Call Reluctance Cripples Sales Effectiveness: Proven yet little known solutions

50% of sales pros are afraid to make calls - Harvard Business Review

A fellow VP Sales asked me to write this article.

He wished he had a playbook on how to solve call reluctance as it is

• destroying careers
• undermining business objectives

At a strategic level he and his board found my articles on the importance of

• outbound and pipeline generation
• being phone-first - CMF moneyball

"Compelled sales transformation" and outbound calling prioritisation

BUT he said I had not addressed the challenge of call reluctance

I did a number of surveys and he was right

So here's my attempt... I hope it helps others.

1. Why is Call Reluctance Such A Big Problem In Sales
2. What Causes Sales Call Reluctance
3. Signs of Sales Call Reluctance
4. How can you overcome Call Reluctance

• 12 archetypes of call reluctance?
• Change your attitude
• Actions to overcome call reluctance
• Actions to eliminate

I would truly value any thoughts / comments / feedback from the sales community.

I hope it helps a few people and you can help me evolve my thinking.

Sidenote:

If you are a sales leader and want to weaponise outbound calling, even if you currently don't call at all, 7 years ago we created a programme specifically for this.

It routinely takes raw and even experienced sellers and enables them in days to execute at the level of the top 1% in the world in terms of meetings set and attributable revenue.

Overcoming Call reluctance is baked into this training and coaching programme.

Here's a snapshot of what my own SDR team did in typical day this month:

They average 0.7 meetings booked / SDR / hour from the phone alone...

If you want to discuss or test out our approach with your own team... just let me know: happy to set you up for free next week.

I guarantee your team will have more conversations with the named decision makers on their target lists in that day than they've had in weeks and they'll enjoy it too.

Why is Call Reluctance Such A Big Problem In Sales?

Your sales career is under threat if you shy away from the phone:

• This VP Sales gets 6 x more meetings from each SDR hour invested in calling than in email or Linkedin activity.
• He is about to layoff some of his team because they are not hitting the phones enough and they were causing others to question the strategy: "They are misallocating their time and preventing me from doing more with less"
• You'll be replaced by AI automation very soon if all you do is send email and social sell as an SDR
• You'll fail to learn the H2H consultative and active listening skills that buyers need and you need to succeed in an AE role

Sales call reluctance single-handedly accounts for > half of all sales career failures according The Psychology of Sales Call Reluctance research

• 90% of salespeople participants had one or more forms of sales call reluctance
• 80% of all new producers who enter sales positions fail to complete their first year in sales because of call reluctance
• 40% of all experienced, high-performing sales pros readily admit to one or more episodes of sales call reluctance severe enough to threaten their continuation in sales.

Ignoring your sales call reluctance leads to statistically significant higher chance of

• Decrease in sales performance
• Being passed up for advancement opportunities
• Being terminated from your sales position

The Call Reluctance Trap

• Every single time you don’t pick up the phone you are not prospecting as effectively as you could be.
• You’re putting off future wins.
• You may as well be working for your competitors!
• If your sales cycle is 6 months long, and you’re not calling prospects, you’re deciding your pipeline 6 months from now isn’t important.
• Right now, your sales pipeline may be full and you’re closing plenty of business. The need for new prospects doesn’t feel immediate, and the negative consequences of not calling won’t be felt for months (or years).
• So it is easy to find short-term excuses that seem more important. BUT today’s prospecting dictates your future performance
• 6 months from now, when you’re missing quota, you'll look back and regret this.
• Remember Why You’re Closing Business Now.

What Causes Sales Call Reluctance?

It doesn’t matter how frequently you call prospects or how many years you’ve been in sales, you’ll always feel some anxiety before the first dial of the day.

And that’s a good thing. It means you’re taking it seriously.

Anxiety only becomes a problem when it impacts your ability or willingness to call.

Call reluctance is an emotional response centered around hesitation, avoidance, or fear of cold calling a prospect, typically at TOFU, before a relationship has been opened.

