Cold calling terrified me when I started in sales. One coaching exercise changed everything — and it has nothing to do with scripts or objection handling.
Tips to overcoming fear of cold calling
When I decided to build Sandler Training, Mississauga business, I had one problem I wasn't fully ready to admit: I had never made a cold call in my life.
Not "out of practice." Not "a bit rusty." Zero experience.
I had spent my career in a way that didn't require it. And now here I was, building a business from nothing, staring at a phone that felt like it weighed 400 pounds.
My Coach Didn't Give Me a Script
He didn't walk me through objection handling. He didn't teach me a closing technique. He gave me one instruction:
"Go get 5 no's. Call me back."
Not five conversations. Not five booked meetings. Five no's. The no was the goal.
I made five calls. Got five no's. Called him back in 20 minutes.
"Good. Go get 10."
I got 10. He said go get 20.
Something Shifted Around Call Number 8
I can't pinpoint the exact moment. But somewhere in that second batch, the dread was gone.
I wasn't white-knuckling through conversations anymore. I was relaxed. Curious. I was genuinely just finding out whether there was a fit — and if there wasn't, fine. That was a completed task. That was progress.
The fear of cold calling isn't really about the call. It's about rejection. And rejection only stings when yes is the goal. When no is the goal — when you're actively collecting them — you can't lose. Every call moves you forward.
Why This Works
When you call to get a yes, you're operating from scarcity. Every no feels like a door closing. Your brain registers it as failure, and so you avoid the next call.
When you call to collect no's, the frame flips. You can't finish a call empty-handed. Either someone says yes — a golden nugget — or they say no, and you've made progress toward your number. The math becomes manageable. You need 20 no's? That's 20 calls. Work the list.
It's also pure Sandler: detach from the outcome. You're not there to convince anyone. You're there to find out if there's a problem you can solve. If there isn't — next.
What I Tell My Clients
When sales teams are avoiding the phone — and almost every team has this problem to some degree — I don't start with scripts. I start here.
Go get 5 no's. Come back.
It sounds too simple. But simple is what works when the obstacle is fear, not skill. You can't think your way out of call reluctance. You have to call your way out of it.
The reps who stick with it long enough to hit that shift — somewhere around call 8 or 9 — almost always come out the other side with a different relationship to prospecting. The phone stops being a threat. It becomes a tool.
The Golden Nugget
Every deal I've ever closed was buried under a pile of no's I had to get through first.
That's not a problem with the process. That's how the process works. The ratio is fine. You just have to be willing to work through the pile.
Try It This Week
• Pick a number — 5, 10, 20. Make it feel like enough to actually shift something.
• Make no the goal. Not the conversation, not the meeting, not the sale. The no.
• Keep a tally. There's something oddly satisfying about counting them.
• Notice what happens around call 8 or 9. Let the shift happen.
The hardest part of cold calling is starting. Once you reframe what you're there to collect, starting gets a lot easier.
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Robin Singh at Sandler Mississauga delivers proven sales training and leadership development to help organizations build stronger teams, develop confident leaders, and drive revenue growth.
We work with sales professionals and managers across Mississauga, the GTA, and Ontario to improve qualification, set clear expectations, and create predictable results.
If you are looking to grow your sales and leadership teams, let’s start the conversation.
robin.singh@sandler.com | 647-988-1037 |
