How to Overcome Your Fear of Sales Calls with Nina Cooke: An EOFire Classic from 2020

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. Brought to you by the HubSpot. podcast network with great shows like duct tape marketing. Today we're pulling a timeless EO Fire episode from the archives so the giveaway may not be active and we'll be breaking down how to overcome your fear of sales calls. To drop these value bombs, I are brought to Nina Cook and the EO Fire studios. Nina helps entrepreneurs hit that sweet spot where they have fun getting big results. Nina hosts Entrepreneurs Inner Circle Game podcast and has been featured in Forbes and on BBC Radio.

0:32In today's foundation, we'll talk about having the right mindset, why it's essential because you are the master of your own thinking, how to know your value and believe that you're providing a solution to a problem and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Nina and our sponsors. If you're looking for highly vetted US-based fractional virtual contractors, then check out Belay. Belay is exclusively offering Fire Nation their latest ebook, Delegate to Elevate for free. Learn how to reclaim your time and save 15 hours per week by mastering the powerful tool of delegation, text fire that's f-i-r-e to 55123 to get started outbound squad hosted by jason bay is brought to you by the hubspot podcast network the audio destination for business professionals tune in for convos with leading sales experts and top performing reps to help you land more meetings with your ideal clients one of my faves the monthly app with jason ethan where they share hacks tips and tricks listen to outbound squad wherever you get your podcasts Nina, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something interesting about yourself that most people don't know.

1:44Well, when I was at school, I used to really love doing Scottish dancing. I'll have to YouTube that later because I have no idea what that looks like. Oh, it's a lot of fun. You'd have to try it. Well, Fire Nation, as I shared during the intro, we're going to be talking about how to overcome your fear of sales calls. and Nina Cook is going to be dropping some value bombs here. So what is holding us back, Nina, from having more powerful and authentic sales conversations? Well, the one thing that I've found held me back and has held back all my clients is their mindset. So it seems like it's all this scary stuff out there.

2:25It's getting on the phone and having to talk about your price and your great product and having to convince someone that they should be spending money with you. And there's a fear about the prospect saying, no, they're not interested or it's too expensive or they need to think about it. And so we think it's all coming from the outside and that's what's scaring us. But actually, it's our thinking. It's the thinking we're creating moment by moment about what we believe is going to happen on that sales call, which fills us with fear. And one of our biggest enemies that we make up through our thinking is anticipation.

3:05We're anticipating how it's going to go. And there's such a big gap between us having these worrying thoughts and how things actually are. And when we buy into this big, scary worry about how it's going to pan out, that's what makes us feel so scared. It's all coming from inside of us. Now, I do have a question for you, Nina. Do you have karaoke in Scotland? I'm not from Scotland. I live near London. I used to do Scottish dancing at school, but we do have karaoke here. You have karaoke in England as well? Oh, yes. Very good. Because for me, this is always what I like to equivocate things to is people across the board, they're scared to make those initial sales calls.

3:51Because like you said, they have this anticipation about how it's going to go. And you know, it's just they're filled with dread. So I always just tell people, Hey, just do one call, just do one call this week. That's, that's it. And what happens is they make that call because it's just one. It's not like, Oh, do a hundred calls today, which is very daunting. They do one. They're like, that was actually kind of easy. And like to bring it around to like the actual conversation that I have with people around karaoke with this is if you've ever been to a karaoke bar, you always see there's like that one person that gets like pushed on stage by their friends.

4:23They don't want to do what? They're terrified. They don't want to do karaoke. And then they sing that song. And like by the third bar, they are just like, you know, Adele. They're out there and they're just singing their heart away. And then you literally can't get them off the stage. And it's just sometimes breaking that ice, realizing that it's not nearly as scary as you were anticipating that it was. So for me, that kind of comes back to mindset. So why is having the right mindset absolutely crucial for successful sales calls? Because we can think our way into being okay about having sales calls and taking away the fear.

