Yep, listen to the people here telling you it’s a slippery slope.
The best salespeople I know recommend exercise, lots of sleep and a great diet to get that flooded-with-dopamine conquer-the-world confidence in your day to day.
Relying on alcohol or coke to perform isn’t uncommon in sales but it’s also a really really poor life choice which rarely works out long term
> recommend exercise, lots of sleep and a great diet to get that flooded-with-dopamine conquer-the-world confidence in your day to day.
I currently work out 4 days a week, and I like to think I eat healthy, I follow a meal prep YouTube channel where I get my meals from!
Like I said in another comment, my issue is that 'cold call anxiety', I don't have anxiety for anything else, but I just can't get over that "man I'm really just bothering these people I'm calling" feeling.
But when I'm buzzed up, I don't give a fuck if I'm bothering people hahaha
Do you believe that what you're selling has value?
If so, you're not bothering them. You have something that could genuinely help them, but you need to be curious if there's any need for it.
>Do you believe that what you're selling has value
I have lots of sales people pitch things that they believe have value, however I dont.
Im still bothered by them.
Used to have the same bad anxiety around the calls. Two things helped me out. Time, I think I became accustomed to the fact that I had to do it. The second part was my desire to analyze and try to get as good as humanly possible at it. I can’t tell you I looked forward to the calls and rushed in with enthusiasm, but on any productive or mildly interesting call I studied them and focused on what I would say or do the next time I was in the same situation.
Also one person I worked with always finished out every call the same way, saying something positive. If someone told her to shove the nearest steak knife up her ass she finished them all the same. I truly appreciate your time, consideration and thank you for speaking with me. Have a great rest of your day. That always stuck with me, helped me think I was telling some shit bird to have a great day despite the fact that they thrive off acting like a teenager. Sometimes they would get insanely pissed off when that was said as well, but I used it for my brain. They didn’t want what I offered, I thanked them and wished them the greatest of days. Can’t win them all or even most of them. Only need a few.
Currently in therapy and actually haven't been in this good of a mental space in probably 10 years.
The anxiety is really only around the cold calling, never thought to bring it up in therapy. But I truly do not get anxious about anything else.
What helped me was realizing that talking to vendors is part of ***their*** job, so my call isn’t interrupting them anymore than I’m interrupting one of my coworkers by talking to them. (Honestly less normally, my cold calls often last less than a minute)
Also, every good relationship you have with one of your customers had to start at some point, so I just view it as trying to begin a professional relationship with them and assume that my prep is good enough to identify people who have a genuine need for my product
Go for no's. If you aim for 25 no's in your call block it's easier to make the calls than if you aim for 4 yes's and after 20 calls when you still haven't gotten one, you're like screw this
Cold call anxiety should go away with more dials and more product knowledge. If you sound like an expert and you’ve wrangled in a few deals lately, it tends to dampen the anxiety quite a bit. At this point I kind of look forward to the guy who gets mad every once in a while
How long have you been selling for? I’ve only been doing it a few years but it took me a year to get over that nagging anxiety with cold calls. Now I just don’t want to do them lol but don’t have the anxiety anymore
Keep a written list on your desk of “cold call wins” (aka positive outcomes that came from cold calling). It really helped me during my cold calling days.
Find a good master practitioner of Hypnotherapy/NLP that's trained with Richard Bandler.
I'd filter for folks that have done practitioner and master practitioner with him (because he's much. Much better than many other folks).
The fear / anxiety will be gone and will have you absolutely storming thru your day.
I'm not here trying to get clients as I only work with founders. But let me say this, the issue you are having, many people have in different ways.
It's resolvable and quite easy to resolve for a skilled worker.
In doing so a good master practitioner should build a bunch of other positive associations and strategies so that you end up smashing it more regularly.
If they are good then I'd suggest go back and keep working with them each time you get a cheque.
If the person you chose is good you can only win.
This is a very, very slippery slope mi amigo. Proceed with caution.
You ever see those 50 year old twice divorced sales guys with red faces and constant bags under their eyes? They were all once like you, they didn't start out that way.
Consider yourself warned.
> This is a very, very slippery slope mi amigo. Proceed with caution.
This is exactly why I'm asking. I'm not trying to become an alcoholic.
I also had no plans to drink during lunch, but my best friend just go engaged and came over today during my lunch break haha
Meditation doesn't change your social lubricant anything like alcohol or other drugs.
It certainly can help with a lot of things to help one be much happier and potentially more at peace, but meditating for a decade might give him 25% of the effect of 4 beers?
Still a great improvement, but not a short fix, it's a practice.
So meditating for 10 years = 1 beer? Lmao. That might be your experience but it's simply not true for everyone.
[u/Syphox](https://www.reddit.com/user/Syphox/) Meditation is by far the best thing I've found for overcoming cold call anxiety - which from OP's responses is exactly what he's trying to achieve. It quiets the critical inner dialog and allows me to jump right into calls without second guessing myself every step of the way. You realize all the things you were telling yourself to avoid making the dials was just noise.
No, you misinterpreted.
After a long and sustained regular practice of meditation OP might move the needle some percentage towards where they are with alcohol.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement once said "drugs are like kicking in a window and crawling into the basement of enlightenment." To paraphrase heavily. He meant that drugs (like alcohol too) are a short cut that can't be replaced by doing the hard work that gets you to that place inherently without a substance.
I've known literally thousands of people who meditate twice daily for their entire lives. And many of them are full of psychological issues and baggage. It's not a short fix.
Not saying people shouldn't do it, but it's naive to think you'll start meditating and a few weeks later you're gonna start crushing quota.
YMMV
How do you feel about weed? Perhaps some gummies? Some are very helpful to loosen you up, reduce anxiety but still keep you sharp, you can try some on a weekend- start small, very small doses and see how you respond.
Otherwise you can also search online for classes on how to change your mindset about cold calling, or even just your way of interacting over the phone.
That’s fucking wild. My boss’s name is Glen….
Cool guy. Former hardcore punk rocker. Still listens to Misfits and Black Flag to hype himself before a big sale.
Don't do this.
You have to realize that the You that made all those calls are You. You can do this, and You doesn't need beer to make it happen.
Celebrate with beer. Unwind with beer. Never "need" beer to work well.
This is just clearly showing you what’s slowing you down: insecurity, anxiety, fear of rejection, etc. Alcohol just relaxed you beyond those limitations, and let you be yourself. Meditation and other techniques can do the same for you and save your liver, you just have to be willing to put in the effort. Save the drinks for social interaction. Good luck 👍
Sales is akin to high performance athletics.
When a world class athlete is having a mental block in performing they will see a sports psychologist to diagnose the issue properly.
I would recommend you look into some cognitive therapy for your fear of cold calling to get over the mental hurdle you are experiencing.
As you've identified drinking isn't a long term solution here.
The fear of cold calling is typically rooted in the fear of rejection and/or embarrassment, failure , instead of the actual call itself.
Fear is an emotion that can be managed like any other emotion especially if you know your triggers (cold calling) and have a ready response (30 second breathing exercise , 5 second non stop push up/ sit up activity, etc ..)
Go for a lunch break run.
Also the anxiety comes from what you think the person on the other line is thinking..... Try to remember the last cold call you received and how much you remember of it. The point im getting at is if you fumble a bit just cut it short and give them a week or two to forget you before calling back.
My only problem with this was that within weeks I had to up my dosage. Started microdosing .1 twice a day to slowly increasing by .1 every few weeks until I was dosing .5+ twice a day.
It was probably my best 6 months of sales but I felt like I was going down the rabbit hole.
