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REMASTERED: Painless Prospecting and Conquering Call Reluctance, with Dave Brown (Rejection, Opportunity, Sales, Consulting)
Episode 19517th May 2017 • The Action Catalyst • Southwestern Family of Podcasts
00:00:00 00:15:35

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Dave Brown, speaker, author, and Founding Partner of Southwestern Consulting, talks about beating "call reluctance", how one call a month can lead to huge rewards, how your parents may have made you a bad salesman, scarcity vs. abundance, what Michael Jordan can teach us about persistence, and why not to let thinking dictate action; ACT your way into healthy thinking.

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This episode is brought to you by Southwestern Coaching.

Southwestern Coaching

Transcripts

Host:

Mark Cuban once said that you do not have a business until there is first a sale. Every

Host:

business starts with sales. It revolves around sales. That is what we are talking about today.

Host:

Specifically though, we are talking about prospecting. And the guests that we have brought

Host:

in is Dave Brown, in my opinion, the master in the world at prospecting, and he is definitely the

Host:

leading trainer, coach, consultant speaker on helping salespeople and small business owners to

Host:

overcome call reluctance and so that's what we're gonna tackle. It's his first time on the show,

Host:

Dave, welcome to the show.

Dave Brown:

Yes, sir. I'm here. I'm here.

Host:

First of all, let's talk about call reluctance. Can you sort of like define what call

Host:

reluctance is what does it look like? And how does it show up

Dave Brown:

So let's take it from the standard sales piece because that's where most people would

Dave Brown:

say that exists the most and then we'll go at it you know, on the personal side, but simple with

Dave Brown:

salespeople. I mean, if you've been in sales for 15 minutes or 15 years, you know what it is it's

Dave Brown:

that fear it's that reluctance you have that that that pause that procrastination that comes up when

Dave Brown:

you don't know what's on the other side of the door when you don't know what's on the other side

Dave Brown:

of the phone when you don't know what's on the other side of the conversation. It literally

Dave Brown:

paralyzes you. It's the biggest saboteur. You know, procrastination being call reluctance is the

Dave Brown:

biggest limiting belief and concept that keeps salespeople away from hitting their goals,

Dave Brown:

achieving their dreams, getting what they want to get out of their life and having a fulfilled life

Dave Brown:

and in all areas and others. So let's talk about people now. Like let's actually talk about

Dave Brown:

something like personal life. I mean, I got a really cool story coming from one of my contacts

Dave Brown:

out here in Nashville, her call reluctance would be the conversations that she's going to have with

Dave Brown:

her kids, she doesn't want to I mean, just putting stuff off during the day that she knows she needs

Dave Brown:

to get done. But she doesn't have like an optimal schedule, so to say to put them in, and before

Dave Brown:

that long, everything just keeps piling up in her life. So it's like, Oh, my God, and then she just

Dave Brown:

throws her hands up in the air and really lends to this stress. And you know, never do anything right

Dave Brown:

then that self doubt crap creeps in that we all deal with. So it's everywhere. It's in every

Dave Brown:

conversation whenever you don't have a conversation with somebody you're arguing with. I

Dave Brown:

mean, come on, how much is conflict come up in every one of our lives in relationship business personal.

Host:

So what are some of the things that we can do in terms of overcoming this call reluctance?

Dave Brown:

Focus on the rejection piece of it, I guess, one thing that I loved was whenever I did

Dave Brown:

get rejected in sales, and this has actually become something I've put into my life, focus on

Dave Brown:

the nose as being a positive thing. And like actually saying positive things about when you do

Dave Brown:

get rejected, because that's what we're afraid of. Right. That's why we don't have the conversation.

Dave Brown:

That's why we don't want to, you know, make that move in our business talk. We don't want to make

Dave Brown:

that call, you know, for entrepreneurs or business owners, it's like, gosh, should I go down this

Dave Brown:

road and put all my chips in here, it's, it's just fear, it's coming back to that. But if you can

Dave Brown:

learn how to on the other side of it, you know, there, there needs to be someone else there.

