Even When You Fear Cold Calling

In today’s self storage business, the percentage of commercial customers is growing. Owners are getting more and more insistent that managers bring in commercial accounts. These customers tend to stay longer and pay better, and most operators consider them “A+” customers. Unlike residential customers, however, they usually don’t just show up on your doorstep. This means you have to go after their business, and that requires a set of sales skills new to self storage— business-to-business selling. This type of selling usually starts with a phone call, and that is where the dreaded act of “cold calling” comes into play.

Many self storage managers plan to make sales calls as soon as possible in the morning so they can get appointments set in their calendars. Unfortunately, this seldom occurs. Although most would agree that they want to have calendars full of appointments to meet with potential commercial customers, they rarely achieve that. The reason? They harbor a fear of cold calling.

Knowing how important a positive attitude is, the typical self storage manager thinks positively all the way to work. He affirms that he is excited about all the sales calls he is going to make. Having heard how powerful visualization is, she might visualize herself making cold call after cold call and having tremendous success. Surely this will be the day he takes over the self storage business in his area and attracts new business like never before.

When we take a peek at this same self storage manager in his or her office just an hour later, we hardly believe our eyes. Instead of calling one prospect after another, we find him taking care of busy work on his desk instead. If we could see the thoughts going through his head, they’re decidedly different than those we heard this morning:

“You can’t make that call now. You don’t feel comfortable. Go get a cup of coffee and get ready for the call. Look at your desk. How do you expect to generate any more customers with your desk in such disarray? You need to get organized before you go collecting any more customers.” Etcetera, etcetera.
Time studies of salespeople’s activities indicate that, on average, salespeople account for only two hours of productive time each day. All the other hours of the working day are spent fighting off time wasters. Many of them admit they spend plenty of those hours waiting—waiting for the right time to call prospects.

The Inner Committee
Perhaps you’re familiar with The Third Man, by Graham Greene. The story begins with Holly Martins arriving in Vienna at the end of World War II. He’s been offered a job by an old high school chum named Harry Lime. Right after his arrival, he learns that Harry was killed in an auto accident. To make a long story short, the rest of the story revolves around Holly trying to understand the truth around Harry’s death while also trying to win over Harry’s former girlfriend. The interesting thing about the movie version, is that you don’t see the character who plays a critical role until the last few minutes of the story.

Why do I mention this story? Because it reminds me of the sales process. Typically, the highlighted characters in any sales training are the salesperson and the prospect, but the character who portrays a critical role is almost never mentioned simply because he isn’t visible. Similar to The Third Man, the character may not be seen, but his effects are blatant and destructive.

Plenty of sales trainers will talk about the relationship between the sales professional and the prospect, but they fail to mention the critical player or that “third man” in the sales world. This critical player is so rarely spoken of that most salespeople don’t have the slightest idea how to deal with him, and because of that, they fail to make most of the sales calls they truly desire to make.

So who is “the third man,” this critical player in the sales business? Fascinatingly enough, this critical player isn’t one you can see; you can only see the negative effects. This is sometimes referred to as an inner committee.

In my book, Carpe Phonum … How to Seize the Phone and Call Your Prospects Even When You Lack Courage, I refer to this phenomenon as “trouble thoughts.”

You would be hard-pressed to find a self storage manager who isn’t familiar with those trouble thoughts that talk him out of making calls now and convince her to wait for a better time to make sales calls. The definition of just when is a better time to call varies. It can be when one won’t bother the prospect, when one won’t interrupt the prospect, when one is better rehearsed or better organized, when one has more courage, when one has more confidence, when it’s not so early, or when it’s not so late.

Perhaps the most upsetting aspect of this call reluctance is that most sales professionals believe they are alone. They wouldn’t dare speak about their fear of cold calling or about all the reasons they postpone making sales calls because they think they are the only ones who have the problem. They believe there is some secret they have yet to learn before they can make all those calls they need to make. Again, they’re waiting, but this time, they are waiting for that secret to be revealed—the secret that will make their prospecting fears go away. From my own sales experience, I’ve learned that the best time to call a prospect is as soon as I think about calling him. Waiting for a better time usually results in one of two things: never finding the right time to call that prospect or waiting so long that, by the time the call is finally placed, the prospect is already doing business with someone else.

The Critical Player
Effectively teaching salespeople how to overcome the fear of cold calling and “seize the phone” doesn’t necessarily require a lengthy process. I prefer to compare that process to a baseball player going up to bat. He naturally has the goal to hit the ball, run to each of the bases, and finally cross over home plate and score.

Getting to first base in cold calling involves coming face to face with that critical player, the voice that talks one out of making all those calls. By revealing that voice as the liar that it is, salespeople discover they can move on to second base.

Moving to second base requires learning how to detach oneself from the persistent voice that nags and distracts but never points one in the right direction. By effectively dismantling the seeming hold that fear has on them, sales professionals can move on to third base.

Getting one’s feet firmly planted on third base occurs when salespeople see that there is more to their business than the exchange of goods or services and money. By opening their eyes to recognize the potential ongoing value they create and the good that unfolds simply by contacting others on the telephone, they learn the greater aspects and opportunities of their business.

Finally, all salespeople need to learn that getting to home plate is only accomplished when they take their foot off third base. They must come to grips with the fact that the sales process is a continual cycle, that everyday they must walk out of the dugout of fear, pick up a bat of immeasurable value, put themselves in the game, and start playing.

Always the biggest obstacle in any salesperson’s career is herself or himself. When self storage professionals learn how to get the critical player inside their own heads out of the way and seize the phone, the potential is truly unlimited.


Author, Sales Trainer, and Professional Speaker, Tammy Stanley is founder and director of Tempe, Arizona-based The Sales Refinery, a firm that provides sales training in marketing, selling, and leadership strategies. She is also author of the book and audio set, Carpe Phonum ... How to Seize the Phone, Take Action, and Call Your Prospects, Even When You Lack Courage.