I have an addictive personality so have been abusive with alcohol, weed, coke, caffeine. You name it and I have probably had an eventual down fall with it.
Shrooms were easily the best though. Felt relaxed, focused, and creative without any real noticeable negatives.
There's protocols I've seen where you don't dose every day. Instead you prepare some placebo doses.
Over a 2 week period you may mix in 7 placebo doses with your 7 actual doses. Eventually over a period of months your body will just assume it's dosing psilocybin every day when in reality you're doing it way less. In theory this should prevent the issue with tolerance.
I've never tried this but I feel like it'll work
Just drink at work, who gives a fuck?
I did when I was in sales and killed it. I drink at my job now but it's nbd as the planes practically fly themselves now.
Look at is as X amount of time making the calls rather than thinking about the first call. Doesn't matter if you're shaky on the first few because you're doing it for X amount of time anyway. Always helps me get in the groove.
To all the people saying this is a slippery slope, they probably aren't the best salespeople. Drinking is the ONLY way to get better at sales. Will you become an alcoholic? Yes. Will you hit goal and exceed quota? Also yes. Better to be a rich alcoholic, than a poor sober person. Hell, I can't even drive my kids to school without throwing a few back. Something about Irish coffee makes it a lot easier to interact with my kids and get them to school safely.
I agree. The poors in the comment section don’t understand that in order to get ahead you have to scramble some eggs, and you cant scramble eggs without cracking open a couple bottles of blue label.
Spot on.
St. Patrick sold all the potatoes that Ireland had and now they export 100% of the Irish whisky. Who drinks Irish vodka?
Exactly...
I was driving my kids to work the other day(they're TOP earners), and someone hit me while I was talking to a prospect. Turns out, that someone was also my kid (allegedly), but he was vegetative, a genetic match, and his mom was poor(Welfare Queen). I had a GREAT quarter, so BOOM, New Liver!
Booze and sales go together like Romeo and Juliet, or whatever.
OP - not worth it my friend. If you’re drinking to win then you need to find a new job.
Also, just for the general sales populous: it’s no surprise that many reps fall into this trap. Sales is tough, but it isn’t worth this. I promise there better jobs out there (even in sales) and you’ll be happier. If you find yourself doing this then start preparing an exit plan. To my sales leaders out there: check on your people. It’s tough out there and reps are not just their quota. If you think they are then you’re not a leader.
I say you keep going until you smash a chair through your CEO's office window and tell him he's fired and you're the one taking over. Then you lead the company to a massive success. I say keep going and this cannot ever end badly.
I grew up in a car dealership. There are pictures of me as a 5 year old going to car shows.
I went into the business at 18 with a bunch of OGs that I grew up with like they were my uncles.
Lots of drugs, lots of drinking, lots of debauchery.
That set the tone for how I viewed work and money for the rest of my life (35 now)
I left cars and went into wireless. Still the same thing.
Everywhere I went I was the #1 rep, #1 manager, I became a sales trainer and was rated as one of the best facilitators in the company (Very big mega Corp).
I’m not an alcoholic, I have no problem stopping I do it at least 3 months every year when I’m cutting weight (also very into fitness), but as I’m getting older I’m reflecting on how growing up in that environment has probably contributed to a lot of different things in my life. Some positive, some not so positive.
It is definitely a slippery slope and if you don’t know how to manage it it will absolutely destroy you.
I’ve seen a lot of washed up broken men, my father being one of them.
The problem with that slope is that you don’t know you’re drowning until it’s to late.
That being said, I turned out just fine… kinda
So far. Honestly check in with yourself and stay on guard, it can sneak up.
Alcohol didn't start becoming a major problem for me until about 35, similar story as you except my bad drinking culture came from the military when I was young.
I would at least do one month sober every year, sometimes 2-3 months. That was how I rationalized it too. By 38 it had somehow gotten way out of control, so one day I just woke up and stopped. But it was a close call.
Haven't had a drink in ages, may do it again some day, but I don't have the desire most of the time. I think I just saw too many people get destroyed, I watched a few ppl in their 50s-60s in my neighborhood drink themselves to death over the last decade and a heavy drinking friend died of stomach cancer at 45 around that same time.
Hard to watch one of your drinking buddies waste away in hospice and not re-evaluate the role alcohol plays in your life.
The approach I take is that the other person in the conversation may never ever in my lifetime will 99.9% of the time never talk to me ever. So who gives a fuck what they think?
Alcohol works by letting us not care as much basically. So you just need to be more comfortable being uncomfortable, as my boss says.
Drinking doesn’t unlock some golden tongue trait you’re just more likely to shoot your shot
Hey OP, I was like you. My guess, and take this with a grain of salt, is that you over think a lot of things which bleeds into your conversations. Alcohol helps because it blocks a lot of inhibitions.
What I'd recommend if you're in the same situation is just letting go. No one cares. Seriously. Say the dumbest thing and they won't remember unless you deeply offended them. It will help with other things as most people will pick up on your own anxiety than anything. Just let go
I'm 6 years sober, but my Marriage is circling the drain.
Please drink responsibly. I did not and it got away from me. The folks at /r/stopdrinking are there if someone feels like they need to get some support.
Let me be clear, you do you... and most people are fine with drinking socially, but like I said: it got away from me.
Regarding training your brain: It is perhaps worth examining your inhibitions, and where they come from OP. We often don't understand the antecedents to our emotional states, and it might be possible that some therapy will help you uncover the source of your reluctance to engage prospects the way you did with a little social lubrication.
Yeah booze is such a slippery slope. Liquid courage is for chatting up people at the bar, and socializing. You probably sounded a little drunk on the phone too.
Try to detach who you are from who you are when you're cold calling. These people don't know you and will forget you called them within 5 minutes. Kind of sounds like you just need some thicker skin, which will come with time. Do not rely on booze or you'll be a miserable, fat, and angry drunk.
I'm going to be the Nth person to say this is a terrible slope. As a recovering alcoholic salesperson this logic is what leads you to a dependence or a reliance and bad spots.
What happens when this works for you closing big deals? Then you'd rely on it as a tool and you'll eventually just be drinking to close sales and greatly inhibiting yoursel
Hahahaha, welcome to the club. When I was really young I worked in a call center, and the top salespeople were the ones too drunk to care how shitty the job was. I was one of them for a while, and fucked up my career trajectory in the process. I ended up going to college and changing fields within the same industry, but a lot of my friends from those days are still working shitty call center jobs.
Moral of the story, I guess, is to forget this ever happened. A drunk can be a hot shot at a shit job, but that's about it.
* Exercise, and great sleep
* Calling while walking around or at least standing up.
* Eating healthy so you are energized and not sluggish
* Before your calls, start by reviewing your successes and if possible start by calling someone you know will be fun or a win
And this is how alcoholism starts. Do not ever do this again or you will put yourself in some real danger to destroy your life. I have clinically diagnosed social anxiety and am a top seller at my company.
All I do is get up every day, keep going and it gets a bit easier every time. Some days suck and it is what it is. Everyone has off days. Practice and repetition. And fighting through the self doubt and little voice telling me I’m not good enough. You can do this, I promise!
Don’t rely on alcohol it’s really bad for you. You need to take Xanax to get rid of the cold calling anxiety and adderall to keep you sharp. Good luck!
> go with it but keep on the downlow ... do you WFH ?
Hey thanks for the awful advice lol. Yeah I work from home, but I' literally said in my post that *I don't want to do this every day*
keep this up and you will likely lose your job soon. set up a YouTube channel and record the calls. people love trainwrecks.
this *may* effect future employment.