Dave Brown:

That's one of the reasons why we're hesitating and actually doing it. If you could just make it a

Dave Brown:

good thing and just learn how to say positive things about rejection. Thank you so much for

Dave Brown:

putting me in that place to house that negativity, they're not going to take that out on their family

Dave Brown:

or their friends, they can give it to me, because I'm strong enough to handle it. But you know, the

Dave Brown:

people around them may not be so thank you so much for putting me in the way being able to intersect

Dave Brown:

that. So yeah, there's just stuff like that. And it's it goes to this day, too. I get rejected all

Dave Brown:

the time, you know, just the car dealership today. And that was the car dealership that I was at was

Dave Brown:

actually a referral from somebody that told me no.

Host:

So you're approaching somebody, they shut you down. So you're asking for referrals from

Host:

people who tell you no.

Dave Brown:

Absolutely, gosh, I gotta get something out of there. Right? No, yes, it was

Dave Brown:

referrals. Ask anybody that is everybody whether you get rejected or not for someone else to talk to.

Host:

So let's talk about referrals for a second, is cold calling dead? Or what do you like? What do

Host:

you think about that?

Dave Brown:

I mean, how else are you going to practice getting good at peddling rejection?

Dave Brown:

Right? Is it dead? No, I don't think it is. And I don't think you should just leave, you know,

Dave Brown:

promote your life to just be cold calling either. It's got to be both. And naturally, it's referrals

Dave Brown:

are a whole lot more easy to work and more enjoyable, so to say. But there are massive,

Dave Brown:

massive opportunities that are out there for us if we just reach out. And yeah, is it cold? Yeah, but

Dave Brown:

I guarantee you've served other people the same way that you want to serve this company that

Dave Brown:

you're calling on. So it's not really that cold if you just tell them how you worked with this

Dave Brown:

person, or this business or how you handle this situation, and you pull that from your great

Dave Brown:

experience and put that on the table as you're calling somebody coldly quote unquote, that you

Dave Brown:

don't have any momentum with their name to use with or someone didn't refer you over to, you're

Dave Brown:

gonna be fine but you got sprinkle a little bit of that those of you that are in the sales piece,

Dave Brown:

sprinkle a little bit of it into your lives, because it's not always going to fall in your lap

Dave Brown:

that the big opportunities, the the massive accounts, if you just put a call into them once a

Dave Brown:

month, if you just hit a once a month and say you did it for five years, then you will have called

Dave Brown:

on that company 60 times in five years, I promise you that is showing that person that you're

Dave Brown:

calling on or that business you're calling on that you actually care about them. And if you're gonna

Dave Brown:

call 60 times, my gosh, what kind of work are they going to do for us if they're gonna fight this

Dave Brown:

hard for us. So it becomes warmer, the more that you do it, and the more comfortable you get. And

Dave Brown:

it also conquers that giant right up front. So sprinkle a little bit of it in naturally all want

Dave Brown:

to work referrals, but you got to do a little bit of it.

Host:

You're demonstrating how hard you are willing to work for that business. Even if they

Host:

never talked to you, you're communicating that you're a hard worker, and that you don't have fear

Host:

and that you're willing to do whatever it takes.

Dave Brown:

I appreciate you making me live out the important principles of persistence in our

Dave Brown:

trade. It feels, I'm literally saying this I go, it feels good to get told no over and over again.

Dave Brown:

Sometimes I'm not hearing it enough lately. You're awesome. And thank you for the rejection. Keep

Dave Brown:

trying. Don't stop.

Host:

Now let's let's back up here a little bit and talk about actually getting yourself to make

Host:

that call. Aren't you scared? Aren't you worried about what they're going to say?

Dave Brown:

All you're doing is you're just asking all that I'm doing is just asking for their time.

Dave Brown:

I'm just asking if I can come out and see them. I'm just asking for 15 minutes. Like, I love that

Dave Brown:

that little piece of my mind got fried a long time ago, when I was young about don't ask we get so

Dave Brown:

ingrained? Don't Don't ask or, or stop asking, you know, and it's like, I mean, think about your

Dave Brown:

parents, they will do put this into us we'd ask for that candy bar at the grocery store 30 times,

Dave Brown:

right? Can I please have a candy bar this time, please have a candy bar this time. And if you ask

Dave Brown:

one more time, you're going to get in trouble. And it's like, yeah, sure. I don't know what my kids

Dave Brown:

asking me for that candy bar over and over again in the store. But why not? At least cultivate that

Dave Brown:

that type of asking like, thank you so much for asking. It's not going to happen this time. But

Dave Brown:

don't ever forget to keep asking because it's like, I've done some research on this. And it

Dave Brown:

blows me away why people say they don't want to ask for the stuff that they want in their life.

