Cold Calling Is The Primal Fear You Must Overcome To Master Modern Selling

[This is a guest blog contributed by a best-selling author, and award-winning Blogger, Tony Hughes. Read more about him at the end of this blog.]

Is this smartphone ball and chain really a communication device? I don't think so. The chiropractors of the world must be rejoicing because homo novus has the worst posture in human history shackled to "the third appendage."

Cold calling should be "warm" calling, I get your pushback. But I disagree. Sales is about real communication and I believe we need a massive return to innocence.

I challenge Sales Leaders to literally "turn off all digital devices." I challenge sales leaders to give reps a headset and a target list with just switchboards to call on for one month straight, pad and pen. That's it!

Why Cold Call? Literally, face your fears and call a stranger in the middle of the day. Like at 9am on Monday morning or 4pm on a Friday afternoon when you least want to! I would challenge you to do zero research and get your wrist slapped. Feel the sting of rejection and let it sculpt you into a stronger person. Yes, research is good but get to the point where you stop caring about the outcome.

Reps obsess over making the perfect call at the perfect time of day to the perfect prospect as if they're about to get in an elevator with Mark Cuban and get 30 seconds to pitch. Mark Cuban ran a college bar and if he had to start all over would be the master of... wait for it... "cold calling!"

If you just master this one skill, your entire career will be transformed from inside out. Focus all your energy only on developing this one mental muscle for 6 months and watch your self-esteem, income, and influence take off like a rocket ship!

Even if you only talk to 2 in 100 people. But you could utilize ConnectandSell and get those contact rates through the roof: just ask Chris Beall who lives life at 1,000 dials a day. I've affectionately nicknamed Chris, Bruce Wayne because he is The Dark Knight of our Social Selling Crazed Digital Age of charlatan Jokers fear mongering to sell multi-level-marketing, social selling schlock to the intoxicated masses.

Chris Beall is cleaning up Gotham just like Batman, trust me.

People are petrified to be human and authentically communicate. There's been a vast introversion bordering on obsession in checking mobile devices 250 times per day. This is not healthy for the human brain or natural. You see couples at fine dining restaurants immersed head down on Facebook (always Facebook) or Instagram. You see it on the train, the endless swiping of iPads of meaningless Us Magazine drivel, living vicariously through celebrities shallow excuse for a hollow existence.

What is sales, really? What defines success? It's about communicating with others. It goes beyond fear of the phone. Maybe you fear something deeper. Like being found out. Like someone discovering you're full of hot air. It's endemic to a virtual society of isolation where no one knows anyone anymore, our whole waking lives constructed of the selfie stick and the humble brag, a Jenga game of polished glass ready to shatter at the sound of a human voice.

It's a call to arms for everyone to just get real. The purpose of social media like LinkedIn was always to connect. It still is and there is a ragtag band of well-intentioned practitioners of the dark art of Social Selling on here who really are doing that. I'd say it's the exception, not the rule, however. People like Koka Sexton and Jill Rowley do it right but they're seldom emulated when I get 200 identical spam messages in my inbox every time I accept a LinkedIn invite.

When I'm reaching out to people, I reach out to the ones I truly believe I can help. I don't waste time on anyone who I feel cannot transact with me. My positive intent and belief in my product is a port in the storm of rejection. This rain of rejection slides off of me like water off a duck's back as I paddle like hell under the surface to get my activity up to the point that I can break through. I don't use scripts or canned responses: I intend to break through and so, I do.

The only KPIs I measure are Skypes, face to face meetings, air plane rides to Melbourne and the States. I don't count dials, emails, InMails or friend requests. After connecting with tens of thousands of professionals on here, it's all a vast digital ocean with boundless creativity and stifling anonymity with plastic gyres of BS that need to be cleaned up.

The mindset is backward. We are spirits in a material world on a quest to drive value by actually interacting. We need to break down the barriers and really get to know each other, break bread and show vulnerability, releasing fears, bias and divisions to build a better society.

In the sales room of the future, we would create! Cell phones would be banned; confiscated upon arrival. Each person would work for about 3 to 4 hours per day off a defined list. The goal would simply be: talk to humans. This is why I advocate for dialler software to print out a targeted list. Purpose: get out of the office.

