Did you know that you or your salespeople could have a career ending or career limiting Psychological disorder? Call Reluctance: When Salespeople Need a Checkup from the Neck Up

Throughout my years as a salesperson, trainer, and manager, I have witnessed the “death of a salesman” played out all too often in real life. I have seen successful salespeople wither and die on the vine, careers washed up on a psychological reef, never again to close the sales they were once capable of.

Like other sales managers and trainers, I attempted to find the ailment. Most often, however, the patient was too busy wallowing in a quicksand-like denial to seek or accept help. When I extended a branch, offering to pull the salesperson out of the quagmire that engulfed him, he denied needing help. “Nothing is wrong. What’s the fuss? I’m doing okay,” he exclaimed. All the while the problem grew worse, finally ending what had been a promising career.

The problem, the malady, the disease that scuttles so many sales careers often has its roots in the fear of self-promotion. Also known as contact hesitation and call reluctance, the fear of self-promotion prevents salespeople from doing the very things they know are necessary to succeed.

Sales Call Reluctance is a career-threatening condition that limits the number of calls a salesperson makes. Some have trouble using the phone to prospect, while others find it difficult to call on friends, or relatives, or important people. Until just a few years ago, most sales managers and trainers thought of contact hesitation as the simple fear of rejection. “Your problem is “you’re just afraid of the word no!” “Don’t you know the prospect can’t hurt you?” the old-time sales manager would exclaim.

The age-old fear of rejection materializes around puberty, preventing many young people from talking to someone they find attractive. While this can contribute to call reluctance, behavioral psychologists digging into the affliction have uncovered more than the simple fear of rejection, the fear of being told no.

Depending on who you ask, there are anywhere between six and twelve distinct types of call reluctance—six to twelve very different psychological afflictions that, if allowed to, will ruin the most promising sales career.

Furthermore, studies have revealed that contact hesitation does not only affect new entrants into the sales field. “While it is true that up to 80 percent of all salespeople fail within the first year due to insufficient prospecting activity, 40 percent of experienced, successful salespeople will experience one or more bouts of call reluctance, hampering their prospecting activity seriously enough to threaten their continuation in sales. If they learn to cope with and overcome these bouts, their careers will suffer no permanent damage. If not, their names will be added to the ever-growing list of once-successful salespeople.” George W. Dudley and Shannon L. Goodson – Earning What You’re Worth.

Over the next few blog entries we will explore a few of the more common varieties of call reluctance and attempt to clearly identify each. We’ll study examples, attempting to paint a picture we all can recognize as we gaze into our own life’s mirror. We’ll attempt to understand the debilitating nature of each kind of call reluctance.

Your job is to study each of these with an open mind. Lock yourself in a room as you read and then ask yourself honestly, “Could this be me? Could this be someone working for me?” Ask yourself if you could use a checkup from the neck up.

Remember, there is nothing shameful in needing help. There is nothing shameful or career-busting about suffering from contact hesitation. The only way contact hesitation in any form can harm your career is if you shroud it in denial, allowed it to grow and fester unchecked.

In Earning What You’re Worth?: The Psychology of Sales Call Reluctance by George W. Dudley and Shannon L. Goodson[SW1] , the authors identify twelve forms of call reluctance or contact hesitation. The following outlines some of what they found.

Type of Call Reluctance

Behavioral Markers

Doomsayer

Worries, will not take social risks

Over-preparation

Overanalyzes, under-acts

Hyper-pro

Obsessed with image

Stage fright

Fears group presentations

Role rejection

Ashamed of sales career

Yielder

Fear of intruding on others

Socially self-conscious

Intimidated by up-market prospects

Separationist

Fears loss of friends

Emotionally un-emancipated

Fears loss of family approval

Referral aversion

Fears disturbing existing business or client relationships

Telephobia

Fears using the telephone for self-promotional purposes

Oppositional reflex

Rebuffs attempts to be coached

Your job is to study each of these with an open mind. Lock yourself in a room as you read and then ask yourself honestly, “Could this be me? Could this be someone working for me?” Ask yourself if you could use a checkup from the neck up.

Remember, there is nothing shameful in needing help. There is nothing shameful or career-busting about suffering from contact hesitation. The only way contact hesitation in any form can harm your career is if you shroud it in denial, allowed it to grow and fester unchecked.

To Learn more about Lou Sepulveda C.P.P. and what he has to offer to help Security Professionals succeed go to Lou's web site -  www.lousepulveda.com

Lou Sepulveda Consulting & Training

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Book Titles by Lou

Selling Security Systems like a Pro

http://www.ebookit.com/books/0000000700/Selling-Security-Systems-Like-a-Pro.html

How to Manage a Security Sales Organization

http://www.ebookit.com/books/0000000677/How-To-Manage-A-Security-Sales-Organization.html

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