Starting my own business

[Tokyothekid]

I'm 24, still in college as a Film Production Major. I'm really hyped on starting my own business, and have made some contacts (through email) to work with people to do video shoots with (commercials, real estate, etc).

I use to work at a hardware store for a few years and was use to answering the phone and such. But I quit, hated the job. Now I posted on some websites, and potential clients have emailed me. And ask me to call them. When I see their phone number and the words CALL ME, I freeze up. I wait for a few hours, then I say I'll call them the next day. Days will go by, then weeks, and then I just get over it and say I'll call the next one. Same thing, I get nervous of what to say or what they want and don't call them back.

This has happened 5 times now but in general, I have a fear of talking on the phone with people thinking I might screw myself over in some way (purchasing something I don't want, or potential client might try to haggle me on pricing).

And when I don't call them, I get so frustrated that I could have just had a 20 min talk and made some money. It's annoying because my father was a CFO of the national bank in south Korea and has done business deals with people that he doesn't even spank the same language with, and I can't make a 2 min phone call..to anyone!

 

[Sci-Fi]

Good luck to you!

Don't put off calling people back, just pick up the phone and dial. If you are nervous here's a trick I've done a few times. Write down how you want to introduce yourself (this should be automatic but when you get nervous you can forget everything). Keep everything you need at hand, pen, paper, prices, etc. Take a deep breath, pick up the phone and dial.

I've worked in customer service myself in some form since I was a teenager. When I was in my early twenties I worked in an office where I had to answer the phone or call customers, so for at least 10 years now and I still get nervous when I need to call people. I've done the exact same thing you've done, especially when it comes to calling my boss, lol. A lot of times I forget what I'm talking about or even the proper terms, but I just play if off and work with it, make a joke about it and get a laugh. Don't fret over it too much.

Now I work in a business where I have to order parts/product, quote rates and such. I get people who try to haggle on the price. When that happens I ask them to give me a second and I go to my computer to look up the item and see what I can do. Then I tell them that the lowest I can go is X amount and that's it. When someone wants to haggle you need to take back control, so giving them a rate and saying that's the best you can do usually resets their bargaining price. You get rid of the price they were thinking of in most cases and start fresh with a new one. Of course you always want to leave some room for the customer to come back with another price where you could still work with them. Customers that want to haggle usually want to feel like they made the deal. Gotta have your limits though, you can not lose money. When a customer wants to try to bargain me below what my cost or replacement cost might be I simple refuse and tell them I can't go that low it is well below my cost. Then I come back with a price slightly above cost that includes tax in case they try that approach. The biggest mistake you can do is agree to a price that includes tax that would put you below cost once you back the taxes off. Like all these NO TAX sales, I've worked in a few places that did that, the prices always include tax you just don't see it. They sell items at a price that has the tax already in it so they cover their costs and tax. It's just a gimmick. A lot of times they don't even reduce the price of their items, you just don't have to pay tax on it. The company covers it with what their markup is.

Okay I've babble on long enough, sorry about that.

 

[user 9172]

The first thing to do is don't beat yourself up about past failures. Let them go.

Fact is, you will get more comfortable and less anxious about phone conversations the more you do them if you have the right positive attitude. I've been there myself.

Get yourself in a positive frame of mind: Anything that goes wrong doesn't really matter in the long run. Don't over-think it before you do it. Just pick up the phone, and dial the number. I'm not saying you'll be confident enough straight off or even every time once you are, but you have to keep trying to get anywhere.

Write down the lowest price you can do and the price in the middle of that and what you want. That way when people haggle you, you will have it all written down.

 

[jjam]

I will not develop the habit of not calling people back. I met a woman a few weeks ago who had a proposition for me, but after researching "her company", I realized I was not interested in calling her back. It feels like I'm being rude but I am absolutely not interested.

 

[Acquisition]

Darn, where are you from? I would gladly handle all the phone calls for you, for a reasonable cut of the action.