One of the biggest challenges I had when I first started in sales was talking to people.

I realized that sales was a 'contact sport.' Explained to me as "the more people you contact, the bigger your paycheck."

While this is true... to an extent... it was still one of the hardest skills I had to acquire. Mainly because any kind of cold prospecting (i.e. cold calling, door knocking, shoulder tapping, etc.) involves a good amount of daily rejection. And when your selling confidence is low from being new or not doing well, that daily rejection adds up quickly.

To conquer this fear, I made two breakthroughs:

1. You have to be comfortable talking to strangers... otherwise there is no point in you being in sales. I made a point to start a conversation with anybody I ran into throughout the day. I also started practicing a random technique I read about in a dating book. It goes like this: Everyday you have to get at least 3 movie recommendations from a total stranger you call at random. Try it. It sounds really silly, but after a week or two, you lose all fear of making a cold call immediately!

2. Life is too short to make cold calls... you can practice and practice and be a lethal phone sales expert, but at the end of the day.... cold calling sucks!

The GUTS Sales Method taught me that your commissions (and your ego) are much bigger when you only talk to warm prospects. People who have genuinely raised up their hands and said "Yes, I might be interested in what you are selling... tell me more." When you spend your days talking to people like that, all the stress, fear, feeling of failure are gone completely. And let's not forget how much your sales improve when you spend your time with only qualified prospects.

Sell with GUTS and and leave the struggle for the cold callers...
 


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