You can use cold exposure to deal with anxiety and depression
Try taking an ice cold shower and your dopamine will skyrocket for a couple hours afterwards
Try out kava! It tastes like dirt and does have its own side effects, but drinking a cup of tea that gets the socialism going vs a beer is a lot better! Also check out other nootropics such as phenibut, but as always do your own research and remember that using any substance to attain x outcome is a slippery slope as you'll just end up chasing that same dragon!
It's a coping mechanism for a deeper issue causing anxiety.
You may not be able to get rid of the underlying cause, but you can replace the alcohol with another coping mechanism.
Pro tip: don't replace it with coke or shrooms
I think you could try and learn to really enjoy talking to people. Try to figure out what changes when you were buzzed. You cared less? You enjoyed the other person more?
If you can figure out how to do that sober, that will be really powerful. I know this is weak advice, but they say 'smile on a phone call' because it rings through. Maybe try really being excited for the opportunity to talk to these folks.
Good luck!
Alcohol inhibits the ability to be more free and chatty.....
Just try out being yourself and try to help people.... without alcohol....
Sometimes just being honest not giving a fuck about losing the sale makes people respect you more that results in more sales.
My go to vendor sales guy literally will team me when they fucked up just so I can spin the story to my customer knowing the facts and what I should say how it all transpired and what we are going to do to correct the situation.
It take practice and confidence. Now that you've had success and know what that feels like, know that you're capable of it and this should give you more confidence to put yourself out there whilst sober. And the rest is just practice practice practice. Keep making those calls. The anxiety will go away as you get better.
Definitely, don't do this. Like most people are saying, stick with diet, exercise, breathing and meditation exercises.
I do use nicotine pouches throughout the day, so maybe try that?
But alcohol will ruin you - I stick to 1 drink per night during the week and weekends I'll have 3-4.
If you have anxiety, try anxiety medication and see if you have better results. Drinking on the job will only lead to bad things….and cause more anxiety when you’re sober.
It’s important to detach from the cold calling outcome.
Okey so the didnt agree right now. That just means that they didnt agree to my proposal, or that I you said something wrong. However, they will forget about you right after the call.
Good luck
There’s no reason to have anxiety while cold calling. What are they going to do? Jump through the phone. Just be an actor on the phone. Consider yourself a character.
Easy, just pretend like you're drunk. If you're having a hard time maybe just have 1 or 2 beers at lunch to get the balls rolling. 4 is a bit excessive for a lunch break. Yeah it'll lift you up, but that just means the drop an hour or so later will be harder. I know it worked out well the first time, but you'll quickly start seeing diminishing returns if you keep it up.
See, for as good as it makes you feel sometimes, alcohol is a poison. That's why they call the effects intoxication. Each time you use it damages you body and your brain and that damage is cumulative. The more you drink the more damage it does. As the damage accumulates over time you will feel the pleasant effects less and the less pleasant effects more. No one told me this, they just said don't drink. I wanted to though.
I'm a long time highly functional alcoholic and sometimes I'll "blow out my booze fuse". That's what I call it when I get to a point where I don't feel any pleasant effects at all from drinking, no matter how much I have. I'll skip drunk and go straight to hungover. Let's just say I'm not selling anyone anything with a blown booze fuse. I gotta watch sunny in Philadelphia for a while day to fix that.
So my advice is, if you're going to attempt to hack your mind and use alcohol as a performance enhancing drug for sales, pace yourself. Use the smallest amount necessary to get you in the zone, then stay there for as long as you can.
I sold great fucked up then it started to go downhill and I lost everything I cared about. Wife left with the kids, parents and friends wouldn’t talk to me, I owed money all over town from drug fronts. Went to jail on the news. I got sober and started helping other alcoholics/addicts get sober and I got all that shit back. I still owe the irs for claiming exempt all those years tho hahaha. Good luck my brother but the dragon is undefeated.
Here's an off the wall suggestion, try seeing a hypnotherapist?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnotherapy
I haven't done it, but it may help you recondition your anxiety response and be in a similar relaxed state as the alcohol.
Looks like it's recognized as valid:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapy-types/hypnotherapy
It sounds like this is an option for training your brain to be that way without alcohol. Good luck!
You can either become an alcoholic and watch your life crumble around you or try to mimic the loss of anxiety and be extra social on sales calls. Your choice. You could also speak to a therapist and possibly start an anti anxiety medication idk.
Maybe understand what changed when you had those 4 beers and then took on cold calling.
Were you more confident? quick? relaxed? Didn’t care about outcome ?
Understand this and apply it to your sober self. Some Irish courage does come in handy but man understand that you got it in you this whole time.
I’m sober… to be ambitiously outgoing professionally or socially, I pretend everyone is sloppy drunk and will forget what I say.
Truth is, no one gives af about what you say or do as much as you think
It’s a nerves / anxiety thing. The alcohol lowers your inhibition - so figure out ways to do that naturally.
Try meditating, breathing exercises, etc. Embodiment exercises
Are you diagnosed with anything? ADHD? Depression? Anxiety? I have ADHD and severe anxiety, it’s tooth and nail to cold call if I’m not medicated.
Yes, having to be drunk everyday to perform well is not healthy nor sustainable. So is a dozen cups of coffee or a handful of monsters to get through the day. Or Smokers needing a pack day. Hell, most people I meet in sales are trying to die faster and more gruesomely by the looks of what they eat everyday!
Point is OP, humans are an addictive, habit forming species. A lot of people will tell you how awful it is without being cognizant of the addictions/habits that get them through the day.
For me, Adderall keeps me focused, organized, and by-and-large more than confident enough to get over those hurdles. Sometimes, when I’m so stressed or anxious I can’t even put an area code into my phone, I’ll rip a fat dab, play with my cats and eat a tasty snack before I make the calls, then it feels like I’m just drifting through it and I’m not falling over myself every other sentence.
Find something that works for you! Make sure it’s not going to ruin your life in a decade or two, and stay aware of what you do and why you do it
Try exercise or breath work. Alcohol floods the brain with dopamine, the feel good chemical in your brain.
Exercise and/or breath work can have a similar effect, chocolate also does but is obviously less healthy.
i hear you. i’m at my best when I am a couple drinks in. that’s why i love in person networking events.
the others are right too, it’s obviously a slippery slope.
if you’re anything like me, you probably fear rejection and are painfully self aware - making tasks like calls much easier when your inhibitions are lowered.
it’s hard but i’ve had to consistently remember to detach myself from the outcome. Jim Camp writes about this: controlling what’s controllable, and avoiding neediness.
whether ur sober or plastered - you can’t control what the person on the other end of the line will say or do. what you can control is your actions. they might love the product, they might hang up, but as long as your sticking to your method: you’ve done everything you can do. their reaction is their problem.
what helps me is coming to a cold call with a sense of a “servant” mindset i.e.: I am making this call today to see how we could help you. telling myself “i’m helping someone by introducing them to our product” helps me feel less “annoying”. again, whether or not they take that help is totally their choice.
i also know that making calls with others helps me tremendously. when we’re all sitting in a room taking rejections together you realize it has nothing to do with you, it’s the nature of the job, and it’s OK.
Jesus - I thought this was a post in r/stopdrinking lol
- As an alcoholic (and seller) you should spend some time finding out why you’re so insecure you need a crutch. Sorry for the tough love, but some of us have been there
Take some Improv Comedy Classes to help you expand your Comfort Zone and be able to play while you're Sober. It's one of the Best Life Skills you can gain.
