Does Calling Your Leads Have You Running Scared?

Friday, June 4th, 2010 at 12:58 am

Does the mere thought of calling your leads have you running scared? Woah, hold on there! STOP! Turn around, sit down, we need to have a little conversation here. I want to help you with this. We can get you through this.

Fear:
First, stop feeling scared at the thought of calling your leads. There is nothing to fear. So what if they turn down your opportunity. If they can’t see the “light” why would you want to work with them anyways? If fear is a big motivator for you not calling your leads, you need to start focusing on getting rid of your fears. I once heard a great man talk about fear. He talked about two kinds of fear – authentic fear and inauthentic fear. Authentic fear is a bear outside your tent while camping, a crocodile swimming up to you while you are fishing, a tornado heading towards your house, etc… Inauthentic fear is the little stories you tell yourself of unknown outcomes to situations. Inauthentic fear is just thoughts and doubts that you have. Really look into those and ask yourself if that situation actually has any factual impact. Is someone telling you no, or get lost, or you’re just a spammer really going to hurt you? I mean, physically hurt you? No. It may bruise your ego a bit, but get over it. I mean, seriously, get over it already. If you let these little inauthentic fears rule your life, you will go nowhere fast.

Knowing It All:
Second, stop thinking that you have to have all of the answers in order to talk to them. There’s a great quote I was recently introduced to that goes: “Great leaders realize they don’t know everything and never try to prove they do.” -Simon Sinek. It’s not about knowing everything, it’s more about knowing where to find the information on things that you don’t know yet. If you work with the right company, most likely, they will have some kind of communication channel where you can ask questions of others who have been there, done that. You’ll have access to a team that can help you out. As a team, what one person may be good at and know a lot about, another won’t, but that person will mostly likely be keen in another area that the other person was not. It works both ways – a team effort. Each person on this Earth has their own strong suit. We were made to be individuals for a reason.

Customer Service:
Third, sometimes, it’s not about giving all the right technical answers to your leads. It’s about how you treat them and how you relate to them. The old adage of “You catch more flies with honey than you do vinegar” applies here. Smile when you talk to them – it will really change the tone of your voice when you speak. Sound confident, even if inside you may not be so confident, if you sound like you are, people will think that you are. If you sound hesitant or are stumbling around like you are unsure of yourself and what you are telling them, they will pick up on that. If you have great customer service skills, when you talk to a lead, you are more apt to convert them to a sale because of the tone of your voice and how you can empathize with them and their situation. Get the lead talking about themselves. Paraphrase what they tell you – “this is what I’m hearing you say”. Let them know that you have a solution for them – “I can help you with that”. Be happy and upbeat when talking with your lead. If you get them feeling like you are on their side, you’ll be golden. Most people just want to be understood and they want to be treated nicely and with respect. It’s not really all that hard to do. Just think of how you’d like to be treated if you were on the other end of the phone.

This one hits hard with me, because I’ve been on the other side of the phone with bad customer service reps, and certain companies have almost lost my business because of it. I’ve also been on the other side of the phone with really good customer service agents, and they have earned my respect and kept my business, gladly. When they sound friendly, caring, and understanding it’s almost like you “befriend” them and it makes you want to work with them a little bit more to get whatever issue resolved. The same would go for calling a lead. If you are friendly, caring, and understanding toward them, they will want to work with you more than if you were dry, sounded bored, and really didn’t seem to care about them, only yourself.

Summary:
So, let’s get rid of those little fears that you have of talking to your leads. The world is not going to end, you are not going to get hurt, and nothing bad is going to happen to you if you talk to a lead. You will be alive and well after that conversation. Instead of fearing the call, visualize the call going perfectly, that you answer their questions with ease, the two of you hit it off, and the person is so impressed with you, that they buy whatever it is that you are selling.

Next, let’s get rid of the thought that you have to know it all right now in order to talk to your lead. Instead of going through a dry technical talk about how your company is where they should be, talk about them. Oh, and quit thinking that the customer is going to ask you all the questions that you fear them asking you because you are afraid if you answer honestly, they won’t want to work with you. This also goes back to the whole discussion on fears. Get your lead talking about themselves and what they want and need. Let them know that you understand where they are coming from and that you can help them with that. And if there is perchance a question posed that you do not know the answer to, do not try to wing it and give them a bad answer in the hopes of pleasing them. Instead, let them know that you do not have that information, but you can get it for them, and then get the information and get back to them with it.

Then, work on your customer service skills. Think back to stores you have been in with sales people and how you felt with they way different sales people treated you. You can do this with phone calls as well. How did different customer service reps treat you from say a credit card asking you to pay your bill, or a salesperson trying to sell you something, or perhaps a rep from your cell phone company when you had a problem that needed resolved. Think about what they said and how they said it. Did they make you feel good or feel bad? Then try to emulate the good ones, the ones that were really cool, really seemed to care, were really able to understand your situation and help you, and they were happy to do so.

Combining these three aspects when calling your leads will help you be more at ease and more comfortable. This will allow you to really shine and be more attractive to people so that they want to do business with you.

I wish you much success and if you have questions or could use some help in these areas, don’t hesitate to let me know. I love helping people and would love to help you resolve whatever issues you may have so that we can bring out the best in you!

Until next time…

Take Care and Create Your Greatest Day!

Kelli Jacobson

Join Kelli and the community of entrepreneurs that make it happen. Get yourself on track for success with the Internet Marketing Eduction and mindset skills you need to Live Abundantly Successful.