Fear paralyses professional business development

By Linda Julian

I've met lawyers and other professionals paralysed by the possibility of an adverse outcome to any business development encounter. They can't have any sales-oriented conversation without planning, examining, scrutinising, rehearsing, assessing, and second-guessing every possible outcome
 
There is only one 100% guaranteed way to avoid failure : you won't fail if you don't play. But not to play is to lose big time.
 
Not every professional is a "natural" and for many - maybe most - improvement means stretching beyond your comfort zone.  
 
Lawyers, high achievers in their technical specialties, often let fear of failure get in their way of taking those chances (which they frame as risks rather than opportunities).
 
Fear of getting it (even slightly) wrong and possible consequences paralyses some professionals. As fear increases, so diminishes your capacity to interact easily, read behaviour, and make effective decisions.  
 
When you're too fearful, your likelihood of success diminishes. Focus on (and excessive fear of) loss renders you hopeless as a business developer.
 
You can't play in the business development space without risk of loss and getting it wrong. But if you don't play you will never win. In the sales world, fear presents as classic "call reluctance" : not making the call means not moving forward, and putting off a call means putting off possible failure.
 
Sometimes fear of failure is a conditioned response to overoptimistic encounters which haven't worked as hoped (and only by a miracle would have worked that way).  
 
If you're a professional who approaches business development encounters with trepidation, start by setting yourself some realistic objectives : establishing dialogue with like-minded people connected with business opportunities, or demonstrating credibility and sector involvement to a desirable new client, or some other reasonable first-up aspiration. Patient people slip up less often - they make fewer stupid mistakes - and polite rather than pushy is always right.
 
Long term business development success requires steeling yourself to take some short-term risks.  
 
Don't let fear paralyse you. The only certainty is that doing nothing gives you a 100% chance of making zero progress.

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© Trey Ryder
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