Why Do Salespeople Avoid Prospecting?

If there’s nothing else to do, salespeople should default to prospecting. That’s a pretty decent rule of thumb, one we’ve all heard more than once. After all, effective prospecting is the key to keeping the pipeline full and sales results consistent.

But do salespeople use their downtime this way?

Not usually. In fact, making “cold calls” is often the most-avoided critical task in sales. We procrastinate, we delay, we get busy, and we ignore its necessity. The result is a roller coaster pipeline, up and down, and unpredictable sales forecasts.

But why?

Paul Fuller, our CRO, had an interesting conversation with Frank Kniekamp recently, and he said something interesting about it. I just loved his phrasing of this. What he said was:

What is “The Unexpected Conversation” and Why Are We Afraid of It?

Every time a salesperson picks up the phone to make a cold call, they are initiating an “unexpected conversation.” An unexpected conversation is exactly what it sounds like: A conversation that you weren’t expecting to have.

I think the reason we’re afraid of these conversations is that often, the “unexpected conversation” delivers bad news. The call in the middle of the night because someone has died or been in an accident. The call to your boss’s office that means you’re being fired. The conversation with a cop when you get pulled over that means you’re getting a ticket or worse.

And then, to make matters worse, our brains are wired to remember the negatives rather than the positives, and to send alert signals to prevent it happening again. We avoid things that our brains have tagged as “bad news” or “dangerous.” And while we, the salespeople, may be “expecting” the call we’re about to make, the recipient isn’t, and we don’t want to be the “bearers of bad news” to them, either.

This is also layered on top of fears many salespeople have about being perceived in a negative light. We don’t want to interrupt people, and we don’t want to be seen as rude, obnoxious, manipulative, or sleazy.

Nobody wants to be “that person.”

Yet cold calling can make us feel very much like we are.

How Do We Overcome the Fear of the Unexpected Conversation?

When we look at cold calling (and our reluctance to do it) through the lens of “fear of the unexpected conversation” then we can begin to look for ways to overcome it. The first thing I think we need is a mindset shift.

Instead of remembering all the times an “unexpected conversation” has delivered bad news, let’s think of all the times it may deliver good news. The call from a sibling to tell you they’re getting married. The Friday afternoon call from a prospect to accept your offer. The time your crush cornered you to ask you out.

When we pick up the phone to prospect, instead of thinking of it as an interruption, we can think of it as an opportunity to see if we can help someone. Instead of thinking of ourselves as sleazy and manipulative, we can think of ourselves as people who want to help and be of service.

When we come into the conversation with this attitude, we can think of the call as something that has the potential to light up someone’s day.

Now, we have the opportunity to create a delightful, unexpected conversation.

Once We Make the Call, How Do We Deliver a Delightful Unexpected Conversation?

If we’re going to start thinking of ourselves as people who deliver good news with unexpected conversations, then we need to ensure that’s actually what we do.

This requires both a mindset shift (“I’m here to help”) and a skillset. You must learn to have conversations that add value to the other participant. And while serving the other person is important, you also have to learn to do it without becoming a lapdog. As salespeople, we must learn to have conversations that are both valuable to the customer, and valuable to ourselves.

Furthermore, when talking to prospects about what you can do for them, don’t treat them like they don’t know what they’re doing. Instead of telling them what they should do, share stories about their peers so they can see how your offering helps others.

Equipped with the right mindset and the right skills, salespeople can turn quiet moments into valuable pipeline enrichment. And, in doing so, help a lot of people along the way.

What do you think? Is “fear of the unexpected conversation” a big reason salespeople don’t prospect as much as they should? What do you think we should do about it?