It’s Halloween! What better time to talk about the things that scare us?
For me, it’s medical procedures. Whether it’s a filling or crown at the dentist, medical investigations, or any kind of surgery, I get a bit scared. This has been especially challenging over the past couple of years due to a huge volume of visits to the dentist, a laryngoscopy (a pipe up the nose and to your voice box) and an endoscopy with a greedy 16 biopsies 😬. Thank goodness for general anaesthetic, especially after seeing an extremely long white hosepipe in the theatre before being put to sleep for my endoscopy.
What about a fear of sales?
I have always said that a fear of sales can be down to your general perception but I normally find it is due to a past experience, sometimes even from childhood. A really good example of this is a client of mine who didn’t feel comfortable following up on proposals. It turned out that this was due to a stern telling-off and hard smack at a young age when she ‘had the cheek’ to ask for something.
So more about my story.
From a dental perspective, the fillings I had in my twenties are starting to wear out, with many needing to be replaced at a similar time, resulting in too many dental appointments for my liking.
My nocturnal tooth-grinding habit doesn’t help much either!
And as for the need for the endoscopy? It’s to investigate why I’ve been suffering from such persistent reflux. After all that prodding and poking, it has confirmed nothing sinister. I’ve since found out also that as we age our oesophagus gets weaker, which can result in reflux. I now have a device to help me strengthen my oesophagus. Who knew such things existed?
I know I’m not alone in my fear of the dentist or doctors. Some people are so scared that they don’t go, with terrible toothless consequences!
Why are you afraid of sales?
Although it might not seem like it, fear of sales, the dentist and doctors can be related.
In business, taking on a new task often takes us out of our comfort zone, triggering our ‘fight or flight’ mode and moving us into the fear zone. We become worried about things such as other people’s opinions, failure and a lack of ability. As a result, we make excuses and do what we can to avoid these situations.
When it comes to medical procedures, we are yet again leaving our comfort zone, but this time our fear is related to the unknown or a loss of control and uncertainty.
It’s important to say that leaving our comfort zone is very different to having a phobia. People with phobias often need specialist support to conquer their fears.
How to handle your fear
Handling your fear is often a case of mind over matter.
For example, when I have a medical appointment, I first prepare myself by understanding:
- the questions (there is always a list) I want to ask
- any concerns I have about the treatment
- what I can do to prepare myself before the appointment.
Then, if it is a procedure, I have a hypnotherapy session beforehand and listen to it several times to mentally and emotionally prepare myself. During the procedure, I focus on getting myself ‘in the zone’ and repeat positive affirmations in my head.
This process is certainly something you can follow to help address a fear of sales.
The moral of the story is this: even when you are scared, the first step is awareness. Then you need an action plan to work out how to overcome your fear so that it does not affect your quality of life or business success. Take action. Above all else, don’t forget to reward yourself!
You can learn more about fear and the comfort zone in this blog, “Is your comfort zone scaring your sales away?”. This post contains a very practical exercise to help you identify where you are in your comfort zone and what you can do to start facing your fears.
Do you feel scared at the thought of sales and think it could be limiting your personal income and business success? If so, get in touch with me for a free 30-minute call to discuss how I could help you overcome your fear of sales.
After all, what is the worst that could happen?
