. We found that half of those surveyed fear making cold calls. We surveyed half of those surveyed about their anxiety regarding this crucial part of their job.
Telefone Anxiety
Maybe it’s generational. After all, who millennial uses social media to communicate with their friends and family? It all boils down to sales representatives not knowing how to start a conversation that will add value.
Reps are afraid that their prospect won’t answer if they call back. They are afraid that if they receive voicemail, they won’t be able to leave a compelling, concise message. They don’t want to get stuck or sound irrelevant to prospects in such situations. They are afraid of appearing inept or making them uncomfortable.
They’ll justify their lack of calls by saying, “No one answers the telephone anymore…so I’m not going call.” This is a mistake. This post will discuss overcoming phone anxiety and getting better prospecting results.
Is this a sign of missed opportunities in prospecting? Absolutely. Our survey found that 46% preferred calling the phone to reach new prospects. However, 46% said that phone calls were the best method.
How to get over your phone anxiety
These tips can help you overcome phone anxiety if your sales rep feels anxious.
Begin by picking up your phone.
The phone is an extremely powerful communication tool. Believe it or not, people still answer their phones, even in the age of caller ID. If you can get to know your prospect and communicate in real-time with them, you will stand out and have the opportunity to build trust — if and when you add value. Even if they leave a voicemail, they will hear your voice, providing a deeper connection than email or LinkedIn InMail.
You can plan for multiple touches in different ways.
The phone is just one way to reach out. Phone calls can be very powerful and should be used as a coordinated approach to reach your prospects. You will need to use multiple communication channels over time to reach your prospects. It would help if you balanced your online connections, such as email, social selling and webinars, with offline touchpoints such as trade shows, networking events, and in-person interactions. It is important to show up and be present at all possible buyers’ locations. Reps can build strong pipelines using a cadence-based approach that uses multiple touchpoints.
Be consistent and dedicate a block of the calendar each day.
Research showed that 54% of initial meetings need more than five touchpoints to establish a connection. 10% require at least 11 touchpoints. Consistency is the key to prospecting; that’s what we know. Calendar management and calendar blocking are crucial to your success. You can manage your calendar by scheduling calls and other outreach times. Then, stick to it each day.
Our research also showed that most people underestimate how many touches are required to reach a prospect. Sales reps also overreport the actual number of contacts they make to a prospect by around 50%. If you combine it with a reduced effort, this will result in diminished results.
Your interruptions should be valuable to prospects.
We must realize that prospecting is interrupting people. Although we hope it is a valuable interruption, it’s still considered an interruption. Your goal as a sales professional is to get prospects to talk to you and eventually purchase from you. Your goal is to satisfy their needs and add value to their companies and lives.
Sales reps often ask me, “How can I get more appointments?” I suggest they ask the wrong question. They should ask, “Why would any prospect ever want me to meet with them?” They will be successful if they can find a way to add value to their prospect by providing valuable information about the prospect’s company.
All it comes down to valuable information: not just information about your product or company, but also how you can solve the business problem of your prospect.
Provide content that is relevant to your prospects.
Sales reps probably send us dozens of emails and phone calls per day. Although they ask for my attention, I rarely find the messages of interest to me. It is usually “Let me tell about my company.” Let me tell you what I do. I want to tell you about our cool new program. However, this doesn’t intrigue me, and it doesn’t usually convince me to get in touch with them again.
To have a conversation about business with executives, you need business acumen. You should train to overcome this skill gap if it’s something you lack. It is often asked me, “What’s the most important thing I can do to sell my prospect’s companies to the executives?” It would help if you learned the language of business to have a business conversation.
Make bulleted notes
There will be many opinions on how to format and script sales conversations. While some reps swear by templates, others believe scripts block natural flow and interrupt the flow of conversations.
Accept the hold
Anxiety can make it difficult to talk on the phone. What if they ask you a question you don’t know how to answer? What if you feel overwhelmed? What if your body isn’t able to catch its breath?
You can ask prospects if they are okay if you give them a short hold if they need to take a break. You can quickly say, “I don’t know the answer, but I can place you onto a brief call, I can get your answer” to help prospects get the information they need and allow you to take a short break.