This is an anonymous post from an Elpha member.

I feel like I keep choking on external calls and it's killing my confidence

Lesha93·Jan 12, 2022

Posted in:Advice

I'm a little over a month in to my new role and feel like I keep choking on calls with potential partners where I don't know what to say or how handle their objections. Thankfully my manager is on the calls usually and can jump in but it's killing my confidence and makes me question all of my skills. I'm at the point where I'm questioning if I should even be in this type of role or if they'll fire me.

I know the best way to improve and build confidence is to just practice but I'm really getting intimidated. Open to any tips/encouragement/advice!

annamiller·Jan 13, 2022

Hi there, thanks for sharing how you're feeling on here. What you're describing reminds me of situations where you feel a lot of pressure, so you choke and don't say anything bc you feel too afraid. I would recommend to examine the root of the fear and find ways to practice proving your fear wrong and creating a safe space your yourself, before and after the meeting, physically, mentally and emotionally. Exercises like breathe-work van be very helpful in telling your body that you're safe so that you're mind can feel at ease and work as you need it to in work situations. Hope this is supportive , feel free to DM if you'd like to chat further.

victoriamelnikova·Jan 13, 2022

Our communications manager shared this podcast with me and it really inspired me to kind of own it when it comes to calls / meetings. Check it out: https://hbr.org/podcast/2021/03/finding-my-leadership-voice maybe it will inspire you as well!

megansullivan·Jan 13, 2022

I recently started a new customer-facing role as well (I’m about 2 months in!) and I can honestly say the best thing I did was give myself some grace. Try to remember that it’s just a conversation, and go easy on yourself. The less I stressed out about the calls, the better I did. Also, don’t let the title of the person you’re talking to stress you out. There is a reason you were picked for your job.Some other things I did to help get me comfortable with objections:- focus on learning the product better and try to think like a customer. If you don’t have an internal document that helps with customer objection responses, I suggest starting one. - do mock customer calls with your supervisor/team - shadow calls of high performers - practice your verbiage - sometimes feeling like you are stumbling over your words can cause you to get in your head more than you should be All of this definitely gets easier with time, trust me. Just don’t give up and remember who you are/why they picked you! Good luck.

Filomena21·Jan 13, 2022

Try taking an improv class! Especially one that is oriented towards corporate employees. Remember the mantra, “It’s okay to f*ck up.”Not sure if this is possible within your role, but also see if there are any less important calls like this that you can take for practice. Maybe there are some lower priority (or perhaps difficult) clients/customers, and your managers don’t even care if they leave. Those are good ones to practice on.

Lesha93·Jan 13, 2022

@victoriamelnikova listening to this podcast now it is SO helpful. Really resonating. Thanks for sharing!