Studies show it tends to work as a social disease leaving those dealing with it in an emotionally uncomfortable state and infecting others with the same!

• A fear of rejection
• A lack of proper preparation
• Not having the correct mindset about your role as a salesperson

Signs of Sales Call Reluctance

A salesperson with call reluctance is a master at making excuses when it’s time to prospect.

We’ll tell ourselves we’re too busy.

We’ll suddenly have important paperwork to file.

We’ll decide we need to prepare for next week’s vacation.

How can you overcome Call Reluctance

FIRST

You need to recognise you have a call reluctance problem

Be honest with yourself and admit that you are not picking up the phone consistently.

A bit like a 12-step addiction recovery program… then you've got a chance of behaviourial change... stop lying to yourself / being in denial!

SECOND

Reluctance dissolves when met by a team.?Do call blitzes together!

Do you recognise yourself in any of these 12 archetypes of call reluctance?

By understanding the factors that fuel your call reluctance, you’re much better equipped to overcome it.

• Doomsayer: Worries, will not take social risks (loses three new accounts pre-month).
• Over-Preparer: Over-analyzes, underacts (sells at 43% of quota).
• Hyper-Pro: Obsessed with the image and looking good (but is rated only average in presentation skills.) Confuses packages with prospecting.
• Stage Fright: Fear group presentations (loses $10,800 in annual gross sales).
• Role Rejection: Secretly ashamed of sales careers; deflects identity (loses four accounts per month).
• Yielder: Fears intruding on others (impedes the success of TQM programs).
• Socially Self-Conscious: Intimated by up-market clients (sells 33% under quota).
• Separationist: Won’t mix business and friends (loses three accounts per month).
• Emotionally Unemancipated: Won’t mix business and family (sells 15% under quota).
• Referral Aversion: Fears distributing existing business or client relationships (sells 19% under quota).
• Telephobia: Fears using the telephone for prospecting (loses $10,000 in commissions annually).
• Oppositional Reflex: Argues, blames, rebuffs attempts at coaching (loses nine new accounts per year).

The Next Steps in Overcoming Call Reluctance

My experience is you must

1. Change your thinking
2. Take Corrective Action
3. Eliminate Sabotaging Actions

Change Your Thinking / Attitude

Feeling Ashamed of Being in Sales?

Many people, including some salespeople, associate selling with dishonest charlatans and manipulative characters. This is a fairly common experience among newer salespeople and is a leading cause of many cases of call reluctance.

It’s imperative to remind yourself of your true role as a salesperson. Your role, your purpose, is that of a helper, trusted partner, and problem-solver for your customers and prospects. Remember that you’re creating real value.

Remember there is nothing to be afraid of!

No salesperson has ever been harmed by making a cold call, but sales call reluctance has harmed many salespeople.

No contact has ever been harmed by taking a cold call, but many have improved their results by taking a meeting with a salesperson.

Remember where your wins came from

A good way to encourage yourself to keep calling, even when you have plenty of business, is to remember why you’ve got all that business.

When your pipeline is full and you’re closing lots of business, go back six months (or however long your sales cycle is) and look at your past sales activities. The numbers don’t lie—how many meetings were you setting, how many calls were you making, and what were you doing to earn such a full pipeline?

Let those past activities be a motivating and guiding factor for what you need to be doing every week to keep up the success.

Review past failures

Those failures happened, and you’re still here. You fell down and you got up again...

What felt like a big deal then probably doesn’t seem very important now.

Remember that you can overcome setbacks—you have in the past, and will in the future.

Know The Math On “No’s” In Sales / Gamify Rejection

You can reframe rejection: for every "No" you get, you are closer to the next "Yes".

Your your conversion rates, your own sales maths... it has always helped me and many others do what needs to be done.

No, you didn’t get a sale. But, did you learn something? A no is a prelude to a YES

At the time, hearing a client or prospect say ‘no’ can be devastating and leave you down in the dumps. Alternatively, winning a sale can make you feel as high as a kite. The message is, don’t get too low from the lows and too high from the highs.