I think that the real dinosaur concept is the idea that you can sit in front of a computer screen, clicking away passively, and call it sales or call it marketing. It's a misnomer for "social." It was a fleeting meme in the 90's that has passed us by.

Millennials would rather have a cell phone than a car. They should take the car and go meet other Millennials for a hike in the park and go hug a tree. Sales roles should be 70% field. Reps should get in the air to go press the flesh of new and existing customers at conferences.

It's expensive to put your people up in hotel rooms and cover Travel & Entertainment expenses. It's even more expensive to have your reps gain 5,000 connections on LinkedIn, drop vapour into your forecast and see every deal go to die.

The entitled pushback we are getting as sales leaders from future generations of sellers is not something we need to encourage or feed into. It's just like bad, permissive parenting, where your kid loves you and then goes to join a street gang at the tender age of 13. You could easily dismiss me as a Luddite or iconoclast but this is just level one: wax on, wax off. The power tools are for the big boys and girls. Social Media and LinkedIn are a privilege, a dessert after the main course of brown rice and salad.

I will teach you everything you need to know about sales, social selling and how to close million dollar deals if that's what you want. But first let's fix your mindset. Do you love people? Would you love to help a customer? Do you truly believe in your product or service? Do you love yourself? It all starts with heart! Sales is a people business. You must go forth young (and old) ladies and gents and wander out of the shadows of the shire. The most modern technology I can impart to you is the oldest of all: love of others and infinite curiosity!

Not all those who wander are lost. - Tolkien

--------------

Blog by Tony Hughes

Tony Hughes is a bestselling author, award-winning blogger and the most read LinkedIn Author globally on the topic of B2B sales leadership. Tony’s first book is a business bestseller with his second book, COMBO Prospecting, is available on Amazon here. He can be found on LinkedIn and at TonyHughes.com.au and RSVPselling.com

• Topic Participants

• Vinit Tibrewal

  

• Sticky Posts

• As Sales Person, Here are my New Year Resolutions. What are Yours?

  Being a salesperson, I keep learning from my mistakes and have noted a few changes that I need to make in my approach. I take these resolutions going into 2021, hoping to keep it going for as long as possible :) 1. I will not say "Yes, our product has

• Once Upon a Sales Meeting!

  It was an awkward silence in the meeting room "Uproar." John Kowalski, the new sales manager, was not happy with the team's performance. After scribbling something in the notepad, he decided to break the silence, John: I cannot believe you guys have been working like this. No reports, delusional forecasting, random targets, and no eye on the ball. Kevin: We followed Richard's orders. John: Well, Richard is not here anymore, is he? John walked up to the whiteboard, and wrote in big bold letters: "TARGET

• Recent Topics

• Mandatory field via deluge code

  I would like to ask you if it is possible to make a field mandatory via deluge script. For example, if I have a decision box and I click on it then I want a single line field to be mandatory. If uncheck the decision box then to do the single line as optional. I think it is not possible to do that and I have to do it via validation in 'on validate' field. 

• Revenue Management: #1 What does it mean to "recognize" revenue?

  Earning revenue isn't just about collecting cash from your customers. It's about recording the income correctly and consistently. Revenue recognition is the process of deciding when and how to record revenue in financial statements so that they reflect

• Power of Automation :: Auto-Populate Integration Field in Projects with CRM Account Data

  Hello Everyone, A custom function is a software code that can be used to automate a process and this allows you to automate a notification, call a webhook, or perform logic immediately after a workflow rule is triggered. This feature helps to automate

• Zoho Forms and ChatGPT - populating a field using AI.

  I have a form where I would like the user to enter a response or query, and have another field populated using AI. For example, user enters Field 1, AI populates Field 2 in response. I want to be able to wrap some additional instruction text around the

• campo tag para api

  debo conectarme a una api de zoho inventory y ocupo tomar el campo tag para poder asi jalar el articulo que cuente con el campo correcto en tag ejemplo que tag existen carro y avion que cuando busque los articulo con tag carro arroje solo estos por mas

• Connecting Zoho Inventory to ShipStation

  we are looking for someone to help connect via API shipStation with Zoho inventory. Any ideas? Thanks. Uri

