Most of us have experienced the phenomenon that is call reluctance. We've covered the topic before on the VSL blog, and mentioned how some people would rather make tea or even clean toilets than pick up the telephone to a stranger. If you suffer from call reluctance, here's a tried and tested idea that may well help you to combat that feeling you get in your stomach when you really feel like doing anything but calling, especially cold-calling: Take the "cold" out of the cold-calling equation and give yourself a warm-up.

1. You're probably reading this because you need to improve your results from cold calling and telemarketing.

2.You hate doing the calling. If so, you're in the majority, if not you're probably a freak.

That said, those calls still need to be done, right? You still hate cold calling, right? If you've ever felt negative emotion toward any person or task, you have two basic responses: