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By far the biggest reason salespeople fail is that they don’t make enough calls to talk to enough people to get enough prospects in order to make the necessary sales. There are two causes for this: one, not putting in the hours necessary and two, call reluctance.

While the first one is a problem and needs to be addressed, I find that the latter far outweighs the former. If you watch your average salesperson during the day, even when they are “working” they avoid making calls. They do paperwork, clean their desk, check e-mail, service accounts, do research, and find many other ways to distract themselves during the day. Successful people are successful because they get themselves to do the things that unsuccessful people won’t. Similar to homework as a kid, taking out the trash, or doing 40 minutes of intense cardio, there are some things in life we have to do if we’re going to live a successful, fulfilling life, even though we don’t want to. In sales, that means getting ourselves to make the calls necessary for success.

Below I list techniques and tricks used to make the calls that need to be made. Some of these are tips, others are techniques, and some are the names of books or programs. Some will need further explanation. Contact me about any you don’t understand. Although this is a fairly exhaustive list, I’m sure I’ve missed some. Feel free to e-mail me with others.

Solutions to Call Reluctance

• Get 100 percent sold on what you have to offer. Convince yourself that people need what you have and it’s your obligation to “save” them from inferior products and competitors.
• Focus on the ultimate payoff of breaking through and no longer having the fear of making calls. What are all the ways in which you’ll benefit? Focus on the ultimate pain of not making the calls you need to make. What are all the things it will cost you?
• Based upon the dollar amount of your average sale, calculate how much each call is worth. If each call is worth $10, then every time you pick up and dial you make $10, even if someone doesn’t answer, or they say “no.”
• Start with some affirmations before you make your calls.
• Get motivated: read something positive, watch a motivational video, listen to motivational music, read inspirational stories.
• Think of those you have an obligation to: employer who pays you, kids, yourself.
• Have someone hold you accountable.
• Schedule prospecting time and stick to it.
• Prospect every day, or almost every day to build consistency and momentum.
• Eliminate distractions and other options.
• Get coaching.
• Make a commitment to the people in your life and/or post what you’re going to do on Facebook and other social media sites.
• Post your goals and put up pictures of the rewards you’re going to get as a result of making the calls you need to make.
• Write a check for $100, or more, to someone if you don’t do what you say you’ll do.
• Focus on how good you’ll feel after you’ve gotten yourself to make the calls.
• Reward yourself for making the calls.
• Get to your calls as quickly as possible and have as little time as possible between calls.
• Start with the most difficult calls first and get them over with, or…
• Start with the easy calls first to get some momentum.
• Put yourself in a peer environment where you have to make the calls.
• Compete with someone else.
• Talk to people who are successful at making calls and ask how they do it.
• Be fully prepared.
• Have a script memorized for all information you need to convey.
• Realize that the hard work will pay off.
• Just start. There’s power in momentum.
• Think of everyone who is pulling for you and everyone who is pulling against you. See those people, one group on the left, one on the right. Each time you make a call “your group” wins, and the group against you loses. When you don’t make a call, it’s the opposite.
• Get angry. Who do you want to prove something to? What irritates you about your call reluctance? What other thoughts, feelings and emotions can you use to motivate yourself?
• Think of times in the past when you’ve overcome a fear or been successful and look for clues as to how you did it.
• Have a conversation with yourself. What’s really going on? What’s the worst thing that can happen? Realize that nothing can really hurt you. The payoff for making calls is much greater than any perceived sub-conscious payoff for not making calls.
• Build up your health and energy and avoid the energy suckers: negative people and news.
• Build your self-confidence.
• Hypnosis and meditation.
• Psychologist or psychiatrist.
• Visualization.
• Face and conquer other fears.
• Caffeine and similar.
• Overcome approval addiction.
• Focus on trying to get “noes” instead of “yeses.”
• Neurolinguistic programming.
• Tapping.
• Feel the fear and do it anyway — just push through. Do what you fear and the death of fear is certain.
• Find your why and ultimate motivation through Facilitated Introspection, which I learned from Steve Siebold.
• Keep searching for answers.
• The Peace Process, by Miriam G. Zacharias
• Can’t Hurt Me, by David Goggins
• The Unstuck Process, by Robert Middleton
• Not Caring What Other People Think is a Superpower, by Ed Latimore
• The Art of Fear, by Kristin Ulmer
• Jump and the Net will Appear, by Robin Crow
• Face the Fear and Feel the Power, by Stephen Edwards
• The Work, by Byron Katie

Ultimately what you’ll do will come down to why you’re doing it. If you have powerful reasons why you must do something, you’ll figure out the how and you’ll endure the pain to get it done. Come up with all the things that are important to you, that you’re willing to fight for, and tie your sales success to those items.

MANA welcomes your comments on this article. Write to us at [email protected].