Getting started in business can be scary.  Just wishing that you could put your product out there and it would sell without you ever having to engage with another human being is a dream – it does not happen that often.  As entrepreneurs and business leaders, we are always looking for prospects and clients.  This is a huge hurdle for some businesses that could actually be crippling.  Learning how to engage prospects is key.  Understanding the roadblocks that pop up during this process is really the mental state that stops business leaders from moving forward. 

1.     Fear of rejection:  cold calls, whether on the phone or in-person is really what drives the fear of rejection .  Develop a plan by scheduling time to do it and not procrastinating.  Create a map or a list and check it off as you go. It will get easier as you repeat the process.  It is important to practice what you will say and offer to send follow up material – whether by mail or email, or as a leave behind – go armed with it.

2.    Overwhelm:  when heading out into the local networking world, now the issue is overwhelm and the fear of in-person rejection.  Again, practice what you will say when you introduce yourself.  Be prepared with business cards.  Develop 3 questions you ask others to get to know them – if you focus on asking them questions, the pressure is off you...and people love to talk about themselves.  Also, do not go to a networking event with the intention of getting every business card you can.  Business is built on relationships, trust is key.  Take time to get to nkow the people you are meeting.  

3.    Lack of Understanding:  there are many online ways to network and gather prospects.  Taking time to understand the rules of each social media platform will help provide guidance and templates on how to interact as well as how to connect with others.  Joining groups, discussion boards and even hosting webinars to tell you story are great ways to gather prospects.  Investigation is key.  Get connected to the gurus of the platform and learn from them. 

4.    Fear of Risk:  risk needs to be considered when prospecting, except not to the point of not doing it.  There is always a risk in investing money into marketing material and programs, always a risk investing time in social networking.  Understand the reisk and assessing the payoff is necessary to making a good decision.   Try a few different options, but understand what your objective is and then give it time to work.  For example:  you could try tweeting about your new free e-book on your website.  You cannot simply do this once, this must be done over a period of time, with links to t he site.  If you are hoping to drive sales then your tactics do not match the results you are wanting to achieve.  The objective with the free e-book is most likely to gather email addresses for future use. 

5.    Fear of Failure:  sometimes also known as the fear of success.  Procrastination will  only continue to feed the fear of failure and success.  Understanding what is causing that fear will help to develop better plans for your business.  What are you actually afraid of?  What is the fear stopping you from doing?  Once you understand it, you can put mechanisms in place to stop that from happening.  Many inventors tried projects thousands of times over, to seemingly fail to achieve their intended result, only to discover other things along the way.  Business is the same – there may be mistakes and failures along the way, the key to is learn from them and not repeat them.  Engaging a prospect is the same.  You may discover that they are not interested in your product or service, but you have met someone who now knows your story or to whom you can send potential referrals.  

Entrepreneurs must learn to get over the roadblocks that they put in front of themselves.  Take time right now to see where you stand on each of the fears and how have they been impacting your business?  What can you do right now to make a change that will take that fear out of your future?