SALES CALL RELUCTANCE
We start by setting clear goals and defining our objectives.
SALES CALL RELUCTANCE
Is this person driving profit or draining your resources?
How soon can they start delivering results?
What will be the time, effort and financial investment required to achieve that?
Want answers?
WHAT IS SALES CALL RELUCTANCE?
Sales Call Reluctance® is a science-based concept first introduced by George W. Dudley and Shannon L. Goodson in their 1986 book The Psychology of Call Reluctance: How to Overcome the Fear of Self-Promotion. Their research revealed a strong link between sales success and the number of contacts a salesperson makes. Sales Call Reluctance® is therefore effectively a psychological barrier that sales professionals face when reaching out to potential clients which can be very costly to the organization. It is vital therefore to take proactive steps to tackle call reluctance and to benefit from cutting-edge diagnostics to identify the problem before it emerges. Dudley and Goodson identified sixteen types of emotional barriers to prospecting. These challenges go beyond just making calls, reflecting a broader discomfort with self-promotion. Studies show that this reluctance can seriously impact sales performance, with hesitation to prospect being a key contributor to lower sales results.
OUR PARTNER
Behavioral Sciences Research Press, Inc. (BSRP) has developed a variety of behaviourally anchored assessments and training interventions to help today’s sales professionals “Earn What They’re Worth”.
The SPQ® Gold/FSA psychometric tool is used to identify and address Sales Call Reluctance®. Training programmes using this method emphasise a tailored approach focussed on achieving long-term behavioural change rather than just short-term results. Unlike traditional training, which often centres on sales techniques without addressing emotional barriers, the SCR® method combines daily practice, individualised support and progress tracking to foster sustainable improvement in sales performance.
OUR PARTNER
Behavioral Sciences Research Press, Inc. (BSRP) has developed a variety of behaviourally anchored assessments and training interventions to help today’s sales professionals “Earn What They’re Worth”.
The SPQ® Gold/FSA psychometric tool is used to identify and address Sales Call Reluctance®. Training programmes using this method emphasise a tailored approach focussed on achieving long-term behavioural change rather than just short-term results. Unlike traditional training, which often centres on sales techniques without addressing emotional barriers, the SCR® method combines daily practice, individualised support and progress tracking to foster sustainable improvement in sales performance.
Overcoming Sales Call Reluctance
To address sales reluctance, we begin by examining detailed diagnostics, often through advanced computer-scored call reluctance assessments. We then look at practical tools and behavioural change programmes to help you answer critical questions such as:
- How much value can this person bring to your company?
- How quickly can they reach peak productivity?
- What is the cost of transforming potential into performance, considering the time, effort, and financial investment involved?
- What steps can you take?
OUR 5-STEP APPROACH
COMMON TYPES OF SALES CALL RELUCTANCE
THE SIXTEEN COMMON TYPES OF SALES CALL RELUCTANCE
The fear of reaching out to potential buyers daily is a major roadblock for even the most skilled salespeople. It generates anxiety that hampers their progress and hits both their emotions and your bottom line. When these fears interfere with the sales process, it can lead to inconsistent policies and declining effectiveness.
Let’s take a closer look at the 16 unique fears that keep salespeople from making those crucial prospecting calls:
Doomsayer
Doomsayers are the eternal pessimists, always imagining the worst-case scenarios. They shy away from risk and avoid potential buyers, leading to a stalled sales pipeline.
Over-Preparation
Over-preparers spend more time planning than doing. They get lost in the details, overanalyze everything, and rarely get around to actually prospect and engage with clients.
Hyper-Pro
Hyper-Pros are all about appearances. They obsess over looking polished and professional to mask their self-doubt. They’re sometimes too busy name-dropping and using jargon to actually focus on selling.
Stage-Fright
Stage-Fright sufferers are petrified of presenting to groups. They might be fine with one-on-one interaction and unaffected by other forms of reluctance, but put them in front of a crowd, and they freeze.
Role Rejection
Role Rejection is all about feeling uncomfortable or guilty about being in a role, particularly a sales role. These individuals struggle with societal stereotypes about salespeople and feel like failures, despite knowing the potential of their profession.
