One of the biggest obstacles any sales professional faces is the sting of rejection from prospects. Isn’t rejection one of our biggest fears? We hate being rejected in any walk of life. It’s hard not to take rejection personally. It tends to make us feel inferior in some way, and no one wants to feel inferior in any way. Fortunately, when we’re rejected in sales, it’s usually not about something personal, and so we’re able to amend our ways more readily and avoid facing such rejection again. Here are ways of dealing with rejection and conquering any fears you have with prospecting:
1. Accomplish Something On Every Call
Your primary objective with any sales call is obviously getting an appointment. But you should have always have a fall back position in case you don’t get an appointment. What I mean by fall back position is getting a prospect’s consent to keep the lines of communication open between you and them. Ask them for a lesser commitment in keeping in touch with them thereafter. For instance, ask them if it’s ok to keep them on your email list. It’s unlikely they’ll say no. You’ll keep the relationship alive and keep the door open for future dealings with them.
When you accomplish something on each call, even something small like keeping them on your mailing list, you’ll avoid that feeling of total rejection. That will go a long way to keeping your morale and head held high.
2. No’s Will Happen
Many more prospects will say no than yes. If you can’t accept this, pick another profession. No is a part of life in sales. Don’t judge your success on the number of yes answers you get. Judge it on the number of attempts you make to get people to say yes.
3. Don’t Take Rejection Personally
It’s hard not to take rejection personally. Don’t do it! When you’re rejected, it isn’t you personally they’re rejecting, they’re only rejecting what you’ve offered them. Not you. It doesn’t matter who is offering it to them. When you offer them something they’re interested in, they’ll accept it, regardless of who is offering it.
4. The Last Call Has Nothing To Do With The Next Call
Don’t get dejected if you get rejected on any call. Your next call will be different. It might even result in your biggest sale to date! There’s no reason not to keep optimistic when you have good prospects to call upon. But do you have a steady stream of good prospects to call upon?
“Press on! Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” – J. Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States of America
Learn more about the omnipotent power of persistence and its ability to overcome fear and rejection in my course Building Your Ecommerce Business. This course has been approved by the Registrar, REBBA 2002 to qualify for 9 credits.
Part 1 here
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