There is a great book called "The Psychology of Sales Call Reluctance", by George W. Dudley and Shannon L. Goodson. In their book they talk about the 12 separate forms of call reluctance.

See if you recognize any of these symptoms in yourself or your sales team.

1. Doomsayers - they waste energy worrying about prospecting.
2. Over preparers - they overanalyze and underact.
3. Hyper pros - spend too much time getting ready.
4. Stage frightened- They fear making presentations and seminar selling.
5. Role rejectors - are conflicted about being in sales.
6. Yielders - They wait for the right time. They fear being pushy or intrusive.
7. Socially self-conscious - They fear powerful decision makers.
8. Separationists - Won't prospect or network friends or ask for referrals.
9. Emotionally unemancipated - Similar to separationists, they want to keep business totally separate from their relatives.
10. Referral adverse - uncomfortable asking for referrals.
11. Telephonophobics - cringe at the mention of using the phone for prospecting or sales.
12. Oppositional reflexives - unable to accept advice, coaching or constructive criticism.

In my sales coaching practice, I find most cases of call reluctance fall into three categories.

1. Fear of personal cold calling
2. Fear of phone prospecting
3. Fear of making speeches and presentations

I work with my clients using a variety of techniques to create improved performance. I train them in NLP techniques while utilizing NLP and hypnosis to improve sales performance and release fears in the following areas:

• Identifying where the behavior started and whether it's the result of poor training and lack of confidence or just that individuals way of functioning.
• Clear out fears at the source.
• Take out negative associations to phone cold calling.
• Set specific goals.
• Develop positive resources and make them easy to access. Things like confidence, energy, enthusiasm, optimism are all able to be developed.
• Build the sales persons' confidence by training them in rapport building so that they get better reponses from their prospects.
• Accountability is the ingredient missing for many entrepreneurs, particularly those working in a home office. I hold my clients accountable.

Through these techniqes, I assist my sales clients in performing at a much higher level which results in more sales, increased income and greater peace of mind.