There are several reasons why sales reps avoid making calls. You might think most sales reps wouldn’t hesitate to talk with people they don’t know but that’s often not the case.
Many of them actually struggle with call reluctance, and, according to Sales Hacker, it’s usually due to one of three reasons: either they have a strong need for approval, they struggle with handling rejection, or they expect “perfection” before they’re comfortable enough to dial.
Three reasons sales reps avoid making calls
- Need for approval. Likeability isn’t a very effective barometer in selling. It’s better to be conversational and respectful with your leads than it is to seek their approval.
- Struggle with rejection. Rejection is pretty much par for the course. Getting told no happens a lot, and your reps need to grow a tough skin to brush these responses off and move on.
- Desire to be perfect. Perfectionism may be helpful in some areas of business, but not as an excuse to avoid getting on the phone. If your reps don’t feel comfortable making calls until they have complete information about their leads, they’re in for some heavy disappointment. No CRM is perfect, and purchased lead lists are often inaccurate.
How to help your sales reps better at making calls
Your sales reps can overcome behaviors that paralyze them from making calls. They can start by calling more of their warm prospects—those in their spheres of influence or who they’ve already connected with through LinkedIn—to get practice with off-the-cuff interactions and conversation-driven discussions.
Then, they can use prospecting automation to manage their cold lead generation. Its use of email helps address the three issues above: it avoids interrupting or bothering leads with unexpected phone calls, filters out many of the initial no responses that are bound to come through, and verifies the most accurate contact and firmographic information for reps who need that extra feedback.
The only thing prospecting automation can’t do is qualify leads as actual prospects for your normal sales funnel. Why? Because that’s only something your sales reps can do—once they make those calls.
