The phone sucks. It just does. I’m already a person who has had to work and refine just to get my social skills to the point where I’m comfortable in 95% of social situations. Phone calls take 80% of that and dash it against the wall. You can’t see the person’s face, you can’t read their posture, and sometimes they even adopt completely different speaking patterns compared to a live chat. Despite all of that, I made 30 phone calls to people who didn’t know me over the course of an afternoon. Here’s what I learned from calling strangers on the phone.
Background Information
For context, I’m joining a volunteer group of individuals that has a set number of members (30, not counting the head of the organization). To join, you need to put in the work to get existing members familiar enough with you to cast a vote in your favor.
In-person meetups are a viable avenue, but not every member goes to every meetup. Plus, the few open to the public meetups they have annually are usually flooded with other individuals who are just there for the socialization and don’t have joining in mind.
This leaves little time to make an actual impression on the members of the organization as they’re busy shaking hands and yucking it up with the hundreds of other people at the function. You get your foot in the proverbial door at the in-person meetup and then they express just enough interest in you to give you the “call sheet”.
This call sheet contains the personal phone number of every one of the organization’s members. Within a certain time frame -before the next new member vote- you’re expected to call most, if not all, of the numbers on the sheet.
Palms sweaty yet?
Getting the Snowball Rolling
Every call is like playing Russian roulette. The person you’re calling may not answer or they may be an all-too-live round in the chamber when you pull the trigger.
I found myself praying that each call would go to voicemail. Two-Bit, thy name is coward.
Even so, you just gotta start.
I strolled into my bedroom and closed the door lest the calls be interrupted by the raucous screams of my children playing downstairs. With calculated execution, I cleared the immediate floor of the room to leave ample pacing room.
Don’t lie. You do it too.
Nothing gets the phone call juices flowing like wandering aimlessly.
The Very First Call
Three rings. That’s all I got before the very first person I’d even tried picked up the phone.
Russian roulette and the very first trigger pull struck primer.
I embraced the sinking feeling as I heard, “Hello?” from the other end.
“Hey! Is this Larry?”
“It is.”
“Hey Larry, this is Two-Bit. I’m actually trying to join your group and was given a call sheet. I’m just making the rounds at this point.”
Something key happened here. I could hear Larry’s voice light up on the other end at that announcement.
“Oh yeah! That’s great. I’m glad you called.”
My apprehension melted like butter in a microwavable glass bowl. With three sentences he managed to affirm my efforts and invite me in.
The rest of the call was largely inconsequential. We bandied back and forth about the whole call sheet process, he informed me that they stopped doing it for awhile after he joined, and I jokingly lamented the fact that they must hate me given the fact that they brought it back.
End of call.
Tough Customer
The next few phone calls blissfully went to voicemail. I rolled out my standard greeting and script for each one and moved on to the next.
On the fifth call, I met my first bump in the road. Good ol’ Josh.
Josh answered the call on the second ring. Quick to the line.
I rattled off my script.
“Hey! Is this Josh?”
“Yes.”
“Hey Josh, this is Two-Bit. I’m trying to join your volunteer organization and they gave me a call sheet. I’m just making the rounds at this point, so if you have any questions for me, fire away.”
The turn. What had been an enjoyable call with Larry became a terse interrogation with Josh.
“I don’t know anything about you. Who are you? Tell me about yourself.”
I spent the next minute listing off various facets of my life while Larry sat silently.
“That’s fine. But what do you want out of this? Why go through the trouble of calling?”
It was obvious at that point that Larry was trying to suss out my intentions. Was I fully committed to the volunteer organization? Had I even considered what I was signing up for?
I answered the best I could, but his opening approach had shaken me.
“Okay. You get out of this what you put into it. I’ve gotta drop now.” And with that, Larry was gone.
I stood for a moment and wondered if I’d done something wrong. Was it my own opening approach that caused him to be so terse? Did I offend him by asking if he had questions when he obviously did? Was he just the hardass gatekeeper of the organization and giving me the business on principle? Did he just have a bad day?
Don’t know.
All I know is that it gave me pause where I had previously built up some good momentum with the phone calls.