5:02Because everything, as you know, that we're seeing out in the world, we're making up through our thoughts. And everyone has a unique perspective on the world because there are 7 billion or more unique thinkers in the world. So because we are able to create our thinking, because we're the creators of our thinking rather than the some part of our thoughts we are able to change our thinking and it's it's amazing we have this incredible gift of free thought that we can use to create our reality and most of us overlook it we don't pay any attention because we're busy reacting furiously to what's going on outside of us and you know being scared and anxious and overwhelmed and yet we forget we have this amazing power superpower and when we can change our thinking about anything it changes our feelings and it can just bring up so much courage and resilience and you're right it is about taking action i help my clients to overcome their blocks so they can take action in their business because we don't take action in our business we're not going to get clients it's as simple as that but so many people are scared they're so scared of having a sales conversation because they fear rejection they worried about getting a no because when they get a no a lot of people are selling their services rather than products and when they get no they take it really personally and they feel that they're being personally rejected who they are is being rejected by the prospect and that can feel very very painful and we'll do anything we can to avoid that pain and that's why we're muddling up the the fear of the sales conversation we're making it all up in our head and we're thinking it's really true we're buying into this story but if we were to strip that story away and just say okay all i'm going to do now is have a conversation with this person and see if we're a good fit to work together and that's all that's going to happen and when we take away all of the meanings that we're attaching to it this means if i get a no it'll feel terrible they may think I'm not um they may think I'm too expensive I I don't believe in my value and they won't believe in my value either when we start creating all these stories around taking an action then we can easily talk ourselves out of it but if we see it just as a neutral action we're just going to have a conversation that's all that's going to happen the person might say yes they may say no it that's fine and then we're going to have another conversation after that there are plenty more conversations we're going to have.

7:35When we strip it away and just look at the neutrality of it, if you like, then it can, then it will stop making us feel scared because it's the meanings we're attaching to the action that's causing the fear, not the actual action itself. I love how you put this Nina. So I really want to repeat this. Use your gift of free thought to create your reality. I mean, think of that fire nation. You have a, you have a gift of free thought. Use it to create your reality. And I mean, it's so true, Nina, that people take no's so personally. I mean, they take it as this personal rejection. I mean, I used to be in financial sales.

8:14So I knew without a doubt that it took 20 no's to get one single yes. And that was on a good day. So how did I kind of change that game around? I didn't look at it like 19 rejections, I said, every single time I got a no, I was like, thank you. Like I, I, I, I'm appreciative of that because that's getting me one step closer to my yes. Cause I need 19 of these before I get to a yes. So you just gave me a no, you just helped me get one step closer. So it's all about how you frame it, how you shift that mindset fire nation and the people that take it personally, people that take it as a personal rejection, they're never going to have the right mindset for this.

8:52So how Nina, can we feel more confident on strategy calls and on these sales calls, like break down this process for us? I think one of the key things is to stop attaching your self-worth to the prospect saying yes or no to you. Because once we can start seeing that we are not being rejected by anyone, it's not possible. I don't believe it's possible for anyone to reject anyone in this world because I don't give permission for anyone to reject me. If they say no to working with me, if someone says no to a proposal I give or a collaborative idea, they say no because that is the right thing for them and they're entitled to their opinion.

9:34And it's not my business to go into their business and their thinking and start attaching meaning to it. Oh, that means I'm not good enough. They can't see the value in me. All of these meanings, I don't need to make any of that stuff up. So when someone is having a call with a prospect, the best thing they can do before the call is to really get into, is to think about how they're going to approach this call and what it actually means. And as I said before, all it means is you're going to have a conversation with someone. And that's all. There is no more attached to it than that. and when we can take away all the emotion from this then you know it's going to break you can have a conversation with someone and you're not you're going to have a unique conversation with someone because you're never going to have that same conversation in your life ever again so there's real value in speaking to that person and when we can think of it like that then it becomes so much lighter we take all the heaviness out of it and if that person says no that's okay because they're entitled to say no that comes from their unique thinking that's okay but it's not a rejection of it's not a rejection of me because as I said I don't give permission for anyone to reject me and we've made up so many concepts haven't we through our thinking we've made up this concept of rejection but when we think about it what does it mean you know is it true it's not real it's just something that we've just made up and bought into so if we could just get, okay, I don't buy into that.

