In a previous post I mentioned some possible reasons many coaches, virtual assistants, and other small business owners experience severe feelings of anxiety or disgust when they as much as think about engaging in one or more marketing activities. These include lack of self-confidence, social anxiety, and moral disdain. I have since found two researchers who have delineated the reasons for avoiding sales and marketing activities in more detail (see below).
Emotional reactions to self-promotion are a barrier to success for many people. I believe there are five possible feelings coaches and VAs may have around marketing and self-promotion. When you think about doing something to promote your products or services, you could feel scared (Yikes!), ashamed (Yuck!), excited (Yay!), bored (Yawn!) or cool and composed (YES). For more details on the possible eelings coaches or VAs may have about self-promotion, listen to the following recording:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
You may also right-click on the following link and choose “Save Target As..” to download the mp3 file (9 min.)
I created a brief survey at Google Docs where you can rate your feelings about promoting your products and services. It breaks down the promotion process into indirect and direct activities that require different skills and may engender different feelings from you. Please take two minutes to complete the Feelings abut Self-Promotion survey HERE.
You don’t have to be excited about marketing in order to set it as a higher priority and learn more interesting ways to promote yourself, but if you feel anxious or ashamed about it, then merely setting priorities won’t work. Have you ever set a goal to do a certain amount of marketing, then dragged your feet when it came time to do it? When you find yourself doing anything else except promote your business, then it’s time to examine your feelings about marketing in more depth.
Here’s a resource that can help you identify your feelings around marketing and sales and find ways to improve.
The Psychology of Sales Call Reluctance: Earning What You’re Worth in Sales
George W. Dudley & Shannon L. Goodson
Published by Behavioral Sciences Research Press, Inc.
In four decades of research, George Dudley and Shannon Goodson have identified twelve types of Sales Call Reluctance. Sales call reluctance is a subset of marketing aversion, focusing on activities professional sales personnel must do in order to succeed, such as meeting new people, making phone calls, asking for the sale, making group presentations, and more. Here is a brief overview of the twelve types of sales call reluctance.
The 12 Types of Sales Call Reluctance of Dudley & Goodson
|
|||
| Aversion Type | Symptom | Fear | Shame |
| Doomsayer–Pessimistic, predicts failure and has little motivation to try | X | ||
| Over-Preparation–Constantly tweaks presentations or other sales materials, but does not actually make sales calls | X | ||
| Hyper-Pro–Obsessed with image, looks successful but spends too much time on polishing rather than productive activities | X | ||
| Telephobia–Reluctance to use the phone to make appointments or other sales-related functions | X | ||
| Emotionally unemancipated–Does not ask family to do business with them or fears their disapproval (note that shame my be involved) | X | ||
| Separationist–Does not ask friends to do business or ask for referrals for potential clients with friends | X | ||
| Referral aversion–Does not ask existing clients to refer new prospects | X | ||
| Stage fright–fears sales presentations or other public speaking venues | X | ||
| Social self-consciousness–Is at ease with peers or subordinates, but hesitates to speak to owners or CEOs who often are the ones who make buying decisions | X | ||
| Role rejection–Secretly ashamed of role as a salesperson, causes internal stress | X | ||
| level of Assertiveness | Passive | Assertive | Aggressive |
| Yielder–Does not ask for business, gives in to the wants and needs of prospects | X | ||
| Oppositional reflex–Is argumentative and does not heed instructions from sales manager | X | ||
Most of these types of sales call reluctance describe behaviors or symptoms, and no causes can be inferred. The avoidance behavior may be caused by either fear or shame. For example, even though Dudley and Goodson call the reluctance to talk on the telephone to make appointments for sales calls telephobia, the root might not be fear but shame. The same is true for people who constantly over-prepare or who are obsessed with their image; these are avoidance behaviors that eat up the time when sales calls may be conducted.
Although role rejection (see an in-depth description) is the only type of sales call reluctance that Dudley and Goodson describe as caused by shame, it is nevertheless very important. This form of aversion to sales is often difficult to observe, because the person may be otherwise outgoing and exhibit no fears that tip you off as in other cases. Someone who is ashamed of his/her role as a sales person may even meet minimum sales goals, but not reach their full potential for creating new accounts and generating revenue. One clue is when a person uses another title, such as account executive or product consultant, to distance themselves from their role in sales.
It is interesting that both people with high and low levels of assertiveness do not do well in marketing and sales. Unassertive behavior may be related to social fear or shame, but it could be just a personality trait. Contentious, argumentative people may be covering up fear or shame, but this, too, could be a personality trait. For this reason I placed those two aversion types at the end in a separate category on the cart.0
Dudley and Goodson propose a number of methods to reduce sales call reluctance. Many of these techniques can also be applied to other marketing activities that coaches frequently employ, such as participating in email discussion lists, creating websites, blogging, and other online marketing. These techniques are similar to those used in cognitive restructuring for the treatment of depression or social anxiety by cognitive-behavioral therapists.
An important study showed that sales call reluctance among most sales personnel (and by implication most coaches and virtual assistants who market their products and services in similar ways) does not reach the level of a clinical mental disorder, such as social anxiety. General scales for shyness or social phobia are therefore less useful for identifying problem behaviors than a measure of the specific symptoms and causes of marketing aversion. One such easy-to-use instrument is the free 20-item Prospecting EKG to assess your level of sales call reluctance. A long instrument to measure sales call reluctance is the SPQ Gold, or Sales Preferences Questionnaire, a more in-depth psychometrically rigorous assessment. BSRP also has several other assessments to measure various aspects of sales motivation.
As stated earlier, there are other marketing efforts not covered in Dudley and Goodson’s studies that are important for coaches and virtual assistants. Fear or shame may also prevent some people from using them effectively. Some people write and re-write sales copy continuously, and never launch their website or send out a newsletter. Some people use social media only for personal messages, and never showcase their website or articles or announce upcoming events. Some people lurk on discussion lists, but never join a thread, even when they have relevant information or resources to share that could help establish them as experts in their fields.
Think about how you avoid marketing and self-promotion, and see if you can identify a specific type of reluctance. Then seek to find a way o reduce the stress you feel so you can market effectively.
The good news is that these behaviors, once identified, can be dealt with effectively.
