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Slaying Your Prospecting Demons: Are You Earning What You Are Worth?Minesh BaxiProspecting, Sales Calls The majority of mortgage professionals do not prospect enough. In fact, nearly 80 percent of salespeople fail in their first year due to prospecting inactivity. If you are a manager, this represents a substantial cost to your business, and represents a high turnover of salespeople who are under-performing in your shop. Can you afford to let prospecting fears stop your company's growth? What is Sales-Call Reluctance? Sales-call reluctance is an emotional short-circuit that keeps otherwise motivated salespeople with clear performance objectives from comfortably prospecting new business. Most of us have some prospecting fears, and there are those who can be classified as natural self-promoters. These individuals are the ones you see at parties, commanding the spotlight-newspapers, tabloids, magazines and other forms of media frequently focus on this personality type. Are Prospecting Fears Real? A famous motivational speaker once said, "Fears are nothing but false evidence which appears real." Surely you have heard the similar statement, "Face the fear and the fear will diminish." However, this rhetoric does very little to cure the prospecting problem. For the person confronting their anxiety, let me assure you that your fears are most definitely real! In addition, while many motivational speakers talk about "fear of rejection" and "fear of failure," they do very little to assist their enthralled audience with actually overcoming them. How Severe is Your Problem? Provided by Behavior Science Research Press Inc. at www.bsrpinc.com, a short, free assessment will quickly tell you how severe your problem is. BSRP also offers a more detailed version, which is used by a number of companies to screen sales candidates and assist staff members in overcoming their prospecting fears. What Are the 12 Known Prospecting Fears? 1. Doomsayer-Pessimistic worrier; 2. Over-Preparation-Spends too much time getting ready; 3. Hyper-Pro-Appears more successful than he or she really is; 4. Stage Fright-Does not present in front of groups; 5. Role Rejection-Has conflicting feelings about being a salesperson; 6. Yielder-Is afraid of being 'pushy'; 7. Social Self-Consciousness-Does not prospect 'highly successful' people; 8. Separationist-Does not prospect friends; 9. Emotionally Unemancipated-Does not prospect family members; 10. Referral Aversion-Does not ask for referrals; 11. Telephobia-Fears using telephones as a prospecting instrument; and 12. Oppositional Reflex-Is not teachable. Now What? Now that you have completed the assessment and discovered your sales-call reluctance, what do you do about it? There is no single solution, and depending on the type and severity of your fear, you may apply one or a combination of these techniques. Much of the research for this article was done by George Dudley and Shannon Goodson, co-authors of the landmark book, The Psychology of Sales Call Reluctance-Earning What You Are Worth in Sales. Minesh Baxi is a speaker, trainer and coach. He may be reached by phone at (877) 968-2500 or e-mail [email protected]