In the previous post, I discussed the strange phenomenon of "call reluctance". This problem of not wanting to prospect for clients or, in some cases, call referrals, can lead to the ultimate death of a career in sales.
There are ways to get over the fear of rejection, which leads to call reluctance. One is to change your attitude about rejection. In my book I tell the story about when I was single and would try to approach girls. My opening line was "I thrive on rejection. Can I buy you a beer?" Making it a win/win situation took the sting out of it when I was told "no". And on the rare occasion a young lady would laugh it off I could strike up a conversation.
That approach works in sales as well. (Dating is like sales in many ways) Using a sense of humor helps build a thicker skin. I'm used to people telling me that they aren't interested in what I'm selling, but each one of those people who say "no" get me closer to a "yes".
A few years ago I discovered that there is actually a school of thought that getting a "no" is a good thing. As mentioned earlier, every "no" gets you closer to a "yes", so we should welcome rejection. In sales, activity is key. There are those who get shot down in flames a couple of times and give up, but if they can get passed the rejection and keep working, the sales will follow.
I'm on the fence on this one. On one hand I can see where the logic is. Early in my career I was taught that sales is a numbers game. If you give ten presentations you should get two sales, or something like that. The numbers are not the same for everyone though. Factors like who you know, thickness of skin and hygiene habits can make those numbers move up or down dramatically.
On the other hand, celebrating each "no" as if it is a victory sends a weird message to your own subconscience that will ultimately lead you to failure and a job working in fast food. Instead of applauding your failures, look at them as hurdles that you just need to get over and keep moving ahead.
All of this is directly attributable to the abysmal rate of failure in sales. In my industry, life and health related insurance sales, agents drop like flies. For every 100 new agents who will work for a big life insurance company, only about 10 to 15 will remain after 3 years. Knowing this information has kept younger people from wanting to pursue a career in the business and has driven up the average age of a life insurance agent to about 52.
One of the good things I've recently discovered is how to use social media to my advantage. Sites like LinkedIn and Alignable help those of us who network in person make an impression online as well. Sending a non-threatening message to someone and asking for a meeting is easy if you know how to phrase it correctly. My success rate with this approach is about 10% but the rejection is negligible because people rarely respond back saying that don't want to meet with me. Those people just don't respond at all.
The only cure for call reluctance is confidence in yourself and your product. Knowing that what you offer is good regardless of whether people will buy every time is what keeps you in the game. And the best way to get that confidence is by having some small successes that you can build a solid foundation upon.
Chris Castanes is a professional speaker who helps sales people succeed through workshops and humorous presentations. He's also the author of "You're Going To Be Great At This!", a humorous look at sales. For booking information, click here. He's also the president of Surf Financial Brokers selling life and disability insurance in several states.
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