Fear is an interesting emotional response. We feel fear for several reasons and in different situations in life. Fear can occur due to an immediate threat, like someone attacking you. Or it can happen with future events, such as the thought of your home foreclosure three months from now.
Fear is an important emotional tool guiding you through your experience when it comes to business and entrepreneurship.
When entrepreneurs or business people feel fear, it's usually a sign that they are in a place outside their comfort zone.
An example would be the salesperson that hates making phone calls to cold prospects. Most of the time, it's not that the person is hesitant to pick up the phone – it's that they don't know what to do in the situation – they are out of their comfort zone.
Why Face Your Fears?
In our example with the salesperson that's "afraid" of making phone calls – they display this behavior because of one reason – they don't know what they are doing. The fear of the unknown is real, and the thought of rejection stops them from taking action.
However, give that salesperson a system for reaching out to prospects and teach them that it's a numbers game, and they lose the fear. In fact, after a few weeks of practicing their new skill, they'll be itching to get to the phone to make calls.
So, what did that salesperson learn? They learned how to control the situation instead of relying on the prospect to guide the interaction. The point is that if you feel fear, it's because you don't know something.
When you learn what you're missing in the situation, you'll suddenly find you no longer fear it.
Avoid or Face Your Fears?
Fear can cost you a lot in life. Looking at the salesperson's example again, we see that their fear of the phone costs them lost productivity. Salespeople with poor phone skills might only make 10% of the call volume of a salesperson with a "black belt in phone skills."
How many sales do these employees leave on the table with failed calls, avoidance of work, and lack of follow-up? The opportunity cost surrounding failing to train that salesperson costs the company revenue and the salesperson commissions.
When they understand what to do, they turn things around. Fear is nothing more than a construct around our lack of knowledge. Fortunately – we can develop strategies to work through our fears.
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