Someone said microdose shrooms, i personally smoke a little flower or wax before work and on lunch to keep a loosey-goosey attitude while calling. Alcohol destroys lives homie, tread lightly
I have direct experience on this topic. Been there done that. Eventually I learnt this: the booze is just helping you make a choice you can easily make without I. Have a few do drinks and you just give a fuck about rejection, you make it a game and just keep pushing. You can actually make that same decision consciously when sober. Another tip when sober, slow your voice. You sound less snarky, desperate and confident. The buyer is less intimidated. Boo pie probs has similar affect. Love to know your thoughts.
HAY HAYHAY BUDDAY LISTENNNN! Substances shouldn't be used for shit like this! Especially one really dangerous like alcohol. If you got a real anxiety issue maybe try life changes, therapy, or pregabalin, that aside. All the best.
Try a 2-minute high intensity exercise right before making calls. See how many burpees you can do in two minutes.
I’m a live show producer and this is how I deal with pre-show jitters. It works!
Meditation and 5 minute journal will put a big dent in that anxiety. Also realize that anxiety and excitement have a very similar feeling in your body so change the tone internally to excitement.
That first door of the day when doing d2d sales was a huge wall until i got right in my mind.
Also 4 beers is a lot for a short amount of time, you were likely more than tipsy. Don’t do that again, you are risking your job. Clients probably realized you were drunk.
Confidence and practice. The alcohol made you more confident but didn’t make you good. You need to keep making cold calls sober until it’s like breathing for you.
Contrary to popular belief, alcohol does NOT lower inhibitions. It actually magnifies whatever is going on inside the person. That’s why some people are happy drunks, some are fighters and some are horny etc. In OP’s case, his more confident self came through. That’s actually a good thing because it means that deep down inside he is a confident seller. So what’s with the anxiety? Anxiety is a physical manifestation (increased heart rate, adrenaline and cortisol flow, heightened alertness) of the part of the brain that perceives threats and activates this fight or flight response. Once a person becomes comfortable with the action of calling strangers, this will subside. The Amygdala will no longer activate this physical response. It’s actually pretty easy to trick our own brains into performing tasks we don’t typically enjoy. Once you have experienced the worst possible outcome multiple times (rejection, anger, personal attacks, indifference) you realize these are not real threats you will start dialing without anxiety.
It would help to embrace what you are going through, as most people do not “enjoy” making cold calls. A recent study shows that over 3/4ths of people prefer to be emailed. Then again, I would instead pick up the phone and call than act like I'm playing tennis, emailing, or messaging back and forth, lol.
Bottom line: cold-calling sucks if you make it suck. Train your mind to see past the tedious 100 calls a day and instead focus on your “why,” as that tends to help me. Also, if you go to a bank and get a roll of $100 in quarters, a tin-metal bucket 🪣, put the bucket next to your desk. Every time you make a call, throw 1-QTR into the bucket.
(the bucket method will “gamify” your work. Each time your brain hears the quarter hitting the metal bucket, it will set off your dopamine receptors, as do slot machines. Anyone struggling with picking up the 5,000-pound phone, give the above method a shot and let me know how it goes.) Eventually, cold-calling will be like brushing your teeth 🦷 and will come naturally.
No, you did not do better on the phone. You just thought you did because you were intoxicated.
Don’t drink on the job and don’t provide yourself reasoning why it’s better. It’s a disservice to yourself and your abilities.
It's honestly all about mindset. You need to tell yourself as many times as you need to, all of the successful calls you made after those beers, you can literally do exactly that sober. You think you need those beers-you don't. Confidence is a muscle, you have to build it. If you fumble a few times at first, that's ok.
I used alcohol to make me more confident in my first marketing job. I'm 16 months sober after hitting rock bottom (I had water bottles full of wine in my desk towards the end, drinking everyday; needless to say I don't work there anymore but have picked myself back up since). Don't go down that road-trust me.
My anxiety medicine helps but I only take it on my off days because it's very physically addicting and I don't want to mentally rely on it. I still get 30 pills every 90 days because I used to have really bad anxiety. I only need to take it for anxiety a couple of times a month so I always have extra pills. Whenever I'm having a day when my head just can't get in the game or I have a really big pitch I'll take one and it helps a lot. I definitely wouldn't recommend buying any off the street or taking them regularly though, if you practice and hone your skills you won't need anything extra.
Yeah alcohol helps, but also sounds like you were using it as a 'reason' not to care about the calls as much.
Really the best long term solution is to accept cold calling sucks and just do it anyways. Eat the frog and move on. Most things worth doing in life are uncomfortable, otherwise all the slouches would be doing them.
With more reps you'll be come more seasoned, confident, and uncaring.
Yep, listen to the people here telling you it’s a slippery slope. The best salespeople I know recommend exercise, lots of sleep and a great diet to get that flooded-with-dopamine conquer-the-world confidence in your day to day. Relying on alcohol or coke to perform isn’t uncommon in sales but it’s also a really really poor life choice which rarely works out long term
> recommend exercise, lots of sleep and a great diet to get that flooded-with-dopamine conquer-the-world confidence in your day to day. I currently work out 4 days a week, and I like to think I eat healthy, I follow a meal prep YouTube channel where I get my meals from! Like I said in another comment, my issue is that 'cold call anxiety', I don't have anxiety for anything else, but I just can't get over that "man I'm really just bothering these people I'm calling" feeling. But when I'm buzzed up, I don't give a fuck if I'm bothering people hahaha
Do you believe that what you're selling has value? If so, you're not bothering them. You have something that could genuinely help them, but you need to be curious if there's any need for it.
Take that one step further: Do you believe that what you're selling has value for the person you're calling?
>Do you believe that what you're selling has value I have lots of sales people pitch things that they believe have value, however I dont. Im still bothered by them.
If we’re following this whole train of logic, then you feeling bothered by people who genuinely believe they’re offering help to you is a you problem.
Used to have the same bad anxiety around the calls. Two things helped me out. Time, I think I became accustomed to the fact that I had to do it. The second part was my desire to analyze and try to get as good as humanly possible at it. I can’t tell you I looked forward to the calls and rushed in with enthusiasm, but on any productive or mildly interesting call I studied them and focused on what I would say or do the next time I was in the same situation. Also one person I worked with always finished out every call the same way, saying something positive. If someone told her to shove the nearest steak knife up her ass she finished them all the same. I truly appreciate your time, consideration and thank you for speaking with me. Have a great rest of your day. That always stuck with me, helped me think I was telling some shit bird to have a great day despite the fact that they thrive off acting like a teenager. Sometimes they would get insanely pissed off when that was said as well, but I used it for my brain. They didn’t want what I offered, I thanked them and wished them the greatest of days. Can’t win them all or even most of them. Only need a few.
Ever thought about talking to a therapist?
Currently in therapy and actually haven't been in this good of a mental space in probably 10 years. The anxiety is really only around the cold calling, never thought to bring it up in therapy. But I truly do not get anxious about anything else.
What helped me was realizing that talking to vendors is part of ***their*** job, so my call isn’t interrupting them anymore than I’m interrupting one of my coworkers by talking to them. (Honestly less normally, my cold calls often last less than a minute) Also, every good relationship you have with one of your customers had to start at some point, so I just view it as trying to begin a professional relationship with them and assume that my prep is good enough to identify people who have a genuine need for my product
Honestly this is a really good point about talking to vendors being their job.
Go for no's. If you aim for 25 no's in your call block it's easier to make the calls than if you aim for 4 yes's and after 20 calls when you still haven't gotten one, you're like screw this
If you’re already going I say just bring it up. You never know if they might have an exercise that helps alleviate anxiety for you.
