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How to Face Rejection

How to Face Rejection

Okay salesperson…say it with me! I mean it…say it with me. Ready…set…go!

"I love the word NO!"…Again "I love the word NO!" Now try this one…"I Love Rejection!"…Again… "I Love Rejection!" Now try this one…"I am a liar! I am a big…fat… liar! I am a liar because…well…the reality is…. I hate the word "NO"…I detest prospects who tell me "NO"…In fact, I detest everything that NO stand for. I loathe NO's attitude, its appearance and everybody "NO" associates with!" Okay. Now breathe in…and breathe out…good. How do you feel?

I hope you feel refreshed. Why? Because you finally SAID what all of us salespeople actually FEEL. "NO" just plain sucks. The sales gurus for years have been telling us to love "NO," adore rejection, worship objection, revere "Get Out," and ignore "Let me think about it." Everybody expects us to just go on with our life as if it all never happened. Well dammit, its tough, and it hurts! So why do we put up with it? Because we have no choice, you say? Well, you are right. We have no choice. Just because we hate it does not mean customers are going to stop doing it. It would be nice to anticipate and halt the sounds of rejection seconds before they were ever uttered, wouldn't it? Perhaps a sudden, "Don't say it Mr. Prospect. Don't even go there." And think how fun it would be to just put your hands over your ears like a five-year-old child as you deliver a deafening, "Blah, Blah, Blah…I can't hear yoooooooouuuuuuuuu."

Well, as fun as this would be, this behavior probably wouldn't help fatten the monthly commission check. So what do you do? Here is your answer. While you need to "peacefully coexist" with the word "NO," I want you to feel free to despise it. In fact, I want you to hate it even more than you do now. I want you to hate it so much that you will do anything and everything to confront it. Notice how I said, "confront" it. Why confront it? Because that word is amazingly powerful and the rejection that comes with it is the single biggest destroyer of sales numbers and sales careers. I want you to look it in the eye and say, "Bring It On!"

Why this harsh attitude? Because the reality is, while "NOs" come rolling in, you have two choices to make. You either wimp out and make excuses, or you let your loathing of rejection motivate you to work longer hours, hone your selling skills, manage your time better or enhance your creativity. I want you to use that sick "just lost the order" pit in your stomach to inspire you to come out fighting. I want you to act like that cat that has just been backed into a corner. Now I understand that "keeping your chin up" might convince your boss and everybody around you that you are immune to rejection, but if I were your sales leader, I'd have more fun seeing you "burn" inside. I want to see the pain. I want you to look like Tiger Woods after he just double bogied a hole. Why? Because pain and the need to never feel that pain again are remarkable motivators. And that pain is often a signal that you could be doing things better - that you SHOULD be doing things better.

And isn't that the purpose of pain? Think about it. Pain is a gift from above that prevents us from doing things that hurt. If we hold our hand over a burning flame, nature tells us we are nuts and that we had better rethink what we are doing. That’s what I want you to do with rejection. I want you to use that pain to do your job even better. I don't want you to just go on with your sales-life like nothing every happened. Instead, confront that rejection and analyze why it happened. Let that emotion be the fuel of curiosity. If you use it correctly, you will identify things about that last sales call, or that series of sales calls, that you can improve upon. Was it your preparation, your product knowledge, your follow-up?

After your analysis, make notes about your performance. I know your mind is often full of "woulda, coulda, shouldas," so make good notes and write them down as you build your "Resume of Rejection," "Diary of Dismissal," or your "Journal of 'Just Lost the Order.'" And before your next big sales call, pay a little visit to that "Periodical of Sales Punishment," relive the pain, review the learned lessons that the pain helped deliver, and use it to drive you to do everything possible to avoid that awful feeling.

There is a great quote by American Philosopher John Dewey (1859-1952) that sums it up nicely. He says:

Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks, learns quite as
much from his failures as from his successes.

Therefore, the next time you hear "NO" and the next time you fail to close the big sale, don't just accept that rejection and move on. Instead, let that awful feeling motivate you to look for answers. You will find in the end, that it will be your loathing of "NO" that will deliver you to a lot more "Yeses."





How to Face Rejection - To learn more about this author, visit Brian Sullivan's Website.

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About The Author


Brian Sullivan
(Visit Brian's Website)
Brian Sullivan, CSP, is a member of the National Speakers Association and an internationally known expert on sales and leadership. Brian is one of about 10 percent of speakers worldwide to have earned the Certified Speaking Professional Designation awarded by the National Speakers Association and the International Federation for Professional Speakers. He delivers high-energy, no-nonsense, interactive seminars on his PRECISE Selling Formula to a companies looking to become famous in their industry. He has been quoted in magazines such as Selling Power and Business Week and is the author of the book, 20 Days to the Top- How the PRECISE Selling Formula Will Make You Your Company's Top Sales Performer in 20 Days or Less. Brian also hosts a talk radio show on Hot Talk 1510 called "Entrepreneurial Moments," a show dedicated to helping business people of all types. Brian lives in Kansas City with his wife Leanne, and children Jake, Shea, and Maggie.
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