• Uploading file as attachment to Zoho CRM

         Hi,   I am trying to attach a file to a Zoho CRM contact using Zoho Flow. Right now, I try to do it through the “Upload File” field in Zoho CRM (In my screenshots, it’s called Téléchargement du fichier 1).   Here is what I tried:   Case 1: Webmerge document The Flow is called “Custom Function” (see screenshot 101).   Step  1: Creating a Webmerge document (screenshot 99)   Step 2: I use “Update module entry” to upload the created file. I upload Webmerge’s “Document” in my “Téléchargemet du

• Zia Answer Bot - Create Ticket

  Surprisingly, the current iteration of Zia will try to answer a question and unless you have "transfer to SalesIQ chat" enabled, it won't create a ticket for the user or offer them a method to create a ticket. We don't want it to create chats for us,

• meassure leads phases

  Hi, I need to create a table to meassure the time that a lead stay in blueprint phases. the phases are first contact, second contact, lead spam, contacted, appointment. any idea? I have attached an example

• Zoho Desk API Documentation missing a required field

  We are trying to create a section using this information. Even after preparing everything based on that page, we still get an error. The error we get is this: {"errorCode":"INVALID_DATA","message":"The data is invalid due to validation restrictions","errors":[{"fieldName":"/translations","errorType":"missing","errorMessage":""}]}

• In the Custom Module I have 500 Records , this 500 record only want to view to the specific user only example user A ,

  In the Custom Module, I have 500 Old records that should only be visible to a specific user, for example, User A. Any new records created from today onwards should be visible to Record owner in the Custom Module. Pls help how i achive this .

• Invoice template, how to change the text under "Notes" and "Terms and Conditions"

  In "Invoice templates", there are two text/info sections at the bottom:"Notes" and "Terms and Conditions". It is possible to change the names of these two headings, but how is it possible to change/alter the text under it. As a standard it says "Thank you for your business" under Notes - I need to change it into something different- How? Thank you.

• How to reply to thread via API

  We have built a webapp for our customers that uses the Zoho Desk API to enable each customer to view their full list of tickets, view individual tickets and raise new tickets. The Zoho Desk API doesn't have the ability to reply to a ticket/thread. Replies

• Sending merged mail templates for signatures fail since today

  We have ZOHO one, we use merge templates in CRM to edit in ZOHO Writer, and from there send it for signature through zoho sign. This all worked up until today, suddenly we read in the log that the merge is succesfull but the sending for signature failed.

• Feature Request - Make Lead List Larger and Adjustable

  Hi LandingPage team, I recently started using LandingPage and I am happy to share my feedback to help improve the app. I've noticed on the Leads page, there is no option to make the columns wider. It would be great if the comlumns expanded to fit the

• Zoho Projects - Pin Recent Projects

  Hi Projects Team, It would be great if I could "pin" projects on the Recent Projects list in Zoho Projects. We have some internal projects which we regularly have to add time and some regular client projects. It would be great if I could pin those projects

• ZDK Error

  I get this error when trying to trigger a CRM Function from Client Script: Uncaught (in promise) ZDKError: {"code":"NOT_ACTIVE","details":{"api_name":"activate_client_from_prospect"},"message":"api is inactive for the given custom function","status":"error"}

• "Disbursing product components in phases, monitoring them, and displaying only the final product."

  i have a product composed of multiple components, and these components will be delivered to the customer in batches. However, the final invoice should only show the finished product. How can I issue (or release) the components and track their delive

• Followed Subtasks doesn't show up in the Subtasks Section

  I have a task assigned to me now in the same task, there's a subtask and I am added as the follower on that task Even though I am a follower I still don't see that in the subtasks section The view permission for the profile is Related It's supposed to

• Tip #39- Strengthen account security with Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) – ‘Insider Insights’

  Securing your organization's data begins with verifying that only the correct individuals have access to it. One of the simplest yet most effective ways to accomplish this is to enable Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) within Zoho Assist. MFA introduces

• Automate timeout chat tracking with Workflows in SalesIQ

  With our feature-packed Nova release, Workflows has become one of the most powerful tools in Zoho SalesIQ. They let you automate follow-up actions when key events occur, such as when a chat ends, a visitor leaves a bad/good rating, or a lead is updated.

• Mass edit / Mass update products

  Hi, Is there any way to mass update or bulk edit product fields in Zoho Inventory?