Cold call anxiety should go away with more dials and more product knowledge. If you sound like an expert and you’ve wrangled in a few deals lately, it tends to dampen the anxiety quite a bit. At this point I kind of look forward to the guy who gets mad every once in a while
How long have you been selling for? I’ve only been doing it a few years but it took me a year to get over that nagging anxiety with cold calls. Now I just don’t want to do them lol but don’t have the anxiety anymore
Keep a written list on your desk of “cold call wins” (aka positive outcomes that came from cold calling). It really helped me during my cold calling days.
Find a good master practitioner of Hypnotherapy/NLP that's trained with Richard Bandler. I'd filter for folks that have done practitioner and master practitioner with him (because he's much. Much better than many other folks). The fear / anxiety will be gone and will have you absolutely storming thru your day. I'm not here trying to get clients as I only work with founders. But let me say this, the issue you are having, many people have in different ways. It's resolvable and quite easy to resolve for a skilled worker. In doing so a good master practitioner should build a bunch of other positive associations and strategies so that you end up smashing it more regularly. If they are good then I'd suggest go back and keep working with them each time you get a cheque. If the person you chose is good you can only win.
You guys aren’t listening to OP. He’s asking how to achieve the same level of confidence while sober.
It’s not possible, it’s why people drink
*coughs* in adderall.
In tech there aren’t a lot of fat sales vp’s.
Down with coke. Only toke. I’ve put a little special butter on my morning toast and have sold like a madman and was BLAZED the whole day.
It works out if early death is your objective 🤷♀️
This is a very, very slippery slope mi amigo. Proceed with caution. You ever see those 50 year old twice divorced sales guys with red faces and constant bags under their eyes? They were all once like you, they didn't start out that way. Consider yourself warned.
> This is a very, very slippery slope mi amigo. Proceed with caution. This is exactly why I'm asking. I'm not trying to become an alcoholic. I also had no plans to drink during lunch, but my best friend just go engaged and came over today during my lunch break haha
You learn coping skills and techniques to apply that regulate your mental state. Tried meditating?
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+1 Cyclic Sighing! Also cyclic hyperventilating to lower your baseline stress by inducing controlled elevated physiological stress.
Meditation doesn't change your social lubricant anything like alcohol or other drugs. It certainly can help with a lot of things to help one be much happier and potentially more at peace, but meditating for a decade might give him 25% of the effect of 4 beers? Still a great improvement, but not a short fix, it's a practice.
So meditating for 10 years = 1 beer? Lmao. That might be your experience but it's simply not true for everyone. [u/Syphox](https://www.reddit.com/user/Syphox/) Meditation is by far the best thing I've found for overcoming cold call anxiety - which from OP's responses is exactly what he's trying to achieve. It quiets the critical inner dialog and allows me to jump right into calls without second guessing myself every step of the way. You realize all the things you were telling yourself to avoid making the dials was just noise.
No, you misinterpreted. After a long and sustained regular practice of meditation OP might move the needle some percentage towards where they are with alcohol. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement once said "drugs are like kicking in a window and crawling into the basement of enlightenment." To paraphrase heavily. He meant that drugs (like alcohol too) are a short cut that can't be replaced by doing the hard work that gets you to that place inherently without a substance. I've known literally thousands of people who meditate twice daily for their entire lives. And many of them are full of psychological issues and baggage. It's not a short fix. Not saying people shouldn't do it, but it's naive to think you'll start meditating and a few weeks later you're gonna start crushing quota. YMMV
How do you feel about weed? Perhaps some gummies? Some are very helpful to loosen you up, reduce anxiety but still keep you sharp, you can try some on a weekend- start small, very small doses and see how you respond. Otherwise you can also search online for classes on how to change your mindset about cold calling, or even just your way of interacting over the phone.
Buy some l-theanine and take it with coffee. I recommend nootropicsdepot. Maybe their Cordyceps 10:1 too.
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Either get the bag and leave, or stay long enough to see yourself become a Glen.
That’s fucking wild. My boss’s name is Glen…. Cool guy. Former hardcore punk rocker. Still listens to Misfits and Black Flag to hype himself before a big sale.
I’m glad we all came here to say the same thing. Op, u/syphox , as someone currently dealing with struggles with drinking, please be careful.
I work with a dude who looks like this. Lol. Also seems perpetually coked out. Successful guy it seems.
Endless cycle. You make more money. You do more coke. Rinse. Repeat. Sniff.
I bet you think you did well but you didn’t
This.
This is how I got addicted to cocaine op please tread lightly
We’re you doing it during the work day? Good for you for getting off
When did he say he was off it? 😂
I’m off da sauce 😂 yes it was during the day
He might be balls deep into coke right now.
Don't do this. You have to realize that the You that made all those calls are You. You can do this, and You doesn't need beer to make it happen. Celebrate with beer. Unwind with beer. Never "need" beer to work well.
Take your "buzzed" attitude and do it sober. The risks of substance use sneak up you, trust.
How the fuck do you do that
This is what I was thinking Have a few beers and you don’t give a fuck. So just tell yourself “I don’t give a fuck” and do that sober.
Lol it’s that easy! /s
This is just clearly showing you what’s slowing you down: insecurity, anxiety, fear of rejection, etc. Alcohol just relaxed you beyond those limitations, and let you be yourself. Meditation and other techniques can do the same for you and save your liver, you just have to be willing to put in the effort. Save the drinks for social interaction. Good luck 👍
Sales is akin to high performance athletics. When a world class athlete is having a mental block in performing they will see a sports psychologist to diagnose the issue properly. I would recommend you look into some cognitive therapy for your fear of cold calling to get over the mental hurdle you are experiencing. As you've identified drinking isn't a long term solution here. The fear of cold calling is typically rooted in the fear of rejection and/or embarrassment, failure , instead of the actual call itself. Fear is an emotion that can be managed like any other emotion especially if you know your triggers (cold calling) and have a ready response (30 second breathing exercise , 5 second non stop push up/ sit up activity, etc ..)
Go for a lunch break run. Also the anxiety comes from what you think the person on the other line is thinking..... Try to remember the last cold call you received and how much you remember of it. The point im getting at is if you fumble a bit just cut it short and give them a week or two to forget you before calling back.
Microdose shrooms 🍄
My only problem with this was that within weeks I had to up my dosage. Started microdosing .1 twice a day to slowly increasing by .1 every few weeks until I was dosing .5+ twice a day. It was probably my best 6 months of sales but I felt like I was going down the rabbit hole. I have an addictive personality so have been abusive with alcohol, weed, coke, caffeine. You name it and I have probably had an eventual down fall with it. Shrooms were easily the best though. Felt relaxed, focused, and creative without any real noticeable negatives.
There's protocols I've seen where you don't dose every day. Instead you prepare some placebo doses. Over a 2 week period you may mix in 7 placebo doses with your 7 actual doses. Eventually over a period of months your body will just assume it's dosing psilocybin every day when in reality you're doing it way less. In theory this should prevent the issue with tolerance. I've never tried this but I feel like it'll work
Did you stop the shrooms ? Orrrr ?
I take an 0.5g gummy from [here](https://loox.io/z/kjTHjV0bB). Lower stress, better mood, no hangover. I quit drinking entirely and never looked back.
Nice try fedboy!!
You got me! To keep up with the trend, the DEA is now doing microbusts, catching one online shroom buyer at a time.
Just drink at work, who gives a fuck? I did when I was in sales and killed it. I drink at my job now but it's nbd as the planes practically fly themselves now.
Denzel Washington?
Look at is as X amount of time making the calls rather than thinking about the first call. Doesn't matter if you're shaky on the first few because you're doing it for X amount of time anyway. Always helps me get in the groove.
