Are You Afraid of Speaking w/ Seller's On the Phone?

Are you afraid of the phone? Come on be honest. Are you afraid of picking up the phone and calling sellers?

If so, I want you to know right now that you are not alone. There are many new real estate investors that dread picking up that phone and speaking with sellers. There are even experienced investors that still feel that way.

I must admit that this one aspect of real estate investing was one that held me back from great success for years.

I can’t tell you how many hours I wasted away, early in my career, staring at the phone before picking it up and calling. A great deal of time went down the drain worrying about worst-case scenarios that were going to happen when I made calls.

I worried about sounding like an idiot on the phone due to lack of knowledge. I worried about saying the right things. I worried about sounding like a robot when following a script. I worried about anything and everything that you could possibly worry about happening on a phone call.

Can you relate to this? Is this happening to you right now in your business or were you once in this same position in the past?

Why Are We Afraid of the Phone?

The reason this can be so terrifying for many is that we are only focusing on what could go wrong.

Rather than choosing to focus on having a pleasant conversation with someone and seeing how we can truly be of service to them we choose to only focus on the pain we may feel if the worst case scenarios were to unfold.

Being fearful and worrying about what may happen is a complete waste of energy.

What is the worst that can happen?

Let’s talk about the absolute worst case scenarios that could play out when you pick up the phone.

Really the worst thing that may happen is that you get an angry seller on the phone who is very rude and they hang up on you. That’s it.

In all my years of speaking with sellers on the phone this is the worst that has happened.

You must accept this as a part of the business. If you are speaking with sellers over the phone this will happen eventually.

The key is to remember not to take this personally when this happens. You could be the most kind person in the entire world and still encounter a hostile seller on the phone.

You never know what is going on in a seller’s life at the moment you called them. They may have just lost a loved one. They may be losing their home, going through bankruptcy, recently laid off, etc.

How to overcome the fear of the phone

The best way to conquer your fear of making phone calls to sellers is to train yourself to block out the fears and fill that void with all of the pleasant thoughts you can imagine happening by having a great conversation with another human being.

When you pick the phone up pretend that you are calling an old friend that you have not talked to in years.

Relax, relax, relax. If you are really tense, take some deep breaths and loosen up your posture.

Don’t worry about closing a deal over the phone. Just focus on having a conversation like you would with any of your good friends or family members.

Stop being so concerned about the end goal of getting an accepted offer and making money. Just have a simple conversation and see if you can be of help.

Be sure to be quick to take action and call. The longer you wait the more time there is for all of the fear to start setting in again.

Place all of your focus and energy into relaxing and having a pleasant conversation and you will learn to conquer your fear.

Some Will, Some Won’t, So What. Next

I want you to remember that some calls will go great, some won’t, so what. Just move on.

Accept the fact that not every call is going to go the way you would like it to.

If you can learn to be ok with that and can understand that you can’t win every single time, you will learn to brush, the less than favorable calls, off your shoulders and move on.

Take Action

If you want to succeed you must take action. Get out there and practice speaking with sellers every day. It doesn’t cost you anything to pick up the phone and start practicing. Repetition is the key.

Remain calm and relaxed. Just focus on having a pleasant conversation. I know that you can do it!

I leave you with a quote by Zig Ziglar:

“Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment.”