• Automatic Verification of IMAP Integration Status

  Our sales staff have their O365 email integrated with CRM, over time this integration requires re-authentication via the UI. I can manually check the integration status by accessing Settings -> Channels -> Email -> Email Sharing -> "Configuration Type"

• Tip of the Week #68– Share and access files faster with Zoho WorkDrive extension.

  Have you ever wasted time searching for the right file to attach to your emails—or worried whether the right people could access it? Without proper sharing settings, files might end up inaccessible to teammates or, worse, visible to people who shouldn’t

• CV-Library: The Newest Source Booster in Zoho Recruit!

  We’ve expanded your sourcing toolkit — CV-Library, one of the UK’s largest and most trusted online job boards, is now available as a Source Booster in Zoho Recruit. This gives recruiters instant access to millions of UK-based candidate profiles, all without

• Zoho AI Translate Task as Rest API

  I cant find any docs on how to use Zoho AI Translate Task from a rest api call https://www.zoho.com/deluge/help/ai-tasks/translate.html I am working on a custom Widget and I dont think I can execute zoho deluge ai translate task from a custom widget.

• Is there the possibility to book less than 250 customer portal users?

  If you use the Creator, which is included in Zoho ONe, you can create a customer portal and give access to a maximum of 3 external people / customers, right? On the Creator website I saw that you can add 250 users for 100€/month. However, we don't need

• Display Parts custom fields in the Work Order

  Hello, I see that is it possible to add custom fields in the Parts module. Would it be possible to also add those custom fields in the Work Order Module under Parts? This would be very useful for customer who want to showcase more information about parts.

• Unable to edit Saved Estimates

  We are facing issue with editing the price or discount for a saved estimate for nearly 1 week.

• Translation Blueprint & Picklists with Custom Values

  Hello everyone, I downloaded the translation file and I'm not finding the blueprint transitions. Does this means that the transitions cannot be translated? Also, the picklist values to be translated in the document are not the same that are actually used the in module. For exemple, for my lead module, the picklist values for Lead Status are : Not-contacted, contacted, junk and lost lead. In the translation document (English to French), this is what I see: PicklistValues.Leads.Lead_Status.Contact

• How to create a custom sales signal?

  I want to create a custom sales signal for a custom module. is it possible to create one? If anyone know please let me know

• Multi-line address lines

  How can I enter and migrate the following 123 state street Suite 2 Into a contact address. For Salesforce imports, a CR between the information works. The ZOHO migration tool just ignores it. Plus, I can't seem to even enter it on the standard entry screen.

• Only show products in offers based on lead source

  We work with several lead sources, each with their own products and different pricing. For example, one product might have two or three different prices. Sometimes, when creating a quote, the wrong product is accidentally selected. Is there a way to only

• Narrative 7 - The importance of data sharing

  Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system - BTS Series Narrative 7 - The importance of data sharing Definition Data sharing requires a commitment to preserving the integrity and dependability of shared data throughout its entire lifecycle. This

• TrueSync regularly filling up my local disk

  Seems that WorkDrive's TrueSync randomly starts filling up my local hard drive space. None of the folders have been set as "Make Offline" but still it seems to randomly start making file offline. The settings of the app is so minimal and is of no real

• How can you re-push non failed submission through the integrations again?

  Hi, I can see there is an option the 'Re-push' failed integration submissions from Zoho Forms. Is there a way to do this for all submissions? We've just re-built an integration so things go into different fields and we would like to re-push everything

• Check out in Meetings

  Why there is no check out in Meetings of Zoho CRM, very difficult to track

• Issue with Zoho Projet

  Zoho Project on all the cellphones of my customer is crashing. He has mixed brands (Samsung and Pixel). Everything is fine on website and mobile website. Could not reproduce the issue in workshop using Samsung/Pixel/iPhone Uninstallation of Zoho Project

• SecurePass email English language issue -- please hire someone to correct the English language issues sprinkled throughout your interface

  I wrote previously about some incorrect English in your SecurePass offering. After about six months it was corrected. I have never revoked permission before today and just discovered another language mistake that was not corrected. When you revoke a SecurePass

• Published Components

  @zoho team, Checking if we can add a password for the public links as we have non-licensed users

• Next Page