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~~Rachel

6 Quick Tips for Picking up that 500 Pound Phone

Even with email, Twitter, newsletters, Facebook, instant messaging, postcards, and other written methods of communication, at some point, as network marketers, we must learn to pick up the phone. Calling customers or prospects is the number one fear of most direct sales people and home party plan professionals.

At The Mind Aware, we know that success is easiest when we combine intention and action and so here are a few quick tips for making phone calls easy.

1) Make sure the kids are occupied. Because an important part of our at-home party plan businesses include phone time, it's essential we get agreement on this up-front from our families. Phone-time doesn't need to be every weeknight, but we should try to have a scheduled time slot each week. This helps to keep us on track and sets a great example for children that with small, focused effort (and the right attitude), we can achieve our goals.

Hire a sitter, pre-arrange with a spouse or partner, or set up a routine where the kids know that when business calls are being made, they get to do a special activity. This can be a special toy, a video game, a DVD, or a particularly messy project. If children know business phone call time means fun for them, they will be looking forward to it and may even encourage us to "go make calls".

2) Have a private place to make calls. Even if we have to sit on the bed, with the cell phone in hand, and customer order forms on our laps, it's important we have privacy when talking to our customers.

3) Get pumped up! Get happy! Before we start calling, we should do whatever it takes to get ourselves feeling good! Feeling good doesn't have to take a long time. In fact, it shouldn't take longer than five minutes. One of the easiest ways to do this is to play an energetic song. We should get on our feet and move our bodies. We want to get our energy flowing and we want to be feeling upbeat. If we prefer, we can say a positive mantra over and over. Something like, "All good things are coming to me now" and dance around! We know it usually feels silly at first, but it pays off. We should NOT pick up the phone until we feel good!

4) Think about the people we are calling. Develop a positive outlook and decide what's in it for them? Again, developing a positive outlook should only take a few minutes. We should look at the list in front of us and try to remember something we liked about these customers or prospects. It's important we use our minds to develop warm memories or positive thoughts about the past exchanges we've had with these people . . .as well as what we might imagine in the future.

Next, we should decide why we are calling them. What's in it for them? Develop an attitude of service. The reasons can be simple:

Checking in to see how they liked the products.
Letting them know there is a new catalog available.
Directing them to company specials.
Remembering they needed extra income and helping them to develop a strategy for joining your company.

If we are TRULY thinking, "how can I help this person today?", it will be obvious even over the phone.

5) Set a time limit. If we decide up front that we will only call for a short amount of time, it makes it easier to pick up the phone in the first place. If we tell ourselves that we're calling for thirty minutes, we can find thirty minutes in our day. If we say we are going to make calls for three hours, we never seem to find that time slot. Another alternative to a time-oriented slot is to say . . . "I'm going to keep calling until I have five conversations." Regardless of which system fits our personal preferences, it helps to have a beginning, and an end.

6) Time to pick up the phone. State your fear up front. Even after all of the mental preparation, we may still feel a little nervous about calling people or we may have preconceived notions about how people view us when we call. When we're feeling this way, it's always best to state exactly how we're feeling right away in the conversation. After we "state our fear", we can go right into the reason we are calling. First, we dial the phone and confirm who we are talking with and then here are some examples of how "stating our fear" might sound:

"I'm afraid of looking like a pushy salesperson, but I wanted to check in to see if you had any questions about your purchase."

"I'm always nervous about making these calls, but you had talked about joining our company and I wanted to let you know about a special we're offering."

"I feel like I'm interrupting your evening, but I just wanted to call to let you know that we have a new catalog out."

If we state our own fear up front, the prospect or customer on the other end has a feeling of empathy. They remember you are a human being with real feelings and as humans, this is where we make strong connections with one another.

Written forms of communication can be effective, but when it comes to developing relationships, a phone call is still our best option. Having an interaction, a back-and-forth conversation, where you are focused on how you can benefit your client, is the best way to develop loyalty and truly have customers for life.