Cold Calling Phobia

Does your job/business require you to cold call prospective customers? Maybe it has crossed your mind, but...

What the heck do you do if the person on the other line hangs up on you?! Even worse, how would you feel if they got angry at you and call you a nasty name?!!

Granted, I don't need to use this method of marketing/sales for my online business, but I have tried it in the past for one of my offline businesses, and I swear, it traumatized me for life.

Professional Reenactment

C: Hi, I'm Carmen from xxxx, may I speak to the owner or manager of the store?

R: (pause) Who is this?

C: My name is Carmen... from xxxx.

R: Hold on. (hand slightly over phone mouthpiece) Hey, Dan! There's a little girl on the phone asking for you! Could be Katie again...

C: Katie?

D: This is Dan.

C: Hi Dan, [name of mutual acquaintance] suggested I...

D: Katie?

C: Uhm...

D: Katie, is your dad telling you to play jokes on me again? Tell him I'm gonna get him back this weekend!

C: Yes, Dan. I'm sorry. (click)

How I cried for days after that. I hated Dan. I hated Katie's dad!

Anyway, in my recent conversation with my brother (who happens to be one of the most effective & aggressive salesmen I've ever encountered), he was actually puzzled over why many of his colleagues were hesitant to make cold calls.

Mind you, if my brother had something to sell you, and he knew you were somewhat connected to him (a la Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon), he'd have you on the phone without batting an eyelash.

As our conversation progressed, he explained why he doesn't feel intimidated by making cold calls.

Courtesy Carmen's brother

Who cares if the person on the other line hangs up on you or get pissed at you... it's not personal. They're reacting to the sales call.

First of all, they don't even know you. Second, if I saw them at a party the next day, I wouldn't know, and they wouldn't know. We could even end hooking up again at another party.

Which makes sense... I, for one, receive a few telemarketing calls a week. And as much as I hate getting those annoying calls, I don't personally know the person on the other line.

And for all I know, Dan still thinks Katie's dad got his daughter to prank call him again...