Overcoming Fear in Sales

How to Overcome Fear of Rejection

Imagine facing the thing that scares you most, and using it as motivation. Sounds impossible, no? If the thought of public speaking stuns you into silence, you’re not alone. According to a study, three of four people suffer Glossophobia-the fear of public speaking.

If that sounds like you, you probably don’t belong in sales, but Mastermind Dealer Relations Manager Erica Bruno didn’t let that stop her.

Converting Fear to Motivation

We recently learned Erica’s story. Combining discipline, determination, and a will to overcome, she converted shyness so severe that it kept her from engaging in conversations as a child, even speaking on the phone, into a dynamic career in sales, training, and customer relationship management.

In her own words, the outbound call has its challenges; that’s putting it mildly. Almost half of all sales professionals identify “cold-calling” as the most difficult (but critical) element of the job. During an on-site presentation, she shared the strategies she developed to move beyond fear.  But given what the team knew about her, hearing that she was ever anything besides confident just wasn’t credible. In her words, they looked “at her like she “had 3 heads.” She kept talking however, and soon converted the skeptics. By the time she finished, the room was “insanely jazzed.”

She credits her grandfather for giving her courage, and the opportunity. She said,

“he believed in me, mentored me, and put me into his Chrysler dealership. He is a big believer in molding someone by learning their weaknesses and helping it become their strength.”

Harnessing Weakness to Overcome the Fear of Rejection in Sales

Leadership experts agree-confessing weaknesses AND sharing how you overcame them are hallmarks of courageous leadership. Here are two tips to help you turn your challenges into tools:

• Focus on what’s essential. You can’t fix everything all at once, so don’t try. Prioritize and focus on attainable goals.
• Fear is natural, but don’t let it paralyze you. When you reframe your fears as challenges, they are targets you can work to achieve.

We’re proud of Erica’s leading by example. Ours is a culture where we celebrate each another. One of our values is HELP, which means being mindful that each of us has lessons to teach, and that we develop as individuals and as a team when we learn from one another. automotiveMastermind offers car sales training to dealership partner associates that is tailored to each salesperson & can help them overcome fear of rejection so that they can sell cars more efficiently than ever with our automotive data mining tools. To learn more about our dealership-support services, contact us today.