I've spent 20 years teaching people to communicate. Phone anxiety has never been worse. I see it most often among younger employees entering the workforce, and the issue is more complicated than it seems. Find out more.
prospecting
Why do some voicemail messages result in a return call and others don’t? While there are many reasons, one of the biggest contributors to the unreturned call is the detailed message. The role of a detailed message is threefold: To provide information to someone you already know or are already … Read more
Cold calling does strike fear in the hearts of many professionals. Whether you’re making phone calls, sending an email, or connecting with someone on LinkedIn, you’re doing something that can feel uncomfortable: reaching out without an invitation. Yet the success of this approach continues to build trust, relationships and revenue. It is … Read more
When I officially embraced my alter ego, The Phone Lady, back in 2006, the skills involved in reaching someone on the phone were vastly different than they are today. In fact, if I were still teaching those skills, well, I’d no longer be in business. To stay current, I’ve always … Read more
In my previous update on adventures in sales, I shared that I was having lots of positive first conversations with prospects, but was struggling to book follow-up calls for my team. Today I’m excited to share that I’ve now successfully booked my first follow-up calls! These secondary conversations have come about … Read more
As the long summer days of August come to an end, my new role as a sales development representative with a learning and development company is in full swing. In my previous update, I was excited to have just completed my very first sales call and had a positive conversation … Read more
In case you’d like to listen to this blog post, you can enjoy my audio version (I start at the 14 second mark.). – listen here. This past week I answered a call from an unfamiliar number in Ontario. There was a cheerful woman at the other end and the … Read more
Did you know that curiosity can help us overcome a fear or anxiety? That it can show us a way to navigate stressful situations? Neither did I … until recently. While scrolling through available audiobooks on business topics at my local library, a particular title caught my attention. With no … Read more
It was January 2006 when I officially launched “The Phone Lady” brand. At that time, about 80% of my work was with sales teams, giving them the skills and confidence to pick up the phone and inspire great conversations. This work soon began to include customer service skills, how to … Read more
Recently, while working with a team of experienced salespeople on a new outbound campaign to CEOs, I realized something was missing. But I struggled to find the right words to describe this “something”. By listening to the calls, I knew that everyone was including all the pertinent details. They were … Read more
The details we can uncover about an individual or an organization through a website, a Google search or reviewing an internal file are all extremely valuable and they do support our ability to be a storyfinder. But often, they are only the tip of the iceberg. The deeper story is … Read more
Several weeks ago Allison Smith of Dandelion Digital approached me with this question: Do you have resources on how to do this diligent research of ideal prospects? Since I did not have a downloadable resource to share with her (yes, this is now on the “to do” list), I decided to … Read more
For many businesses and individuals, the plan they created earlier this year to reach their financial goals is now obsolete. And with so many unknowns still in play, likely for some time to come, it can be difficult to create a new plan that delivers results quickly. There’s some simple … Read more
My dad was a great lover of comedy. Born in 1920, he grew up in the era of vaudeville and silent movies (where the piano player sat below the screen at the theatre and played the soundtrack!). I loved it when he shared these memories with me. When I was … Read more
Almost every small business owner I’ve worked with starts out keeping track of prospects using a spreadsheet. They carefully choose and set up the columns. Then they add to it weekly, sometimes daily, listing all the people they’ve spoken to and a bit of information about what was discussed. They’ll … Read more
In our house, CBC Radio is on most of the time. Sometimes I listen intently, sometimes bits of information enter my consciousness while I’m focused on other things. This is what happened on November 28. The Current was on and a panel was discussing the latest revelations about the off-rink … Read more
It was October 13 – my birthday. I was seated at a candle-lit table at the rotating restaurant in the Calgary Tower with my beautiful mom and a view of the entire city. The next day she would be dropping me off at a huge trade centre, where I’d set … Read more