Managers: hold a calling contest with a “no” target. The winner is the first person to get to 25 “nos.” Rather than feeling dejected every time they hear “no” from their prospects, your reps will actually be excited and it breeds camaraderie.

"Let It Go"

In the words of the annoying Frozen song that my daughter manically and incessantly barks while throwing glitter and playdough all over the house

That call / hostile person is the exception. What's done is done, laccept what is, learn what you can and move.

I guarantee from analysing > 100m calls: you are far more likely to book a meeting than encounter a jerk.

Stay Positive

• Negative self-talk is destructive – pay attention to your inner dialog. Don’t allow intrusive, self-defeating thoughts to keep you from succeeding.
• What is wrong with right now if you don’t think about it?
• A positive mindset helps many people BUT it should not replace taking action, otherwise it is just wishful thinking.

Actions to overcome call reluctance

Pre-Build your list

My top tip to miminise call reluctance is to have a long, healthy list of names to call.

This needs to be “prequalified” e.g. decision-makers at dream clients in your ideal customer profile (ICP).

And data needs to be as up to date as possible, so you can't use the old - blame the data excuse!

If you dial, then research, dial then research, you never get into your flow of calling.

Research and dialing should be done in separate batches.

I am lucky enough to have a list build and data enrichment team, just so I can focus on actual selling - perhaps you should too, or at least outsource that non revenue generating activity, so you can focus on what really matters?

If a prospect doesn’t answer (or even worse—she answers but blows you off), who cares? You have 99 more numbers to call. It creates a dial, dial, dial mentality—and that’s what you want!

Idea: Switch Leads With Another Rep?

They call 20 of your leads, and you call 20 of theirs. If any of your leads come to fruition, they’ll give those names back, and vice versa.

Because you’re not calling your own leads, you aren’t as emotionally attached to them. It becomes much less nerve-wracking to pick up the phone, as you less invested in the outcome.

Have a Script / Try Updating Your Script

Not using a script or some sort of talktrack framework? You definitely should be!

But, if you just aren’t positive about your script and the words coming out of your mouth – try changing it up.

Having the script will work as a guardrail, helping you figure out the best things to say at the right time, and giving you more confidence along the way to help lessen your fear of cold calling.

But you can put your own twist on it and make it your own and you should constantly be iterating your messaging to better align to the feedback you get from speaking to the market: Message-Market-Fit

Roleplay / Do Mock Calls

Indispensable. But don't overdo it... no amount of practice in a low-pressure environment replaces doing it for real.

And what I have learned is that what people do in these situations is vastly different to what they do in the wild, just listen back to your call recordings... this is where the real learnings happen.

Pre-call planning

Make the unknown less scary and more manageable, control the controllables by being prepared…

• Learn your talktrack / script by heart
• Practice the predictable objections you know you will get

But enough is good enough... don't spend your life preparing, as again this is procrastination born of fear.

Ask For Help / Get Sales Coaching

Feeling lost and frustrated?

It’s okay to ask for help or support from your leaders, mentors, or other members of your team.

You don’t have to “sink or swim”

There is a very positive culture of sales enablement today, and more companies recognise the need for coaching.

Create a Routine

Habits are powerful and will help you better manage stress levels and reduce the number of barriers between you and your goals.

Even if you don’t think you’ll thrive on a schedule, give it a try. Especially in times of unpredictability.

When following a routine, it becomes more second nature and not just a process. It can help give you a better sense of control, organisation, and productivity.

Practice Time Management

Feeling overwhelmed before you even start your day?

Try focusing on smaller goals by chunking your to-do list into sections. Small bursts can help you cross one thing off the list at a time.

Avoid multitasking and stick to the schedule, no matter what you are feeling.

And remember to plan breaks and time for self-care.

Ringfence time: power hours / call blitzes... but also eliminate ineffective activities to free up bandwidth...

Do you really need to spend more than 1 minute on that email... maybe you should just call them then, as Lavender and others emphasise that email brevity id the key to success.

