The Dreaded Cold Call

I spoke recently to a successful entrepreneur and his comments were - to get an early edge, you have to be out there, be fully exposed, often make mistakes but by doing so hopefully you will be able to better understand what is required and therefore you have an excellent chance to create the WOW factor ahead of your competitors.

The point that resonates for me is: success in most situations is about reaching out to people, the reason most successful people, one way or another, create their own success is by uniquely finding a way to communicate.

The biggest failure for all of us all is that once we do well and become comfortable, there is no longer a need to reach out, to go out of our comfort zone, to have to put yourself in that "awkward position", there are always excuses not to go to the event, march up to that individual, go mingle in that group, set up that meeting, not bother with the symposium, stick my neck out to say hello, to get up and speak in front of a group, not get around to sending the note of thanks or acknowledgement. Sticking up barriers are often a better solution.

Ultimately we all fear rejection, no matter what stage of life we are at. The excuse is that "we are past that". One way or another we are all afraid to walk up and say hello to the pretty girl.

Speaking of rejection - most of all in our business ( brokerage), it is the "Cold Call". The dreaded cold call. You can have all the other means of communication, but there is nothing like making that freezing cold phone contact. You have that very difficult 10 to 15 seconds to make a connection. Most of the time one is rejected but those calls are what make our business. The conversations that derive from those initial contacts extend way beyond those first few seconds. They can make or brake a career. Though not very glamorous, this is the WOW factor in our business. To resonate with someone you have never met and build a relationship, credibility and understanding inside a few seconds is a talent that takes many years to develop.

Ronald Reagan "the great communicator", who made it all look so easy, spent an inordinate amount of time making calls. Initially trying to drum up political support but later on would make the awkward calls across the table and often rudely shut down.

The interesting thing is, as brokers and investment professionals become more "successful" they have less of a need to make the cold calls because they now rely on "referrals" and "existing business", so a measure of success is how little you have to make calls. I see this as the downfall of most, not just in brokerage.

As I recently hit 50 and into the “back nine”, I notice that as people get older they tend to connect less, they put up more barriers  – that concerns me.

So as you I focus on my business I am excited about the WOW factor, getting out of my comfort zone and making mistakes.

By Tony Brettkelly