One of the biggest reasons many people do not go into business for themselves or fail after they launch is that they have a fear of sales rejections. As a result, many business owners hate doing sales and avoid them at all costs. Many well-meaning sales managers and business mentors, in an effort to help the person get over their fear of sales rejections, will say,
“They’re not rejecting you personally; they are just rejecting what you are selling”.
While well-intentioned, it is mostly bogus. I too have been guilty of propagating this half-truth from time to time.
Diving a bit deeper, if the only reason for receiving sales rejections was based on the prospect not needing what you are selling or that the time was not right for them to buy now, then every single salesperson would more or less be equal when it comes to their sales success. However, we know there are one or two top sales performers in many organizations that can sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves.
Most of the top sales performers have a history of sales success, regardless of what they are selling or for whom they are selling. Therefore, there must be more to receiving sales rejections than just that the prospect is rejecting what you are selling.
According to the sales guru Jeffrey Gitomer, the prospect IS often rejecting the salesperson or the company they work for.
Here are Jeffrey’s eleven reasons why a sale often flops based on the person and not the product or service being offered, and how to decrease your sales rejection rate.
1, Lack of attitude. Not just a lack of a positive attitude, but also the lack of a winning attitude. You have to take steps to rewire your brain and create different life experiences than what you have had in the past. Life experiences create a reference which we base all of our future experiences.
2, Lack of preparation. Hopefully you know more about your product or service than the customer- but what do you know about the customer? Do you know what the customer wants, and even more importantly, why they want it?
3, Lack of belief. Belief is certainly one of the most important and complex emotions, yet one of the least understood. In the science of selling, belief can be broken down into five parts. You have to believe that:
You work for the greatest company in the world.
Your products and services are the greatest in the world.
You can differentiate yourself from the competitor in a manner the customer perceives as valuable.
You’re the greatest salesperson capable of transferring a message and understanding customer needs.
The customer is better off having purchased from you.
4, Lack of sales skills. Since most entrepreneurs do not come from the world of sales, it is your responsibility as a business owner to gain sales knowledge by investing in books, seminars, online courses, finding a mentor, and any other means at your disposal to gain sales wisdom.
5, Lack of personal self-confidence. Self-confidence and preparation go hand-in-hand. When you feel nervous about selling, you are actually just unprepared.
6, Lack of resilience. Lack of resilience is a key element in the sales rejection failure syndrome. Resilience is your inner strength to react to what happens to your outer strength, and your mental strength in response to what happens to you.
7, Lack of personal pride in your work. Do you have a lack of attention to detail, a lack of punctuality, a history of missed appointments, and a history of making cynical comments?
8, Lack of personal pride in yourself. Many people take more pride in their sports teams than they do in their careers. Think back to the time that you made your biggest sale. Call on that memory and feeling every time you are in a sales presentation.
9, Limiting self-thought. Self-thought comes from the negative side. Are you more worried about what might happen versus dedicating yourself to changing the outcome? If you walk into the sale believing it probably won’t happen or you probably won’t get the sale, then you’re probably correct.
“If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you’re right.”
Mary Kay Ash
If you want to change your outcomes. the first thing you have to do is change your thinking.
10, Low self-esteem. Did somebody tell you that you were not that good or not that smart? Like a fool, you believed them.
11, Limited self-image. You don’t consider yourself equal to the buyer or good enough to sell to them such as the financial advisor with minimal retirement funds advising a client with enormous wealth, or the car salesperson trying to sell a car that they cannot afford or buy themselves.
Believing that the customer is not rejecting you and only rejecting what you are selling is half true. The customer may not need what you are selling, and the timing may indeed not be right, however,- your sales rejection may be due to you personally based on one of more than the eleven reasons given above.
Are you the reason you’re getting more than your share of sales rejections?
