I was sitting here thinking today about one of the biggest fears that attacks new and seasoned network marketers alike…. heck, it might be one you struggle with as well.  What is this debilitating fear I am referring to that makes so many marketers break out in a cold sweat and their hearts race like they just finished drinking two full pots of espresso?  Well, it is simply one of the oldest fears in the sales industry; the fear of picking up the phone when it feels like it weighs 2000 pounds and actually calling people we do not know (very scary, right?).

Don’t worry if just the thought of calling leads makes you feel a bit queasy, because not too long ago I felt exactly the same way.  I would  sit down at my computer and pull up my list of leads to call… you know, the list of my friends of family, and the high-quality, super-duper, never been called before, triple verified survey lists of chomping-at-the-bit opportunity seekers. Then, I would look at the phone and start to pick it up to make my first call, but the phone looked as scary to me as Freddie Kruger in “Nightmare on Elm Street”.   Yep, that phone might as well have had 5 sharp knives sticking out of it… that simple device on my desk that I used every day to talk with my friends became the scariest device in the whole world.  All of a sudden, I had to rearrange my desk, I needed to look through the company compensation plan one more time, I had to jump on the company webinar 30 minutes early…  I could literally find hundreds of things to do other than make those calls.  This fear was crippling my business and at the end of the day I had to face the awful guilt I felt when I knew I had not done anything that was going to bring income into my business.  I was truly running a non-profit business from the un-comfort of my home.

If you can relate to my story, then breathe a sigh of relief for there is a solution for overcoming the fear of using the phone to talk with prospects… and it is not what you may think.  First, let’s address the number one reason most of us are afraid of calling our prospects on the phone… we are terrified of rejection.  I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand to have people be rude to me or even worse hang up on me.  So how do we get around this fear of rejection?  Well, I have one phrase for you; effective marketing of your blog.

I can hear you now, “what does he mean the number one way to overcome my fear of the phone is effective marketing of my blog?” Let me answer that question with a question.  What would your day be like if you sat down at your computer to call prospects and your inbox was full of leads who had contacted you with an interest in your product and services?  Would that scenario put a grin on your face so wide that it makes your face tingle?  Good, because you can experience this euphoria, if you simply master effective marketing of your blog!

You see, the internet has opened up so many amazing ways for us to get our message out to the masses.  As marketers we can: connect with thousands of prospects via social media like FaceBook and Twitter; write articles and distribute them to hundreds of article directories; create simple videos to capture our prospect’s attention and submit them to sites like YouTube; join tribes to syndicate our content; as well as many other methods to drive a stampede of hungry prospects back to our blogs.

Basically, our blog becomes our personal brochure where we are able to share our personal stories, interests, marketing knowledge, current business ventures, and any other valuable content we choose to share with our visitors.   We are truly able to showcase ourselves and in doing so are able to attract prospects who already know quite a bit about us.   Many of these visitors will contact us because they like our content, or have questions for us, or just want to get to know us better. Voila… now when you call your prospects back, it is like calling back a new friend instead of running into a brick wall.

So the easiest way to overcome fear of the phone is to develop a content rich blog, master a couple of marketing techniques to attract prospects to your blog, and then simply reach out to the individuals who have expressed an interest in getting to know you better.

I always love to hear your comments and feedback so please feel free to share your thoughts with me.

Take care until next time, when I will be starting a series on simple tips to build and promote a successful blog.

Scott