Yielder
Yielders hate pushing for a sale. They’d rather back off than risk being seen as pushy, and this hesitation and the fear of coming across as selfish and intrusive keeps them from pursuing new business opportunities.
Social Self Consciousness
These folks have a self-imposed emotional block that prevents them from interacting with certain customer groups. This fear is often triggered by perceived differences in education or social status, but doesn’t affect other types of prospecting.
Separationist
Separationists avoid asking friends or peers for sales leads out of fear of rejection or conflict, missing out on valuable network expansion opportunities.
Famshield
You may experience emotional resistance when combining business with family. Salespeople hesitate to ask family members for recommendations or leads. They fear emotional conflict or rejection, which can be a big hurdle and can create missed opportunities.
Referral Aversion
Referral Aversion is the emotional discomfort felt when asking existing clients for referrals. Interestingly, this fear doesn’t affect their ability to initiate contact or close sales otherwise.
Telephobia
Telephobia is the fear of using the phone to advance sales. These individuals might be fine with face-to-face interactions, but put them on the phone, and their effectiveness plummets.
Oppositional Reflex
Oppositional Reflex involves an inability to share control or accept support. These salespeople need constant approval and typically have low self-esteem, leading to a compulsive need to argue, make excuses, and blame others. They resist coaching, advice, and management.
Online Prospecting Discomfort
These salespeople break out in a cold sweat at the mere thought of exploring the digital realm of social media and tech tools for prospecting, even though mastering these modern sales tactics is crucial to conquering the market.
Complex Selling
Complex Selling reluctance comes from discomfort with intricate sales environments. Navigating complex processes, multiple stakeholders, and sophisticated products or services can be overwhelming for these individuals.
Sales Extensions
This type involves challenges in engaging with opportunities that require cross-selling, up-selling, and on-selling.
Arranging Payments
Behavioural patterns related to the hesitation in finalizing deals and managing payment arrangements which is a critical step in the sales process.
Feeling a déjà vu? Do these behaviours sound familiar? Is your sales team leaving money on the table because of them? Don’t fret!
Reach out to us to boost your sales success and turn those losses into wins faster than you can say ‘Sales Superstar’!
CALL RELUCTANCE IMPOSTORS: ARE YOU MISTAKING LOW ACTIVITY FOR CALL RELUCTANCE?
Call reluctance impostors are often confused with true call reluctance, but they differ in a critical way – they lack one or more of the following key factors: 1) motivation 2) goals and 3) the presence of goal-obstructive feelings. This absence results in low prospecting activity that mimics call reluctance but doesn’t respond to typical interventions used to address it.
LOW MOTIVATION
When sales professionals avoid prospecting due to low motivation, their reduced activity may resemble call reluctance, but the similarity ends there. True call reluctance occurs when motivation is present, but sales success remains difficult. When motivation is missing, this is considered as an impostor. This may show up as avoidance of prospecting, resistance to learning about new products or unwillingness to take responsibility for their career growth.
GOAL DIFFUSION
This behaviour is common among sales professionals who believe they cannot tolerate boredom and actively seek to avoid it. Such individuals may become easily distracted, confusing their customers and neglecting essential sales activities like prospecting. Constant changes in management, policies or systems create an environment where these individuals struggle to focus, leading to even further disengagement.
LOW GOALS
Those with Low Goal Impostor tendencies often lack clear, well-defined goals, making it difficult for them to find purpose or motivation to work hard. Many of these individuals have not developed the skills to set, articulate or pursue meaningful goals and typically avoid commitment unless there’s an immediate payoff.
Learn more about the different types of Sales Call Reluctance here.
Do you recognize any of these challenges in your sales team?
Your business could greatly benefit from addressing them.
LET’S TALK
Don’t let your Sales Call Reluctance® hold back your sales success!
Reach out to us today to discover methods and tools that will empower you and your team to hit new sales milestones.
TAKE THE FIRST STEP TODAY!
Ask how we can help you overcome Sales Call Reluctance® to start achieving the results you deserve!
CONTACT US
LET’S TALK
Don’t let your Sales Call Reluctance® hold back your sales success!
Reach out to us today to discover methods and tools that will empower you and your team to hit new sales milestones.
TAKE THE FIRST STEP TODAY!
Ask how we can help you overcome Sales Call Reluctance® to start achieving the results you deserve!