Written by Eric Fry for The Nova Scotia Business Journal, published June, 2012
Come on in… the water’s fine. We all remember those words as kids as we were debating about whether to make that dreaded leap from the warm shoreline into the seemingly cold blue yonder. It was a nerve-racking experience, but we knew that we couldn’t turn back. With a little coaxing, we took a deep breath and built up the courage to jump in — and never regretted it for a second. Looking back, it seemed like such a big deal.
As professional salespeople, I think we can relate to this example. I recently observed a training course in Baltimore for new business owners from across the globe who were learning how to set up their companies by developing their websites, creating marketing strategies, assembling their pitch books, learning their product suite and, most importantly, building their activity plan to “cold call” prospective clients to generate sales revenue. This notion of calling people we may have never met, catching them live and then making the most of the precious time we are graciously afforded is not without its angsts or for the faint at heart. Cold calling is also the easiest activity to put off, delay or reprioritize because something more important came up.
Just like when we were kids, we know we have to abandon that comfortable dry place to prove that we can do this and put ourselves out there, because we know we’ll be the better for it. As sales professionals, we need to recognize that there is no other option other than to jump in fast and often. I think you would agree it is a requirement of the job. The good news is that it is a skill that can be developed, honed and mastered leading to unbridled success.
So come on in… the water’s not as cold as it might appear and, in fact, it becomes rather comfortable the more you take the plunge.
©2012 Sandler Training Inc. (www.atlantic.sandler.com) is an international sales and management training/consulting firm. For a free copy of Why Salespeople Fail And What To Do About It, call Sandler Training at (902)468-0787 or e-mail salescarees@sandler.com
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