Dave Brown:

And if you're in sales, or if you're, you know, running a family or running a business, you have

Dave Brown:

to ask for what you want, or you're not going to get what you want in anything. And that's all

Dave Brown:

sales is just asking. So I'm just asking over and over again, if you don't do that. And the reason

Dave Brown:

why people don't do that is they don't they don't feel like they deserve what they want in their

Dave Brown:

life. And it's ridiculous. Because they do they do and I know that's a tough word. And some people

Dave Brown:

have a problem with oh, I don't deserve anything. But it's like, ask, ask for what you want. were

Dave Brown:

incredible. were amazing beings that live in the best culture that has had the most opportunity

Dave Brown:

ever in history. But you're gonna limit yourself by not asking for what you can see and what you

Dave Brown:

want. And that's the only way this world was ever changed. So just yeah, a lot there. Man. A lot of

Dave Brown:

big stuff there.

Host:

Now, you mentioned kids, I think kids our kids are the bit I mean, they're the best

Host:

salespeople of all time pleasantly persistent. I mean, kids are like, I mean, they're the masters.

Host:

I mean, they're the masters at that they they smile and keep coming back and keep asking now

Host:

what if somebody tells you no. Are you saying like, if they tell you no, you just keep asking

Host:

that same person or you saying just ask everybody until they finally tell you yes or no and then

Host:

move on.

Dave Brown:

Yeah, but then ask later. You know, always leave it open. Like ask ask everybody

Dave Brown:

everything until if they tell you no, that's okay. You're gonna get referred back into them.

Dave Brown:

Something's gonna come up where your lives intersect again, or something's gonna go on and

Dave Brown:

then you can just ask again later, you're gonna come with some baggage of them telling you no

Dave Brown:

before, you know, sure. But I just say ask later, man, whenever somebody tells me No, I'm not

Dave Brown:

hearing a No, what I actually hear is them telling me how can you be more creative? Dave? How can you

Dave Brown:

be more creative? It's not no, it's how you can be more creative and sure some of you might be

Dave Brown:

listened to going oh, God, I would hate it if you were calling on me or you know, trying to get a

Dave Brown:

hold of me but really, like my heart's in the right place. And we do a great thing and so many

Dave Brown:

of you on this phone that that's listening to this that is listening to this podcast, you do a great

Dave Brown:

thing but you don't give enough people an opportunity to participate in it's like you you

Dave Brown:

miss all of the shots you don't take Why was Michael Jordan a phenomenal basketball player and

Dave Brown:

do this and in finished the game and have all these game winning shots? It's not because it just

Dave Brown:

naturally came to him. He messed up a lot and he screwed up a lot. And he asked a lot of people he

Dave Brown:

asked a lot of that basket he asked a lot of his body by taking all those shots so you just got to

Dave Brown:

keep asking just keep after it. It's not a No it's just how can you be more creative?

Host:

Are there any other strategies you have for dealing with no other than maybe be more creative?

Dave Brown:

I set goals on how many noes I can get in a certain amount of time. It's not a goal of

Dave Brown:

yeses. It's how many noes can I get and some of you probably heard this concept before of having

Dave Brown:

like a no goal or something but how many you actually done it. It makes it fun. It makes it

Dave Brown:

more interesting. So set a goal for yourself to get knows, and then you get to be excited about it

Dave Brown:

because you're achieving your goal whenever they come and then prepare man, it's so much easier to

Dave Brown:

get knows when you have an abundance of people to call on. And the only way to have a lot of people

Dave Brown:

to call on and a lot of conversation to have is actually prepare for it, if you're gonna make

Dave Brown:

calls, if you're gonna go knock on some doors for, you know, four hours, three hours, you're probably

Dave Brown:

going to need about 50 people on that list. And if you just keep going down the list, and you're not

