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Anxiety is real. Now let’s figure out how to make sales over the phone when you’re dealing with anxiety.

While there’s a lot of advice out there about how to make sales over the phone, most of it is focused on the external. Get your leads, call them, use your script, sit up straight and smile, and keep yourself organized. All of that is helpful. Customers really can hear it in your voice when you smile. A script truly can help you stay on track. 

However, it’s much rarer to find good tips for dealing with the internal. What’s going on in your head? Are you focused? Fully awake? Distracted? It’s easy to highlight those external factors because we can see them. They’re right in front of us. We can listen to recordings of sales calls and pinpoint where a sale succeeded or fell apart. 

That internal state is just as important. It’s also much more challenging to recognize because it works behind the scenes. These are the things that make us give in to objections or hesitate to pick up the phone in the first place. It’s time to do something about that. 


Maintain customer profiles, automate processes, and reach more customers with Call Logic’s call management software. Check out a free demo to see what we’re all about!


how to make sales over the phone

How to make sales over the phone when you don’t want to

Before we get into how to make sales over the phone, let’s be honest about anxiety. It’s a real thing, and it impacts people every day. You can try to ignore it. You can try to pretend it isn’t there, but in the end, until you figure out how to work with it, anxiety will affect your life. 

That’s okay. We can’t correct course until we acknowledge that we aren’t moving in the direction we want to. Now let’s get set up for success. 

Preparing ourselves is one of the most important steps we can take in learning how to make sales over the phone, whether we’re dealing with anxiety or not. This means knowing your product or service inside and out. It means knowing your customers. It means having your script ready to go and anticipating common objections. Preparation alone can go a long way in reducing anxiety and also improving your odds of success. 

It’s also critical to realize that rejection is imminent. In fact, rejection is likely the most common outcome of your calls. Here’s a trick to turn those rejections into successes. Sales coach and consultant Suzanne Paling wrote in Entrepreneur magazine that asking “disinterested decision makers if they would be willing to keep the rep’s contact information, in case they need a new vendor in the near future,” can help end a call with at least a small success. 

Another “small” approach is to start small if you can. Start by setting a goal of making one sales call. You don’t even need to complete the sale. The success is in picking up the phone and making the call. Then move the numbers up to three calls a day, then 10, and so on. Once you’ve got that down, turn it into a game. Can you get at least one person to talk to you for a few minutes? Keep pushing the numbers. Before you know it, you’ll be showing other people how to make sales over the phone. 

Other tips for dealing with anxiety

Anxiety has several physical symptoms. For example, your breath becomes quick and shallow, your mind races, and you may find yourself accepting any distractions, from a snack to browsing the internet. 

Here’s where you have the upper hand, though. Because these are physical symptoms, we can consciously counteract them. You might be surprised how calming it can be to close your eyes and take five or six deep, slow breaths. Sometimes that’s all it takes to put the panic in check. 

Exercise, too, can help calm the symptoms of anxiety. That could be anything from a brisk walk to jogging to taking an online fitness class. There are several ways to accomplish this, plus it’s generally good for you, so there’s a bonus.

Along those lines, a healthy diet and adequate sleep can also improve anxiety symptoms. And don’t forget to talk to your healthcare professional. They’ll be in a much better position to help you than most anyone else. 

Is that the secret to how to make sales over the phone when you have anxiety? It just may be.


See the difference Call Logic can make by scheduling a free demo of our software. We’re confident you’ll love what you see!


 

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