11:05That's not going to happen to me. Then suddenly everything is so much easier. What a great way to look at this fire nation. This is a unique conversation that you are never going to have again. I mean, if you think of it this way, all of a sudden that this conversation is a gift. I mean, it's a treasure because it's, it's gone after it's done. I mean, it's never going to happen again. So look at it as an adventure, as this gift, as this unique conversation that you are literally never going to have again. When you had that mindset shift, things start to kind of change around a little bit. And Fire Nation, if you think we're even close to done dropping value bombs, you got another thing coming because we got so much more coming up after we get back from thanking our sponsors.

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13:34The easy-to-use CRM just got even easier. In a world buzzing with AI solutions, HubSpot just released some incredible tools that are going to level up your productivity and grow your business. Get early access to HubSpot AI today at hubspot.com slash artificial dash intelligence. So Nina, we're back. And one thing that I've recognized over the years is people struggle so much naming their price. Why is it so hard to just say the words, to say how much something costs, to say the price of something? Why do we struggle with this? We struggle with it because we don't believe in our value. And when we don't believe in our value, then we think, well, no one else is going to believe them my value and they're going to think I'm too expensive or I'm not worth it or I can't help them really I can't give them the solution they're looking for and when we have a level of self or a lack of self-belief in ourselves then it gets picked up by other people at a really deep subliminal level and it can just come in the tone of your voice it can be in your body language it can be just anything that's picked up and you probably have conversations with someone when you think that person doesn't have any confidence in what they're saying about themselves and you've already had conversations with people without rock solid confidence and it doesn't really matter how slick the sales script is if you don't feel confident within yourself then you will definitely not be able to you know get the results that you want so feeling knowing your value is the key thing And it's not just the value of your service you're selling, it's your inherent innate value.

15:14And it's knowing that you are absolutely good enough, you know enough, you're smart enough, and you've got what it takes. And when you build up that core within you, that strong core within you, so that whatever happens in the outside world, you're resilient, you can react in a measured way, you can pick yourself up and keep going. When you've got that rock solid confidence within yourself, then it makes having these conversations so much easier because no one can ever question your value. And can you imagine going into a sales conversation thinking, I know my value and I can communicate that value.

15:54And still, if someone says they don't want to work with me, that's fine. But my value is intact. It's inherent within me and no one can ever take that away from me. Know your value, Fire Nation. believe in the solution that you are providing to a real problem. Like if you really at the core believe that you are offering value, that you're providing a real solution to a real problem, then everything just becomes so much more simple. I mean, I do not know a salesperson that has long-term success selling a product that they don't believe in, selling a product that doesn't provide a real solution because it's just a struggle.

16:31But when you flip that and you're believing in the value, you're believing in yourself, you're believing in that solution you're delivering, it all makes sense. So Nina, what are a few things we need to stop focusing on? And what do we need to start focusing on in this realm to get the best results? We need to stop focusing on ourselves and our fears and start focusing on the prospect. Because when we can move our attention away from ourselves and worrying about what we're going to say after the prospect stops talking and that part of the conversation where we have to say our price and we're feeling really nervous about it, when we can stop focusing on that and start really listening to what the other person is saying.

17:14Because it's really interesting in a sales conversation to read between the lines and to pick up the things which aren't being said, but you get a feeling. And when you really listen closely and give that prospect your full attention, then you start drawing on things and you can take them to a much deeper place than you could if you were sitting there worrying about what you're going to be saying to them and how you're going to convince them to pay your price. So just forget about yourself and the conversation. Give 100 % focus. And also just focus on giving value. and it sounds like a really trite thing to say but it is all about giving value and you could ask yourself a question before you get on the call you could say to yourself how can I transform this person's life on this call how can I give them value and I don't mean coaching because we don't coach on sales calls but how can I provide value how can I help them to have insights and to learn something about themselves they never knew before and if you went to a conversation with that intention?

18:17How would you approach that call? Fire Nation, take the attention away from ourselves, focus on your customer. And I love how Nina just shared at the end there. What would it look like if you approached the conversation, like you could change their life, like you could affect their life, like you could ask them a question they've never been asked before, like you could make them think in a way they've never thought before. If you could open their eyes to something they've never seen before or heard before, think about that. That can, And again, kind of turn things into an adventure, into a game, into fun.