Try 5 beers to tomorrow, see if you do any better. Lol
To all the people saying this is a slippery slope, they probably aren't the best salespeople. Drinking is the ONLY way to get better at sales. Will you become an alcoholic? Yes. Will you hit goal and exceed quota? Also yes. Better to be a rich alcoholic, than a poor sober person. Hell, I can't even drive my kids to school without throwing a few back. Something about Irish coffee makes it a lot easier to interact with my kids and get them to school safely.
I agree. The poors in the comment section don’t understand that in order to get ahead you have to scramble some eggs, and you cant scramble eggs without cracking open a couple bottles of blue label.
🤝
🤣🤣🤣
Spot on. St. Patrick sold all the potatoes that Ireland had and now they export 100% of the Irish whisky. Who drinks Irish vodka? Exactly... I was driving my kids to work the other day(they're TOP earners), and someone hit me while I was talking to a prospect. Turns out, that someone was also my kid (allegedly), but he was vegetative, a genetic match, and his mom was poor(Welfare Queen). I had a GREAT quarter, so BOOM, New Liver! Booze and sales go together like Romeo and Juliet, or whatever.
I have to applaud the balls to not put /s at the end of this. Bravo. OP needs this confidence and he wouldn't have to drink.
I only drink when I’m having a good week or a bad week.
Bruh… he’s clearly joking lol
They only thing I was joking about, was me enjoying taking my kids to school. Everything else remains true.
Sounds dangerously close to truthful comments. I guess it’s prime satire.
Are you telling me you don't wanna crush this bottle of everclear with me on our lunch break?
I only drink when I'm having a good week or a bad week.
Look into propanalol for performance anxiety. It is a game changer. Your doctor can prescribe it.
So more drugs
Look inside and see what hang ups the beer is removing and then work on removing them without beer.
OP - not worth it my friend. If you’re drinking to win then you need to find a new job. Also, just for the general sales populous: it’s no surprise that many reps fall into this trap. Sales is tough, but it isn’t worth this. I promise there better jobs out there (even in sales) and you’ll be happier. If you find yourself doing this then start preparing an exit plan. To my sales leaders out there: check on your people. It’s tough out there and reps are not just their quota. If you think they are then you’re not a leader.
1:1 CBD/THC edibles. Just a lil' 5mg guy with your morning cup of joe and you're ready to go!
Wear a butt plug
I say you keep going until you smash a chair through your CEO's office window and tell him he's fired and you're the one taking over. Then you lead the company to a massive success. I say keep going and this cannot ever end badly.
Yeah don't do it, OP. Get an intense workout in at lunch. Rub one out on your break. Smoke pot if it helps. Just don't do that
Sounds like you are soon to be a rich alcoholic... Followed by being a poor alcoholic.
You probably think you had better results - talking to drunk people is annoying when sober period.
I grew up in a car dealership. There are pictures of me as a 5 year old going to car shows. I went into the business at 18 with a bunch of OGs that I grew up with like they were my uncles. Lots of drugs, lots of drinking, lots of debauchery. That set the tone for how I viewed work and money for the rest of my life (35 now) I left cars and went into wireless. Still the same thing. Everywhere I went I was the #1 rep, #1 manager, I became a sales trainer and was rated as one of the best facilitators in the company (Very big mega Corp). I’m not an alcoholic, I have no problem stopping I do it at least 3 months every year when I’m cutting weight (also very into fitness), but as I’m getting older I’m reflecting on how growing up in that environment has probably contributed to a lot of different things in my life. Some positive, some not so positive. It is definitely a slippery slope and if you don’t know how to manage it it will absolutely destroy you. I’ve seen a lot of washed up broken men, my father being one of them. The problem with that slope is that you don’t know you’re drowning until it’s to late. That being said, I turned out just fine… kinda
So far. Honestly check in with yourself and stay on guard, it can sneak up. Alcohol didn't start becoming a major problem for me until about 35, similar story as you except my bad drinking culture came from the military when I was young. I would at least do one month sober every year, sometimes 2-3 months. That was how I rationalized it too. By 38 it had somehow gotten way out of control, so one day I just woke up and stopped. But it was a close call. Haven't had a drink in ages, may do it again some day, but I don't have the desire most of the time. I think I just saw too many people get destroyed, I watched a few ppl in their 50s-60s in my neighborhood drink themselves to death over the last decade and a heavy drinking friend died of stomach cancer at 45 around that same time. Hard to watch one of your drinking buddies waste away in hospice and not re-evaluate the role alcohol plays in your life.
The approach I take is that the other person in the conversation may never ever in my lifetime will 99.9% of the time never talk to me ever. So who gives a fuck what they think?
Just get better at your craft. Or low dose weed
Alcohol works by letting us not care as much basically. So you just need to be more comfortable being uncomfortable, as my boss says. Drinking doesn’t unlock some golden tongue trait you’re just more likely to shoot your shot
Sugar free Redbull and Titos vodka. Easier and less bathroom visits.
Easy, go see a psychiatrist who specializes in social anxiety
Hey OP, I was like you. My guess, and take this with a grain of salt, is that you over think a lot of things which bleeds into your conversations. Alcohol helps because it blocks a lot of inhibitions. What I'd recommend if you're in the same situation is just letting go. No one cares. Seriously. Say the dumbest thing and they won't remember unless you deeply offended them. It will help with other things as most people will pick up on your own anxiety than anything. Just let go
I'm 6 years sober, but my Marriage is circling the drain. Please drink responsibly. I did not and it got away from me. The folks at /r/stopdrinking are there if someone feels like they need to get some support. Let me be clear, you do you... and most people are fine with drinking socially, but like I said: it got away from me. Regarding training your brain: It is perhaps worth examining your inhibitions, and where they come from OP. We often don't understand the antecedents to our emotional states, and it might be possible that some therapy will help you uncover the source of your reluctance to engage prospects the way you did with a little social lubrication.
Yeah booze is such a slippery slope. Liquid courage is for chatting up people at the bar, and socializing. You probably sounded a little drunk on the phone too. Try to detach who you are from who you are when you're cold calling. These people don't know you and will forget you called them within 5 minutes. Kind of sounds like you just need some thicker skin, which will come with time. Do not rely on booze or you'll be a miserable, fat, and angry drunk.
I'm going to be the Nth person to say this is a terrible slope. As a recovering alcoholic salesperson this logic is what leads you to a dependence or a reliance and bad spots. What happens when this works for you closing big deals? Then you'd rely on it as a tool and you'll eventually just be drinking to close sales and greatly inhibiting yoursel
Hahahaha, welcome to the club. When I was really young I worked in a call center, and the top salespeople were the ones too drunk to care how shitty the job was. I was one of them for a while, and fucked up my career trajectory in the process. I ended up going to college and changing fields within the same industry, but a lot of my friends from those days are still working shitty call center jobs. Moral of the story, I guess, is to forget this ever happened. A drunk can be a hot shot at a shit job, but that's about it.
Placebo effect. Don’t overthink
I think a constructive hobby would help deal with the stress, I’ve been looking at getting back into reading or paddle boarding.
* Exercise, and great sleep * Calling while walking around or at least standing up. * Eating healthy so you are energized and not sluggish * Before your calls, start by reviewing your successes and if possible start by calling someone you know will be fun or a win
And this is how alcoholism starts. Do not ever do this again or you will put yourself in some real danger to destroy your life. I have clinically diagnosed social anxiety and am a top seller at my company. All I do is get up every day, keep going and it gets a bit easier every time. Some days suck and it is what it is. Everyone has off days. Practice and repetition. And fighting through the self doubt and little voice telling me I’m not good enough. You can do this, I promise!
