Phone-a-phobia
I see notes on my calendar to “call xxxxx.” Yup. I see ‘em, all right. But somehow, I keep moving them from one day to another, one week to the next, and never calling people who might have freelance work for me. Particularly those I don’t know very well, or haven’t worked with before.
Quit scarin' me, Mr. Phone!
Problem is, I hate the phone. In fact, I fear it. Especially now that people have Caller ID. When I automatically get their voicemail, I don’t know if they’re really out of the office or just avoiding talking to me. Believe me, I don’t want to bother anybody who doesn’t want to talk to me.
All the small-business marketing gurus say you should call prospects. But I’ve been on the receiving end of those calls — one freelance writer kept calling me once a week, like clockwork, to inquire as to whether I had any work for him — and I did find it annoying. Me, a writer, have writing for you to do? Huh? Perhaps because of my aversion to bothering people, when I call someone I don’t know well, I get all tongue-tied, like a second-grader at “show and tell” time.
I know I need to work on my phone skills, but in the meantime, I’m thinking of starting an email list and sending out helpful info to clients and prospects every couple of weeks or so. These days, an email — just one of dozens competing for my attention every day — has to have a compelling title for me to open it. I’ll work on those compelling titles and offer value.
I am Value, see me fly… And I will try some phone calls (having pre-written a nice, brief phone script, so I don’t hem and haw) and see if I live through it. Aaaargh.
Liz, you write 100% truth. I think everybody feels this way at some point or another! What I try to do before I pick up the phone or make a sales call is to do “self-talk” — similar to Shad Helmstetter’s book, What To Say When You Talk To Yourself. I tell myself that the service I (my company) provides is exactly what this person (or people) needs! What I am offering to them is crucial to their success. Then I pick up the phone or walk on in…
Thanks for the valuable insight!