I know this works from personal experience in successfully pursuing goals like a skydiving World Record. NASA has verified this method of fear management through controlled studies of astronauts.

If you find you are significantly distracted and having difficulty concentrating because of terrorist attacks or continuing threats, you may want to seek assistance. There is no shame in taking care of yourself. The only shame is in significantly hampering your performance by not seeking it. You would not expect your car to function well after a major accident. Similarly, after trauma we all have experienced in last year, it may be time to treat yourself to some “service.”

Focus on Your Goals

And finally, keep your goals in focus. If you need to revise your goals – do. They need to be relevant. But keep them foremost in your mind. By keeping focused on your personal and professional goals, you will keep yourself on track. And there is another benefit. You will be undermining goals of those who would love nothing more than for us to lose touch with our greatness – as individuals and as a country.

© Jim McCormick 2002

When you’re cold calling, you will experience rejection. It is unavoidable. Here is important thing to keep in mind: It is not about you! Your prospect is not rejecting you. They are rejecting product or service you’re offering.

They may just not need it right now. Or they may be so overwhelmed with challenges, they just cannot focus on what you’re offering and have to say. They’re not rejecting you! They don’t even know you.

Rejection is a part of life. So is occasional sub-par performance. I have walked away from many skydives very disappointed with my performance. But you have to shake it off and keep going. If I allowed my disappointment to get to me, I would eventually stop jumping. And that would deprive me of something I truly love.

It is similar with cold calling. If you allow rejection to get to you, it will profoundly impact your effectiveness. When you get “nos,” terse responses, or even hang ups - you have to be able to say to yourself, “Oh well, their loss. I’m sorry they’re not able to take advantage of wonderful product or service I am offering right now. But I am going to keep calling to find people who can” - and mean it.

Step 4 - Accept Fear - Then Move Through It

No one likes being rejected or hearing “no.” That is normal and okay. It is easy to allow desire to succeed lapse into a desire not to fail - which can then lapse into fear.

Don’t worry. Being fearful of rejection or failure is common and appropriate. What is important is that you not play games with yourself. If fear is there, don’t try to convince yourself it’s not. Don’t deny it.

Until you accept presence of fear, it’s in charge. When you accept its presence and fact that it is likely effecting you - you take a great deal of power away from fear.

I have had to learn this lesson thoroughly in order to succeed as a Professional Exhibition Skydiver. If I had not learned to acknowledge and accept my fears, there is no way I could have successfully jumped into small landing areas on middle of large cities or sporting events with audiences of over 100,000. (If you would like more information in this method of fear management, see article called You Want Me to Do What? - Risking to Win at www.TakeRisks.com.) So, accept that fear is there and that you’re are experiencing it. Not doing so will hold you back.

Step 5 - Keep Dialing

You build momentum with each call. When you stop dialing, you lose it. Set things up so you have plenty of prospects to call before you get started. Do your research in advance. When it comes time to call, do it with a vengeance! The sooner you make next call, regardless of whether it is a sale or not, better. You build momentum. One sale will lead to another.

If last call was not a success, it is even more important to pick up phone right away. The longer you wait, more likely it is to get to you.

Get Started

Cold calling will always be challenging. But you can make it more pleasant and be more successful at it by following these steps. Now get started. The sooner better! It’s time to leave plane!

© 2004 Jim McCormick

Right to publish or post this article at no cost is granted provided copyright is attributed to Jim McCormick and above information about author is included in its entirety.