It’s NOT Complicated: Part 2

Excerpted from “Be Bold and Win the Sale” By Jeff Shore

I know, I know…the fact that there is a part 2 to something called “It’s NOT complicated” sort of begs the question: So Jeff, if it’s “not complicated,” why couldn’t you explain it all in part 1? My answer is this: I did explain it all in part 1, but now I want you to meet Bill. Perhaps Bill will remind you of someone you know (hint: a “someone” who starts with y and ends with ou!)

By the way, you can read Part 1 by clicking here.

Bill is a salesperson who struggles with prospecting calls. As per his company’s directive, Bill has blocked out 90 minutes per week to call “warm leads.”  These leads are all from people who had previously provided contact information on the company’s website, but who have not taken any further steps. Bill knows that there are good leads in the stack, gems waiting to be unearthed. He also knows that he hates making phone calls, preferring to deal face to face with new. He is intensely uncomfortable on the phone, and when those 90 minutes can no longer be avoided, his tendency is to retreat to his comfortable place: Facebook (or Jigidi, or Sudoku, or some other time-sucking activity).

Or, perhaps Bill justifies his non-calling session by focusing on something else on his to-do list. After all, there are always other things that have to be done as well, right? Bill’s natural desire to be comfortable wins out over what he knows to be true: he needs to make the calls, and what he knows to be best: doing so may well lead to more income for him. Our addiction to comfort, like all addictions, is not easily beaten…even when we know better and we will benefit! (See, not complicated…a little crazy perhaps, but not complicated.)

The problem is that Bill sees his fears of telephone prospecting as a complex situation with a great deal of history and no easy solution. The solution to Bill’s “complex” problem is not to avoid the problem at the time of the discomfort, but to plan for both his discomfort and his response before it happens. The discomfort will still be there, but a new response will have already been decided upon. As we all know, pain is inevitable; misery is a choice.

In regard to discomfort, you, myself, and Bill always have two choices: Option 1: Wait for the moment and respond emotionally. Option 2: Decide in advance that when it is time to do the thing we don’t want to do (make the calls, Bill!) we will, in fact, do it!

Is it really that easy? Well, no. And…yes! If Bill simply waits for the discomfort to arise, with no premeditated decision on his part, he will respond from the primitive, emotional side of his brain. And what will this part of his brain instruct him to do? Run! But if Bill chooses his response in advance of the discomfort, he will make the decision from his logical brain, a decision that will yield far better results.

For those of you who at this point are thinking that I have radically oversimplified the scenario, I have two responses. The first is, no, I have not. The second is, we can only control things that are under our control. Bill cannot control how his prospects will respond to his calls, but he has 100 percent control over his own actions and efforts. All that is left now is for the situation to play itself out. The outcome has a much greater chance of success if Bill has decided on his response in advance.

When Bill remains resolute in the face of potential discomfort, he proves to himself that he is capable of controlling his own emotions. This changes the way he thinks about future calling sessions. This will always be his choice, and as he chooses rightly, he confidence will expand for the next similar occurrence.

Decide in advance how you will feel about a given situation and you will change someone’s world…yours, mostly!