Do you really need to spend more 20 minutes per day social selling on LinkedIn. I have >30k followers and I get by on this.

Just Do It: Disconnect from the outcome: Focus On the Activity

Just Pick Up The Goddamn phone - that was the exasperated advice from a sales keynote I attended recently. His acronym JPUTGT is update of the classic PUTT, as he felt it needed stressing

Minimize your time-to-dial or TTD at the start of the day: swallow the toad!

Make cold calls for 90 minutes a day. It will take a couple weeks, but with practice (i.e., exposure therapy)

You want to get into a calling flow-sate, it makes it more productive and even enjoyable.

Momentum builds motivation and a virtuous feedback loop

Track your progress after each call / review your call recordings

“It’s fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” Bill Gates

Your sales call assessment might include:

• Did I meet my goal for the call?
• What went well?
• What would I do differently if I did the call over?
• What is the next step?

This is evidence you can push through your fear and evolve your craft... getting better all the time.

I'd also listen to your colleagues' calls, as there will be models of excellence in there you can learn from, and sometimes it is comforting to hear how flawed and imperfect that 25+ year sales top performer is!

Actions to Stop

Remove Distractions

Your inner child will seek out distractions rather than face the fear and stress of calling head-on.

This will only undermine your calling and make it harder and so more stressful and multiply self-distraction sabotage as a coping mechanism.

No multi-tasking, focus.

If you’re sitting at an empty table with no distractions, I guarantee it is easier to make calls.

Some have found distraction-blocking browser extensions and smartphone apps that can help you stay away from websites and apps that can eat up large portions of your day with fruitless distraction.

Find those which work best for you, install them, and commit your computer and phone to purely being a tool which helps you help your customers.

Stop Procrastinating - Now is always the right time to have that conversation

Afraid you’ll not be able to answer some of the prospect’s questions?

The perfect time to make the call is now, before you’ve gotten in your own way. You don’t have to be perfectly prepared for any question they might ask.

Think you don't have enough product knowledge?

Make the call anyway, and if you run into questions you can’t answer, just tell the prospect: “Great question! I don’t know the answer, but I’ll find out and get back to you.”

Then educate yourself, and the next time a prospect asks you this question, you’ll know how to handle it.

Convinced that meaningless busywork is absolutely mission critical, and over-preparation is the way to succeed?

The Instant Gratification Monkey that has you doing this, that, and the other before tackling the one task you don’t want to do does not have your best interest at heart.

It is amazing how I deceive myself and even the most insignficant things become priority and urgent tasks when I know it is call time!

Push busywork to the side and start your day with the task you’re dreading. Don’t overthink it. Start a habit of knocking out that “scary” call first thing in the morning, and then it’s done.

Need more time to research the prospect?

Stop excessively researching... if you never actually speak to them, it was all pointless! Sure you could write a stalker-esque email that never gets opened... but what does that actually achieve?

Conclusion

I would truly value any thoughts / comments / feedback from the sales community.

I hope it helps a few people and you can help me evolve my thinking.

If you want to test out the exact system we use that eliminates call reluctance happy to set your team up.

For a deep dive on this topic...

Telephobia is so widespread that there are several books on the subject, in case you’re the researching (beware: this is your superpower and your Achilles heel) type

• The Psychology of Sales Call Reluctance: Earning What You're Worth in Sales by George W. Dudley and Shannon L. Goodson (the co-founders of Behavioral Sciences Research Press)
• From Hello To Yes In 3 Minutes Or Less: How to Overcome Call Reluctance, Know Exactly What to Say, and Avoid Rejection When Using the Telephone as a Network Marketing Professional by Paul G Walmsley
• Selling From The Heart: How Your Authentic Self Sells You! by Larry Levine
• How I Conquered Call Reluctance, Fear of Self-Promotion, & Increased My Prospecting! by Sidney C. Walker
• Smart Calling: Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection from Cold Calling by Art Sobczak

#coldcalls #coldcaller #coldcall #coldcalling #outboundcalling #telesales #telemarketing #prospecting