When I stand in front of a group of entrepreneurs or salespeople and talk about persistence, almost everyone squirms in their seat. The discomfort around following up, making multiple calls and connections, is almost universal. Why? I think it’s about semantics, the words we use and the stories those words … Read more
Whenever I work with entrepreneurs I ask them: “What is your first and most important responsibility?” The popular answer is “make money”, and of course this is vital. But at the top of the priority list is … letting your target market know you exist. The emphasis is on target … Read more
As a tool for improving phone conversations, artificial intelligence was sitting in a distant corner of my priority list, until Krystal Hobbs introduced me to Jim Brown who interviewed me on his podcast Sales Tuners which was heard by Richard Smith of Refract.ai who called me and booked a conversation. … Read more
My phone rang last Wednesday at 4:08 pm, just as I was settling in to do some prospecting calls. It was my colleague and friend Steve Foran, CEO of Gratitude at Work. It’s always great to talk with Steve; he’s incredibly energetic, knowledgeable and generous. But this call related to recent … Read more
A coaching client recently expressed her dismay at not being provided the right contact name within a large organization. She was allowing this to impact her prospecting goals. Within minutes I had her back on track with the names of several individuals that could be her perfect contact. How did … Read more
Last week I baked a cake to celebrate a friend’s 90th birthday. While I was decorating it, I realized that my ability to create a CHOCOLATE PECAN TORTE recipe and my phone skills have something in common, something simple that anyone can do to give themselves both confidence and positive, reliable … Read more
We all procrastinate about something. Whether it relates to our finances, home repairs, writing projects or exercise, each of us has at least one thing we know we must do … but we don’t. (Housework tops my list!) While procrastination may simply be a natural human characteristic, it’s important to recognize that … Read more
Communicating effectively on the phone is a skill and, as with any skill, improvement comes with practice and honest critique. What’s great about the phone is you can be your own best coach by recording a few of your calls, listening carefully, and making changes based on what you hear. … Read more
In the winter of 1988 I had to find a solution to a big problem. The previous Fall, I had put a mortgage on our family home to start my first business and the revenue being generated was, optimistically, unreliable. In reality it was … non-existent. My husband was not … Read more
What if I told you that by simply asking a question, you can capture the full attention and focus of your audience? And what if I also said that asking questions can predict future behaviour? I’m guessing a few of you would think I’ve exchanged common sense for fantasy. But … Read more
The most important outcome of speaking with a prospect – or existing client – is learning more about them. Our ability to serve is directly connected to how much we understand their needs, challenges and goals. Yet many times we end a phone conversation without learning anything new. Why is … Read more
It does seem logical to communicate with a prospect or client in the same way they’ve communicated with us (i.e. they send us an email, we answer by email, etc.) but experience has taught me, many times, this is often not the best choice. Every medium (email, text, phone, video conferencing, … Read more
LinkedIn is a very valuable tool for me. I interact with it in some way everyday – connecting with clients, researching prospects, reading business news, and learning from people all around the world. These are standard things that most of us do on LinkedIn. I’d never considered being more proactive … Read more
To celebrate 20 years of The Phone Lady, we're revisiting what truly makes communication meaningful. Every second week, we'll share a bit of wisdom to remind us that small shifts in how we speak, listen, and connect make a big difference. (You'll also receive access to our Exclusive Resources, including 4 ebooks.)
Remember party lines? Switchboards? Yellow Pages? The traditional telephone is almost gone, but its cultural impact deserves a ringing endorsement. Mary Jane weighs in.
A fresh phone hell in the office: Younger workers who don’t say hello when they answer a call need to know it’s a problem. Mary Jane weighs in on generational phone challenges - read here.
Bosses and employees are wrestling over whether voice calls have a place in the hybrid era. The Wall Street Journal recently spoke to Mary Jane. Find out more here.
22 Minutes correspondent Brandon Hackett figures out which end is up on this thing called a telephone, with help from The Phone Lady. Watch Telephone Lessons for Millennials.