Anxious Girl’s Guide to Cold Calling

I am an introvert, I am a zoomer, I have anxiety, and cold calling is not a part of my job description. Yet my employer put it on my plate to do. What a world, what a world. Here is how you rise to the occasion and let your dread fuel you instead of holding you back. I’ll be honest, this might sound a little crazy if you don’t have anxiety. If you are out there thinking “Who’s afraid of a little phone call?” you can go away right now.

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1. Look up a script.

The first thing you are going to do is not worry about what you are going to say. You’re going to accomplish this by using ( finding or creating) a script. I got the template for one from Hubspot. I wrote it down with my details instead of the generic ones and then I dictated it back into my phone to have a test run, make sure I was speaking clearly, and see how it sounds out loud.

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2. You convince yourself it is going to go well

If you don’t like cold calling there is no such thing as a good cold call. WRONG
If you don’t like cold calling there is no such thing as a bad cold call. If no one answers, great. If someone answers and they can’t help you, great it’s over with. If someone hangs up on you? Oh, Thank God. Actually, the worst thing that can happen is that this actually clicks and you get to sell something because then you have to stay on the phone (why, oh lord why, are we doing business on the phone when we could be sending emails or texting? Hello? It’s Gordan Gecko, he wants the 1980s back, that was forty years ago, my parents were in high school ) but at least you are making a sale. If that happens you get to revel in the feeling “Wow this wasn’t pointless, I am going to have something to take back to my boss after this”

But that’s not going to happen that much and not really what you have to brace yourself for. Anybody will tell you, cold calls are a numbers game, if you keep knocking someone will eventually come to the door. You just got to keep pressing through the no’s (of which there will be many). Expect 2–20 percent success. But that’s why your anxiety works so well here! This time you are right, you are going to fail, pretty much every time! This failing is actually just getting you closer to winning. If you have a list of leads the more people don’t answer or hang up the quicker you are done with this task and don’t have to cold call anymore (and your eventual win in the mix). A ringing phone doesn’t have to make you anxious, every ring decreases the likelihood of them answering which means you are closer to being done with this. If someone does answer it’s a surprise that you can use to put a little pepper on your greeting.

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3. Don’t overthink it. Stick to the Script.

Your anxiety is living between your ears, we are going to avoid it by keeping all your attention on the phone and your script. Your eyes read the script, your mouth says the script, your ears hear what the people say, your hands write or type it up. Your internal monologue is going to shut the frontal lobe up and let you finish this. This is not a thinking exercise for you, that’s for those weirdos who actually want to talk to people they have nothing to say to. They have brains for that, you do not. That’s why you have a script. Let your brain sit this one out except to feel the pure delight when you get off the phone, it’s an empty organ like your stomach. Some people make calls because they are hungry for money, you make calls because your brain yearns for the feeling of getting off the phone with a pang like hunger and you feed it with the script. You can’t WAIT to get off the phone, don’t let your stomach growl, keep it quiet, feed it script. You don’t think about how to respond to a question or what to say next, drown out your thoughts with the script. After you say one thing move directly down your template. You ask the questions, you take down the responses, you ask the next question you think about nothing. Not “Oh are they busy right now?” not “am I qualified” just template, your brain is paved with the template, and baby it’s a smooth ride.

You are a neophyte, this script is your mantra, this call is your meditation. You pick up the phone, you say your prayers, and practice detaching yourself from the outcome of the call to live inside of these moments of fearlessness. Because it cannot go wrong, your only options are freedom or success and you are so eager to be free that success is a pleasant surprise. When you embrace your own internal motivation you will be shocked, absolutely shocked what you can accomplish.

Sincerly,

A lady who helped close a multimillion-dollar deal while hating every second of it (toot toot, that’s my horn, I’m tooting it)

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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