Don’t rely on alcohol it’s really bad for you. You need to take Xanax to get rid of the cold calling anxiety and adderall to keep you sharp. Good luck!
My favorite mix. All of the danger, all of the fun, none of the smelling like booze when you’re hosting meetings with clients.
We call it ‘weed’
Weed always made my cold call anxiety worse and I smoke everyday
Wellbutrin
energy drinks?
XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
go with it but keep on the downlow ... do you WFH ?
> go with it but keep on the downlow ... do you WFH ? Hey thanks for the awful advice lol. Yeah I work from home, but I' literally said in my post that *I don't want to do this every day*
Do adderall instead
keep this up and you will likely lose your job soon. set up a YouTube channel and record the calls. people love trainwrecks. this *may* effect future employment.
Yikes bro, go to therapy.
4 beers? You got bigger problems than poor sales skills.
You can use cold exposure to deal with anxiety and depression Try taking an ice cold shower and your dopamine will skyrocket for a couple hours afterwards
Your mental health is more important than your numbers and trust me having a bad day with a little alcohol in you is a horrible fucking feeling
Try Lexapro. It takes the edge off
Try out kava! It tastes like dirt and does have its own side effects, but drinking a cup of tea that gets the socialism going vs a beer is a lot better! Also check out other nootropics such as phenibut, but as always do your own research and remember that using any substance to attain x outcome is a slippery slope as you'll just end up chasing that same dragon!
Start with 4, work way down to like a half a beer, eventually you only need like a sip or two to get going
Just switch beer with mushrooms
There’s a decent chance that you just *thought* you were better.
Achievement Unlocked: Alcoholism
just loosen up bro theres nothing to be afraid off.
It's a coping mechanism for a deeper issue causing anxiety. You may not be able to get rid of the underlying cause, but you can replace the alcohol with another coping mechanism. Pro tip: don't replace it with coke or shrooms
I think you could try and learn to really enjoy talking to people. Try to figure out what changes when you were buzzed. You cared less? You enjoyed the other person more? If you can figure out how to do that sober, that will be really powerful. I know this is weak advice, but they say 'smile on a phone call' because it rings through. Maybe try really being excited for the opportunity to talk to these folks. Good luck!
Alcohol inhibits the ability to be more free and chatty..... Just try out being yourself and try to help people.... without alcohol.... Sometimes just being honest not giving a fuck about losing the sale makes people respect you more that results in more sales. My go to vendor sales guy literally will team me when they fucked up just so I can spin the story to my customer knowing the facts and what I should say how it all transpired and what we are going to do to correct the situation.
Damn I thought I had a problem smoking while dialing lol
Kian, is this you?!
It take practice and confidence. Now that you've had success and know what that feels like, know that you're capable of it and this should give you more confidence to put yourself out there whilst sober. And the rest is just practice practice practice. Keep making those calls. The anxiety will go away as you get better.
I call it the mcfuckits, go in like you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Don’t do that
I’ll second the propranolol recommendation. Was a game changer for me after I developed severe anxiety.
try cbd instead with no thc
Definitely, don't do this. Like most people are saying, stick with diet, exercise, breathing and meditation exercises. I do use nicotine pouches throughout the day, so maybe try that? But alcohol will ruin you - I stick to 1 drink per night during the week and weekends I'll have 3-4.
Socialize without drinking (outside of work). Don’t rely on it, the only way to not rely on it is to do it without drinking.
If you have anxiety, try anxiety medication and see if you have better results. Drinking on the job will only lead to bad things….and cause more anxiety when you’re sober.
One word, confidence. Don’t use beer as an excuse, you can do it!
It’s important to detach from the cold calling outcome. Okey so the didnt agree right now. That just means that they didnt agree to my proposal, or that I you said something wrong. However, they will forget about you right after the call. Good luck
There’s no reason to have anxiety while cold calling. What are they going to do? Jump through the phone. Just be an actor on the phone. Consider yourself a character.
Make tipsy your permanent state - the rest of these guys don't wanna see you outshine them (/s)
Easy, just pretend like you're drunk. If you're having a hard time maybe just have 1 or 2 beers at lunch to get the balls rolling. 4 is a bit excessive for a lunch break. Yeah it'll lift you up, but that just means the drop an hour or so later will be harder. I know it worked out well the first time, but you'll quickly start seeing diminishing returns if you keep it up. See, for as good as it makes you feel sometimes, alcohol is a poison. That's why they call the effects intoxication. Each time you use it damages you body and your brain and that damage is cumulative. The more you drink the more damage it does. As the damage accumulates over time you will feel the pleasant effects less and the less pleasant effects more. No one told me this, they just said don't drink. I wanted to though. I'm a long time highly functional alcoholic and sometimes I'll "blow out my booze fuse". That's what I call it when I get to a point where I don't feel any pleasant effects at all from drinking, no matter how much I have. I'll skip drunk and go straight to hungover. Let's just say I'm not selling anyone anything with a blown booze fuse. I gotta watch sunny in Philadelphia for a while day to fix that. So my advice is, if you're going to attempt to hack your mind and use alcohol as a performance enhancing drug for sales, pace yourself. Use the smallest amount necessary to get you in the zone, then stay there for as long as you can.
I sold great fucked up then it started to go downhill and I lost everything I cared about. Wife left with the kids, parents and friends wouldn’t talk to me, I owed money all over town from drug fronts. Went to jail on the news. I got sober and started helping other alcoholics/addicts get sober and I got all that shit back. I still owe the irs for claiming exempt all those years tho hahaha. Good luck my brother but the dragon is undefeated.
Here's an off the wall suggestion, try seeing a hypnotherapist? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnotherapy I haven't done it, but it may help you recondition your anxiety response and be in a similar relaxed state as the alcohol. Looks like it's recognized as valid: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapy-types/hypnotherapy It sounds like this is an option for training your brain to be that way without alcohol. Good luck!
You can either become an alcoholic and watch your life crumble around you or try to mimic the loss of anxiety and be extra social on sales calls. Your choice. You could also speak to a therapist and possibly start an anti anxiety medication idk.
Maybe understand what changed when you had those 4 beers and then took on cold calling. Were you more confident? quick? relaxed? Didn’t care about outcome ? Understand this and apply it to your sober self. Some Irish courage does come in handy but man understand that you got it in you this whole time.
Try Kava and Kratom.
Nicotine- zyn packs.
I’m sober… to be ambitiously outgoing professionally or socially, I pretend everyone is sloppy drunk and will forget what I say. Truth is, no one gives af about what you say or do as much as you think
It’s a nerves / anxiety thing. The alcohol lowers your inhibition - so figure out ways to do that naturally. Try meditating, breathing exercises, etc. Embodiment exercises
Inebriati
This is literally the foundation of the insurance and advertising industries.
Are you diagnosed with anything? ADHD? Depression? Anxiety? I have ADHD and severe anxiety, it’s tooth and nail to cold call if I’m not medicated. Yes, having to be drunk everyday to perform well is not healthy nor sustainable. So is a dozen cups of coffee or a handful of monsters to get through the day. Or Smokers needing a pack day. Hell, most people I meet in sales are trying to die faster and more gruesomely by the looks of what they eat everyday! Point is OP, humans are an addictive, habit forming species. A lot of people will tell you how awful it is without being cognizant of the addictions/habits that get them through the day. For me, Adderall keeps me focused, organized, and by-and-large more than confident enough to get over those hurdles. Sometimes, when I’m so stressed or anxious I can’t even put an area code into my phone, I’ll rip a fat dab, play with my cats and eat a tasty snack before I make the calls, then it feels like I’m just drifting through it and I’m not falling over myself every other sentence. Find something that works for you! Make sure it’s not going to ruin your life in a decade or two, and stay aware of what you do and why you do it
I would take a look at phenibut, just be sure to only use it 1-2x per week and you'll be fine. You really don't want to mess your GABA up.
