Overcoming the
fear of public speaking
By Dr. Larina Kase
Whether or not you’re a sales person, you
need to sell to others. If you’re a parent,
you need to sell your kids on eating their
vegetables. If you’re a leader, you need to
sell your team members on doing a good job.
Whenever you want to get your point across,
you’re using sales skills. In business and
life, sales come up a lot.
So what happens if you’re sales phobic?
Is Sales Phobia a Type of Social
Anxiety?
It typically is because you’re worried
about how someone else will judge you. It
may also be that you’re worried that you
won’t be successful so you don’t want to
try.
In most cases, sales phobia is a normal
type of anxiety. Almost everyone has social
anxiety from time to time—speaking jitters
when giving presentations, trying to look
their best when talking with key business
partners, or feeling nervous about making
cold calls.
Social anxiety disorder, on the other
hand, is more intense anxiety, comes up more
frequently in different situations, and
causes significant impairment. Social
anxiety disorder (now called social phobia)
affects 7-15% of people and is equally
common among men and women. Someone with
social anxiety disorder would probably have
anxiety in several situations, such as
talking with new people, going to parties,
and so on.
Are there some people who have
diagnosable social anxiety that shouldn't
even try to sell?
Discomfort with selling can be overcome
with practice and sales coaching. Social
anxiety disorder is very treatable, so
people with the condition may want to
receive cognitive behavioral therapy, (CBT)
or medication before reaching a conclusion
about whether they can sell.
I've had several salespeople clients who
were wonderfully talented at sales but the
anxiety got in the way. Once they got rid of
the anxiety, their performance was stellar.
And one of the best ways to overcome social
anxiety or sales anxiety is to do it (i.e.,
sell) more often.
Anxiety is a condition (or a state)
whereas personality is a set of traits that
tend not to change. So if someone has
personality traits like introversion, or the
need for stability and predictability (esp.
in income), sales as a career may not be a
good fit.
How do I know if my sales phobia is
likely to change?
It’s probably temporary if:
- You're new to sales or to the current
industry or business and are not yet
comfortable in a sales role. You simply
don’t have enough experience to be confident
yet.
- You don't think sales is the right fit
for you- not necessarily because you're
nervous about it, but because someone else
could do it better. This means that you
could get over the sales phobia but maybe
you don’t need to because you don’t want to
be in a sales role.
- You're nervous because you have so much
on your plate that you don't have time to
devote to developing your sales skills.
What should I do?
The most important thing is to remain
focused on your objective in a conversation.
If you know what you are hoping to get out
of it, then you can achieve your goal.
Remember that you’re not there to force
someone to do something they don’t want to.
You’re simply delivering information that
can be helpful and providing an invitation
for someone to take you up on it. Staying
focused on your goal and your prospect’s
needs, you will accept the risk of
discomfort when you take on the sales role.
You’ll go for it and be likely to have great
success. You will be more successful and
have greater confidence the next time.
The second most important thing to do is
to get plenty of experience. The more you
do, the better you will be. Sales calls and
conversations are just like anything else:
they are difficult until you gain practice
and as your skills increase, they become
more productive and fun than frightening.
Larina Kase, PsyD, MBA is a business
psychologist and founder of Performance &
Success Coaching LLC. She’s the coauthor of
the New York Times bestseller The Confident
Speaker. Get resources on charisma and
confident speaking at
www.TheConfidentSpeaker.com.
KEYWORDS
Social anxiety, social phobia, social
anxiety disorder, sales phobia, sales
phobic, sales person, cognitive behavioral
treatments, sales coaching, overcome social
anxiety, sales anxiety, sales skills
Find more articles on overcoming public
speaking anxiety here.
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