Definitely agree with you on making the call right away! I find the anticipation is usually worse than actually making the call. I usually build it too much in my head and think: "What if they judge me, laugh at me or hang up on me?" But that's never actually happened me. Disclosing can definitely help put yourself and the other person at ease. This may sound weird, but in the past, I sometimes made random phone calls to stores asking about items, prices, etc. Practicing making cold calls helped me a lot in terms of getting used to the phone and avoiding it less.