Even if you’ve worked in the promo industry for years, cold calling can still feel intimidating. You’re interrupting someone’s day, often out of context, and you don’t know how they’ll respond. You only have a short time to make a solid impression and get them to want to continue the conversation. And if they say “not interested” or hang up altogether? Well, that’s a gut punch.

Davidson Hang at Untap Your Sales Potential gets it. He has worked in sales since he was 19, and now as the head of business development at his organization, he has made thousands of cold calls. He admits some calls were awful, but he pushed through his self-doubt and mastered how to be bold on each call.

Want to borrow a page from Hang’s playbook? Read on. We share his best cold-calling tips in this issue of PromoPro Daily.

Move around more. Get up from your chair and take a minute or 2 to stretch or shake out your body. Before a call blitz, Hang likes to put on some high-energy music and just bounce around. He says when he physically feels good, he feels more confident. That confidence shows up in his tone, curiosity and presence. By simply moving around to music, Hang says he broke his personal record by booking 7 meetings in 1 day.

Set an intention. Hang likes to tell himself, “I’m here to connect, to serve, to be curious and present.” This helps him detach from the outcome. When you stop chasing the result and focus on the person, he says you get better results. Don’t be overly focused on yourself. Instead, genuinely listen and approach each cold call as an opportunity to serve the other person.

Revisit your wins. Go back through your list of compliments or handwritten notes to pep yourself up. Seeing these past successes can help you push through anxiety or overcome a sales slump. Remember: You’re good at what you do, so keep going. 

Spend 90 seconds researching. It’s important to prepare for cold calls but don’t overdo it. Hang likes to do just enough homework to feel ready. He skims the prospect’s LinkedIn profile and browses company news. This gives him at least 1 personalized insight to start the call with curiosity.

If cold calling makes you nervous, that’s OK. That means you care and you want to get it right. Remember that every call is a chance to be more grounded and a little bolder. Even if you’re not feeling super confident, take it one call at a time and keep showing up.

Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: Davidson Hang is the head of business development at Untap Your Sales Potential.