Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Job

Why is it that I can get up in front of a thousand people and give an off the cuff speech or even a eulogy but put me on the phone with someone who is looking for/offering a job and my knees turn to vanilla pudding wobbly? When I decided to accept my son's offer of a Job with his company:



I was told it was going to be as a creative/marketing consultant finding new ways to promote BrokersBullpen.com. Well that sounded just ducky because I worked 12 years as a promotional copywriter for a large local newspaper. Then when he heard me on the phone negotiating my way out of a cancellation notice with either the car insurance company or the electric company he decided that I'd make the PERFECT new phone contact person for stockbrokers looking for a new position and broker/dealers looking for new reps.

Well you know how it goes. Sounded easy when he gave me my new job description because I've never been afraid of public speaking. But put a freakin' phone up to my ear and I go all sweaty. My hands are even shaking! Now THIS is just NOT me...I thought I was invincible...after all I kicked breast cancer's ass so good that the doctor who told me I only had a slim chance of recovery still goes red in the face when she sees me in the hospital for new scans. I obviously didn't stay with her...I don't like anyone telling me I can't do something :) And btw...the new scans I had last week came back clean and I'm now FOUR years and counting out from breast cancer...Yay me!!!

But I digress. What is it about a telephone and an unseen person that gives me the willies? I never have a problem with phone negotiations over cut off notices but this cold call deal is a killer. Especially the one guy who was gruff...he reminded me of my Dad and I felt like I wanted to throw up my oatmeal, excuse the visual image I just gave y'all. I'll keep at it, of course. My son is the reason I still have a roof over my head so I owe him big time. I just wonder at my timidness ... it just doesn't feel like ME!

2 comments:

  1. I totally get where you are coming from!! I would much rather email someone than talk on the phone. Face to Face is just great - no problem there, but if I have to phone someone, I need to almost write down everything I'm going to say so I don't forget everything when they actually answer at the other end.

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  2. It baffles me too how a phone can intimidate so many of us. I can only think that it is because we can not see the other persons expressions. I know that always helps me when dealing with a person, if you can see how they are reacting to you, you know what course you should take to get your point across.

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