For some, cold calling is pure torture. They’ll take water boarding over cold calling. They sweat, their throats close up and headaches grow. That is the physical reaction to fear.

I was never taught that fear. I witnessed the smiling face of my mother making call after call from the kitchen table. So easy. And the best part was after so many calls she rewarded herself with a treat. I wanted a treat, so I had to make calls. Sucked in at a young age.

Please be aware that some companies do not give any attention to people who call in. They want you to walk in the front door. It’s the actions speak louder than words thing. Companies are in business to make money and now that summer is here, their phones are ringing with unemployed students and regular people looking for work.

Here is your script for over the phone:

“Hi, my name is Anthony (not Tony, or Buzz-Buzz) and I’m calling from Imperial Widgets. My sales manager just announced a sneak sale with 15% off all red widgets. I know that your company, Valley Sprockets use those so I called to see if you want to lock in a case at that low price.” Or something like that. Make that call seem like you are letting that customer first in line in on a big semi-secret thing.

“Do you want to buy any widgets?”  Automatic answer is no and you hear the phone click dead.

“I want to find out how I can sell widgets to your company.”  You don’t, my nephew is doing it. Click.

You are going to turn your dialing into a game. When I do cold calling, I play a silent game with myself. I go for no. I get out a wide sticky and tape it onto the desk top. With each call where the client hangs up on me, politely says no, or one of his minions says no, I record a hash mark.

I believe that prospects say no right now because I have miraculously caught them at the one moment in business where they don’t need me. But people change and things change in business. If all the other widget builders fell off the face of the earth and only I was left, I’d have a corner on the market. Therefore, I’m looking for nos.

Mondays, my no quota is 20. Tuesday is 25, Wednesday is 30, Thursday I shoot for 35, and Friday I’m back to 20. It is harder to get an answer on Fridays so I cut myself some slack. On a productive day I can make 75 dials, get 30 people on the phone, make 25 phone pitches, get 20 no’s and end up with 10 closes.

If you hear a “no” come out of your phone during the business day, it is not the end of the world. You are going to have 4 more attempts at this prospect to get him to say yes. You have to look forward to that event.

Remember, this person on the other end of the phone line does not know you like rocky road ice cream, or that you slather ketchup on your scrambled eggs. They don’t know you oldest just came out of the end of school with straight A’s. They don’t know you. People who don’t know you personally can never reject you and they cannot damage you in any way shape or form.

As a recruiter, I look for phone people who have a high tolerance for the emotional pain of rejection. They know how to separate themselves from the personal distress of being turned away. They have small, silent systems where they put another goal out there and shoot for it as a positive reinforcement. Door to door is very similar.

You could be standing there smiling when that door opens and offer someone immaculate health and $5,000 per month for the rest of their lives.  Because you knocked on the door, they automatically reject you. You could knock on that door and a snarling herd of Pekinese could chase you all the way back out to the front gate. The happy homeowner doesn’t want to hear what you have to say because you knocked on the door. You can count that one as a “no.”

How about this:  If that person answering the door really got excited about rejecting you, they might move heaven and earth to find out where you live, where you went to school and what size shoes you wear. Then they would make fun of your accent, color of your hair, mannerisms and most likely, make some off-color remark about the company you work for. Just chalk up a “no” and move on.

Now here is the gutsy move I make when I’ve got a crowd around me watching me push buttons.  I take out a $50 bill and tape it down to my desk. As I’m making my calls, I tell those watching that the first sales rep that gets 100 No’s in one day, gets that bill. People scatter and run for their phones and you no longer have a crowd breathing down your neck. Works every time.

Door to door is a process of a trying person. Yes, I keep a running spreadsheet about the metrics and review it from time to time.  That’s how I know that Wednesday has been my weakest day for years. But I try. I put in the effort. I overcome the fear and I hunt for nos.

Steve Kamb said, “I actively seek out small failures to learn from so that I can succeed at big missions.”

I offer the following:

Step 1. Establish your customer profile, getting confirmation with your sales manager. Before making your calls, research your prospects. Create a profile from current customers. You’ll need the industry, region, # of employees. Use your down time to do this and/or ask other reps for their scripts.

Step 2. Now start setting up your telephone script. Concentrate on what you’re going to say. Write a brief script or roleplay and bounce it off your manager. This short paragraph introduces who you are, what you do, and what you provide. Asks for the appointment so you can show them in person. All you want to do at this point is get your foot in the door and a chance to sell.

Step 3. Prospective customers have 3 objections:  it costs too much, I don’t have time. I don’t need it. Anticipate these and create a list of overcome those objections. Go back to asking for the appointment. Practice overcoming objections. Your response should be easy like breathing without being pushy.

Step 4. Get positive and get calling. Don’t ever get on the phone if you don’t have a positive attitude. Have another rep try to sell the product to you so you can hear what it sounds like before you get on the phone. Your product has value and will benefit the customer. That has to come across in your short paragraph. You are providing a value to this customer.

Step 5. Plan on leaving 75% messages.  These people are in business and are busy hustling their own customers. Now you have to write the message that you will leave on the voicemail. Be sure to tell them you will be calling back on a day and time, if you don’t hear from them. If the customer is still not available next time you call, ask the gatekeeper for the best time to catch him.

Step 6. Once you get the customer on the phone, don’t read verbatim from the script. Speak in your own words, with a smile. Be ready: here come the objections. Respond just like you have practiced. If you feel that the customer is not open to buying, tell them to consider you for future needs, thank them and get off the phone. Put that customer in a contact manager system to touch them in 60 days.

Step 7. Do this every day. Consider that you might make a thousand calls in a month, achieve 100 live customers who agree to appointments and 10 sales. Your goal is to make half cold calls to get half sales calls.