As I see it, fear is one of the two biggest problems in sales. Discouragement is the other. I can give you a lot of quick: easy answers, but the only problem is, they won't work. They make wonderful articles and they sell well, but they are aspirin tablets...that's all they are. I know. I've been afraid; I've been discouraged and I've also kidded myself that I wasn't. There is a big difference between kidding yourself that you are not scared and remaining that way, or really overcoming your fear.
Tonight I don't want to talk about aspirin tablets; I want to talk about the causes of fear and how to cure it. Let's look at fear. The major time you are afraid is when you go out to try to sell somebody. And don't try to kid me that you aren't scared. I've seen very few salesmen who weren't. I've seen many who would make a call when they knew the people weren't there, just so they could salve their conscience with: "Well, I tried." I know. I've walked back and forth in front of a door, reached for the knob and jerked my hand back just as if the knob had electricity in it, and finally gave up and said, "Well, I don't think they're home anyhow." Never knocked once. I've done these things. We're all afraid. Why? I want to list the real reasons:
Let me sum up the four reasons, basically, why we become afraid:
1. People will find out we're insincere. Layden Stroud, one of Dallas' foremost life insurance men says that people do business with him because they believe that he understands them.
2. We are there for selfish reasons and not for love. Who is uppermost in your mind — the good of the prospect or the value of the sale to you? Great salesmen believe that when they leave the prospect real value has been contributed.
3. Our pride gets hurt when we tell them we are salesmen, or when they say "no." When meeting someone for the first time how do you answer their question "what do you do?"
4. We don't have adequate knowledge. An old training adage is "he who stops learning stops getting better." Prospects know when we know ---- and they more quickly know when we don't!
5. We haven't done our homework and we are unprepared. It is said that the successful do what the unsuccessful are unwilling to do. Good luck is where preparation and opportunity intersect. Fear often evaporates in the heat of solid preparation.."
Let me tell you what fear is: fear is selfishness; fear is insincerity; fear is pride; fear is ignorance. Fear is wrong. Fear is sin..let's call it what it is. The bible says," he does not give you fear, but he gives you the spirit of power. Perfect love casts out fear." This is the thing. When you really love and are unselfish, you have no occasion to be afraid. So if you have fear, you have sin. Treat it as such. Now, we can't be without sin; that wouldn't be human. But let's recognize it for what it is: sin. Faith
is right, and faith is the answer to fear. Charlie McCormack, president of McCormack Tea &. Spice, and a dear friend, told me about something he saw in England. It was written on the wall of an old seventeenth century tea house: "Fear knocked at the door; faith answered; no one was there."
Confidence and fear come from much the same thing, confidence is the right reaction; fear is the wrong reaction. Some of my friends know, and I shouldn't say this publicly, but my hobby is sports cars. We had one delivered the other day and I drove my wife over to Petersburg, Virginia. I love to put a sports car through the paces in the mountains. I was just doing some nice, quiet turns and my wife, who doesn't have my enthusiasm for it, began to get a little nervous. Now it just so happens that in our lifetime together she and I have taken several thousand curves and we have never had any trouble. Those thousand curves have developed in me a confidence, but those same thousand curves have developed in my wife a fear. She figures the law of averages is running out and I figure I've got experience. So it's how you look at your experience that makes the big difference. If you think: "Boy, I've sold four out of the last five; I'm bound to miss the next three," this is fear. But if you say, "Boy, I've sold four out of the last five; I may get quite a streak going here!' that's a positive reaction to your experience.
I found one other thing: when I get very afraid, and many times I get scared in speaking even though I've spoken a great deal, I've found that in order to be sure I'm sincere, I must slow down. Many times when we get afraid we speed up. This is the worst thing you can do. You get to where you want to get through and get out. You forget the object of the call was to tell them about the product and get the order, not to get out as fast as you can. We lose sight of the object of the situation. It isn't to get out. The object is to deliver your message; but slow down to do it. This helps you to gain control.
Fear is a reality, but it doesn't have to immobilize. Check carefully on your sincerity, your motivation, your preparation and your pride. Are you convinced that what you are doing is a fair exchange for your time and energy? Will the clients be better because you and your products were there? If so, then you can go in faith, not fear. You can have the spirit of confidence, not cowardice.
