Fear of phoning.

• Position: Marketing News - Brief Article

If you've spent the morning on the phone with nothing to show for it, you're probably frustrated and about to quit Don't do it, says Gail B. Goodman.

As president of ConsulTel Inc. in White Plains, N.Y., Goodman conducts seminars in telephone skills for the financial services industry. She believes many telemarketers are hindered by a number of myths about phone prospecting. Those myths, she says, limit their chances for success to the extent that they are becoming epidemic.

"When there is frustration attached to the activity of setting the appointment, most bank sales people will make up a series of myths that support their inactivity," Goodman says. These convenient but counterproductive myths include such concepts as, "My friends will call me if they need financial help," and "Scripts hamper my style. I'm better when I ad-lib." None of these excuses are accurate.

Contrary to popular mythology, she says, it is important to count such activities as dialing, the...