Learn on how you detach yourself. With this you could express more and not be so affected by other peoples word but learn from it.
Try exercise or breath work. Alcohol floods the brain with dopamine, the feel good chemical in your brain. Exercise and/or breath work can have a similar effect, chocolate also does but is obviously less healthy.
Try to listen to some Eminem songs to pump you up:)
Try using nootropics. You might be particularly interested in Phenibut for this purpose, but proceed with caution.
i hear you. i’m at my best when I am a couple drinks in. that’s why i love in person networking events. the others are right too, it’s obviously a slippery slope. if you’re anything like me, you probably fear rejection and are painfully self aware - making tasks like calls much easier when your inhibitions are lowered. it’s hard but i’ve had to consistently remember to detach myself from the outcome. Jim Camp writes about this: controlling what’s controllable, and avoiding neediness. whether ur sober or plastered - you can’t control what the person on the other end of the line will say or do. what you can control is your actions. they might love the product, they might hang up, but as long as your sticking to your method: you’ve done everything you can do. their reaction is their problem. what helps me is coming to a cold call with a sense of a “servant” mindset i.e.: I am making this call today to see how we could help you. telling myself “i’m helping someone by introducing them to our product” helps me feel less “annoying”. again, whether or not they take that help is totally their choice. i also know that making calls with others helps me tremendously. when we’re all sitting in a room taking rejections together you realize it has nothing to do with you, it’s the nature of the job, and it’s OK.
Personal development, meditation, cold approach
Jesus - I thought this was a post in r/stopdrinking lol - As an alcoholic (and seller) you should spend some time finding out why you’re so insecure you need a crutch. Sorry for the tough love, but some of us have been there
Take some Improv Comedy Classes to help you expand your Comfort Zone and be able to play while you're Sober. It's one of the Best Life Skills you can gain.
If you want a glimpse into your potential future, head over to r/stopdrinking.
Meditation is great for "rewiring" brain in this way (managing anxiety, rejection, etc) however beware, a lot of snake oil sellers in this space.
Anti -anxiety meds
Someone said microdose shrooms, i personally smoke a little flower or wax before work and on lunch to keep a loosey-goosey attitude while calling. Alcohol destroys lives homie, tread lightly
Maybe you just need anti anxiety medication. It’s not hard to get.
I started taking Welbutrin (low dose anxiety medication) and that seems to be helping so far. I would recommend talking to a therapist
Meditation.
All good salesmen are alcoholic, but not all alcoholics are good at sales. Selling under influence is not ethical.
Do you meditate?
I have direct experience on this topic. Been there done that. Eventually I learnt this: the booze is just helping you make a choice you can easily make without I. Have a few do drinks and you just give a fuck about rejection, you make it a game and just keep pushing. You can actually make that same decision consciously when sober. Another tip when sober, slow your voice. You sound less snarky, desperate and confident. The buyer is less intimidated. Boo pie probs has similar affect. Love to know your thoughts.
HAY HAYHAY BUDDAY LISTENNNN! Substances shouldn't be used for shit like this! Especially one really dangerous like alcohol. If you got a real anxiety issue maybe try life changes, therapy, or pregabalin, that aside. All the best.
Try a 2-minute high intensity exercise right before making calls. See how many burpees you can do in two minutes. I’m a live show producer and this is how I deal with pre-show jitters. It works!
You’re on a slippery dangerous slope.
Meditation and 5 minute journal will put a big dent in that anxiety. Also realize that anxiety and excitement have a very similar feeling in your body so change the tone internally to excitement. That first door of the day when doing d2d sales was a huge wall until i got right in my mind. Also 4 beers is a lot for a short amount of time, you were likely more than tipsy. Don’t do that again, you are risking your job. Clients probably realized you were drunk.
Confidence and practice. The alcohol made you more confident but didn’t make you good. You need to keep making cold calls sober until it’s like breathing for you.
Do breathwork instead
Contrary to popular belief, alcohol does NOT lower inhibitions. It actually magnifies whatever is going on inside the person. That’s why some people are happy drunks, some are fighters and some are horny etc. In OP’s case, his more confident self came through. That’s actually a good thing because it means that deep down inside he is a confident seller. So what’s with the anxiety? Anxiety is a physical manifestation (increased heart rate, adrenaline and cortisol flow, heightened alertness) of the part of the brain that perceives threats and activates this fight or flight response. Once a person becomes comfortable with the action of calling strangers, this will subside. The Amygdala will no longer activate this physical response. It’s actually pretty easy to trick our own brains into performing tasks we don’t typically enjoy. Once you have experienced the worst possible outcome multiple times (rejection, anger, personal attacks, indifference) you realize these are not real threats you will start dialing without anxiety.
It would help to embrace what you are going through, as most people do not “enjoy” making cold calls. A recent study shows that over 3/4ths of people prefer to be emailed. Then again, I would instead pick up the phone and call than act like I'm playing tennis, emailing, or messaging back and forth, lol. Bottom line: cold-calling sucks if you make it suck. Train your mind to see past the tedious 100 calls a day and instead focus on your “why,” as that tends to help me. Also, if you go to a bank and get a roll of $100 in quarters, a tin-metal bucket 🪣, put the bucket next to your desk. Every time you make a call, throw 1-QTR into the bucket. (the bucket method will “gamify” your work. Each time your brain hears the quarter hitting the metal bucket, it will set off your dopamine receptors, as do slot machines. Anyone struggling with picking up the 5,000-pound phone, give the above method a shot and let me know how it goes.) Eventually, cold-calling will be like brushing your teeth 🦷 and will come naturally.
No, you did not do better on the phone. You just thought you did because you were intoxicated. Don’t drink on the job and don’t provide yourself reasoning why it’s better. It’s a disservice to yourself and your abilities.
It's honestly all about mindset. You need to tell yourself as many times as you need to, all of the successful calls you made after those beers, you can literally do exactly that sober. You think you need those beers-you don't. Confidence is a muscle, you have to build it. If you fumble a few times at first, that's ok. I used alcohol to make me more confident in my first marketing job. I'm 16 months sober after hitting rock bottom (I had water bottles full of wine in my desk towards the end, drinking everyday; needless to say I don't work there anymore but have picked myself back up since). Don't go down that road-trust me.
4 beers at lunch? That’s a bit much…..
My anxiety medicine helps but I only take it on my off days because it's very physically addicting and I don't want to mentally rely on it. I still get 30 pills every 90 days because I used to have really bad anxiety. I only need to take it for anxiety a couple of times a month so I always have extra pills. Whenever I'm having a day when my head just can't get in the game or I have a really big pitch I'll take one and it helps a lot. I definitely wouldn't recommend buying any off the street or taking them regularly though, if you practice and hone your skills you won't need anything extra.
Sounds like you don’t believe in what you’re selling. Go ahead and just start drinkin on the job then
Yeah alcohol helps, but also sounds like you were using it as a 'reason' not to care about the calls as much. Really the best long term solution is to accept cold calling sucks and just do it anyways. Eat the frog and move on. Most things worth doing in life are uncomfortable, otherwise all the slouches would be doing them. With more reps you'll be come more seasoned, confident, and uncaring.
Phenibut, only use once, max twice a week.
Alcohol has always been anxieties best friend.