The reason you have negative feelings about cold calling is not because it doesn't work. On the contrary, it can work very well — but first you have to pick up the phone.
If you feel negative about cold calling, it's probably because of one or more of the following reasons:
- You're afraid to engage with people directly.
- You fear rejection.
- You aren't confident in what you're going to say.
- You don't know what you want out of the conversation.
- You're not sure how to create value.
- You're petrified of asking for the commitments you need.
- You want people to like you.
- It makes you feel bad about yourself.
- You'd prefer to be rejected in some other way.
- You believe that somehow an emailed request is less offensive.
- You think it's more effective to hang around and wait for your clients to raise their hands and ask for help.
- You believe the lie that your dream clients spend all their time researching candidates for the job.
- You don't know that no one makes a call without doing research first.
- You don't understand that it's only one part of larger campaign.
- You aren't in sales and never have been.
- You don't carry a quota.
It's just a phone call. You're just asking for an appointment. You're only trying to help your dream client realize better results for himself.