My limited experience in traditional ‘sales’ activities (I do note your broader definition of sales in an earlier post) involves door to door charity collections, Amway, and making cold calls for a finance company to ascertain sensitive financial information in order to generate sales leads.

The final item on the above list will be the subject of a discussion on my own blog fairly shortly as the practices of my employer certainly raised questions about call centre ethics and etiquette.

How did I overcome the fear? In short – I didn’t. And I never have.

By my personal nature, I can’t stand the thought of a confrontation, and will do virtually anything to avoid the possibility of having one.

Cheers

Andrew

The very first time I began sales was in retail, truly the best training for a life in business. I was scared also, when I had to use the phone, so I developed a technique, I pretended to be an actress on an audition and each time it got easier and I found my voice, so to speak. Now, nearly 20+ years later, I have been a stand-up comic for 10+ years and work in marketing and P.R. Incidentally now you cannot get me off the stage!

Yvonne B. – Los Angeles CA

Robert, labels are tricky aren’t they? I have found that there are labels we proudly bear and others that just terrify us. Sharing is a perfect way to describe that thing we call “selling.” You’re listening to the other person and focusing on their needs, preferences and desires and then sharing solutions. When done in this manner it’s the beginning of a wonderful relationship.

Karen Swims last blog post..SELL Is Not a Four-Letter Word – Part II