Dave Brown:

letting you just all you're doing is just calling that list, that's all you're doing. You're just

Dave Brown:

calling people and asking to meet with them, you're just calling people and ask, asking them to

Dave Brown:

listen to you, when you have two or three people on that list. It's like, I'm sitting under the

Dave Brown:

basket to use the analogy of Michael Jordan, I'm sitting under the basket and just throwing the

Dave Brown:

ball up at the rim, you know, very close to the rim. But if you've only got three names that

Dave Brown:

you're trying to call on, you're trying to just everything in your business that that's all man,

Dave Brown:

they're gonna be amazing, then, of course, you've got a scarcity mentality. Of course, it's like

Dave Brown:

you're standing all the way at the other end of the court trying to throw the ball at the rim. Of

Dave Brown:

course, you're not going to be successful, you could you could get kind of lucky and catch that

Dave Brown:

set person for that day, but have an abundance mentality, there's so much out there, I promise

Dave Brown:

you, none of you that are listening have tapped into not I bet you not even 5% of your potential

Dave Brown:

market for what you're doing in this in this great country in the world. My gosh, you let scarcity

Dave Brown:

in. It's all wrong. So abundance versus scarcity, for sure. And then maybe setting, making some fun

Dave Brown:

playing a game, having having a goal to get a certain amount of nose in a certain amount of

Dave Brown:

time, I would say there's be some mental parts.

Host:

So if somebody is listening right now, and they know they need to be asking more, but they're

Host:

feeling fear, what is kind of the first thing that you would tell them to do? Or what action would

Host:

you say do this, do this immediately to sort of help them get over that hurdle.

Dave Brown:

And that could be it's so much could be fear there, there could be self doubt there

Dave Brown:

could be discussed with their current situation, there could be so much that it's holding them

Dave Brown:

back. So this is not a light thing, what I would say is, let your legs or your hands or something

Dave Brown:

else do the thinking. If you sit on the couch, or if you sit at your desk and you're thinking about

Dave Brown:

going and working out, you're probably not going to do it, you're probably going to end up you

Dave Brown:

know, doing dinner and then just watching the game or something afterwards. But if you actually

Dave Brown:

physically go walk and get in the car, and you drive to the front of the gym, your chances go, I

Dave Brown:

don't know, I've never driven to the gym and and driven home and not actually got out of my car and

Dave Brown:

gone to the gym. So realize that your mind all it's doing is trying to keep you safe and keep you

Dave Brown:

not stretching yourself and not doing anything out of the ordinary and just keeping you average.

Dave Brown:

That's why the word average exists is because our mind wants to keep us there and it's constant

Dave Brown:

locking us down. So let your legs do the thinking. Those of you that are in sales, pick up the phone,

Dave Brown:

dial the phone, and then just let things happen. Sure, you might end up paying it up before they

Dave Brown:

pick up. But then I would say just dial it again, don't let the you're thinking dictate what you're

Dave Brown:

doing. You need to act your way into healthy thinking. That's what I would say those

Dave Brown:

conversations that you are avoiding first of all, they're they're not ruining your life, but they

Dave Brown:

really are having having to bury on they I mean it could be holding untapped potential in you say you

Dave Brown:

don't even know exists. So I would say go to that person, like go to your kid or your brother or

Dave Brown:

your sister or friend that you haven't talked to in a long time or your parents that you've got

Dave Brown:

stuff you're holding on to like, go go call them actually leave a message on their voicemail. Don't

Dave Brown:

let your mind dictate what the outcomes going to be. We don't know what the outcome is. I mean,

Dave Brown:

come on. That's what makes great movies, right? That was makes great conversations. You have no

Dave Brown:

idea what's coming, all you're going to predict is negative things. Our mind is only going to predict

Dave Brown:

negative things. If you're like me, which maybe you are maybe you're not, but that's all my mind

Dave Brown:

does. So I've got to convince him otherwise with my actions. So I constantly am acting my way into

Dave Brown:

healthier thinking, let my legs my hands do the thinking, letting you know just the world play out

Dave Brown:

by actually doing it that that's that's what I would say, man.

Host:

You're the epitome of a practitioner of somebody who's actually doing this. Thanks for

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