18:48And again, always focusing on the value you're providing to that customer, taking it off of yourself because it shouldn't be on yourself. It should be on your customer. So our fears, Nina, of rejection and being criticized by others, they absolutely affect results. So share with us specifically the how and the why of this. The how is that we scare ourselves with our thinking. We think things are scary. We think that we're a fraud. There's a lot of imposter syndrome. There's a fear about saying the price. There's a fear about being pushy, struggling to value what we do. And these are all limiting beliefs.

19:28These are all limiting beliefs which are operating deep within our subconscious and causing absolute mayhem. because our limiting beliefs, they're called limiting beliefs because they limit us and they make us play small. So it's logical if you have limiting beliefs, you need to find them. You drag them out from the depths of your subconscious, kicking and screaming, lay them out on the table and then find a way to remove them permanently from your subconscious. And when I say permanently, I mean they go down. I get all my clients to measure the limiting beliefs out of 10. the more they believe in them the higher the number and i get them to measure them again after we've gone through the process to remove them and when they get down to a two or below then that limiting belief is gone for good and then you create a space in your subconscious and then you can create a new empowering belief about what feels true about you so you can go from rejection is scary to there's no such thing as rejection i don't let anyone reject me so this is all this is all internal work and this is something that you create within yourself you create a more empowering way of thinking about yourself and the world and other people and that's why i say it's such a gift because it's like waving a magic wand and changing our perception of the world so nina we have talked about a lot of different things today we talked about mindset we've talked about focus, we've talked about value, we've talked about rejection and fear of criticism.

21:01What is the one thing that you really want to make sure our audience, Fire Nation, gets from today's conversation? What is the key takeaway you want to make sure we walk away with? The key takeaway is don't go looking through your memories to create your present moment and your future. Memories have gone, they've finished, they're real, they're true, but don't attach meanings to memories. So if you've had, I don't know, you know, a run of sales calls, which haven't worked, which you haven't got any sales from, don't start thinking, well, if it was like that before, that's how it's going to carry on being for me.

21:38I can't get people to say, yes, I'm not good at selling. People aren't going to accept my price. Don't fall into that trap of creating meanings about your memories. Memories are neutral. Yeah, you had a sales conversation and the prospect said, no, that's what happened is true. Don't start attaching meanings to them because those are the meanings that will create your present and your future. And you don't want a present and a future where you're constricted, where you're playing small, where you're scared of taking big action in your business. Nina, what is the best way that Fire Nation can find you, can follow you, can consume more of your content?

22:17What's your call to action for us? My call to action is a brand new free gift I've just created and I'm so excited about it. It's a millionaire mindset scorecard. So you can find out how your mindset stacks up against that of the world's most successful entrepreneurs. And it's to get instant clarity on which invisible forces are holding you back, which limiting beliefs you have, which thoughts you have, which are stopping from achieving your most important goals. And then there's a meaning behind your scores. So you'll find out what your score reveals about you and your mindset, and you can use it as a launching pad for huge success.

22:54And where can we find that? Nina Cook, which is N-I-N-A-C-O-O-K-E.co.uk forward slash scorecard. Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And you've been hanging out with NC and JLD today. So keep up the heat and head over to eofire.com. And if If you type Nina in the search bar, her show notes page will pop up with everything we chatted about today. Links, all that jazz. Nina, one more time, give us that URL for the Millionaire Mindset Scorecard. NinaCook.co.uk forward slash scorecard. Nina, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today.

23:37For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. It's been fun. Thank you. Hey, Fire Nation. Today's value bomb content was brought to you by Nina. And if you've had your big idea, then you are ready to ignite. But if you haven't, guess what? I have a free training for you to get you there. It will get you your big idea in less than 60 minutes. Visit yourbigidea.io today and I'll catch you there, Fire Nation, or I'll catch you on the flip side. If you're looking for highly vetted US-based fractional virtual contractors, then check out Belay. Belay is exclusively offering Fire Nation their latest ebook, Delegate to Elevate, for free.

24:19Learn how to reclaim your time and save 15 hours per week by mastering the powerful tool of delegation. Text FIRE, that's F-I-R-E, to 55123 to get started. Outbound Squad, hosted by Jason Bay, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Tune in for convos with leading sales experts and top performing reps to help you land more meetings with your ideal clients. One of my faves, the monthly app with Jason and Ethan, where they share hacks, tips, and tricks. Listen to Outbound Squad wherever you get your podcasts.