We are going to talk a little today about stumbling blocks that every salesperson has. I don’t care who you are all the way up to The Donald himself, I’m sure you will encounter these mental roadblocks during your course thru life. We will start with one that even after 25 years in the sales game, I still have pop up on my radar screen.

Fear of rejection.

If you recall last week, all people are motivated in some way by fear, the question is how do you use that as a positive force? Ask yourself the question “What is the worst thing that can happen?” Your prospect is going to say “No”. That’s it, not like they are going to kill you and roast you for Sunday Brunch, with a nice Mimosa…. No, powerful word, it hurts when someone says no to you, agreed, the question then becomes why are they saying no?? They don’t like the color of your shirt? Doubt it. You remind them of an ex? Doubt it too, but possible. Good god, did you see him he looked just like my third cousins ex-husband, that idiot.

What they are saying no to is your concept or your product. Is it a good product or concept that many other people have bought? I don’t know about you, but it has to be for me to sell it. So, we have a good product that we believe in, the concept works, the products are good. Back to that fear, I have a newsflash the best thing to do when someone has said NO for the third and final time (more on the three no rule later) is say what the barber does, “NEXT”.

Sales is a numbers game, fact of the matter is that life in general is a numbers game. How many different people in your life did you date before or after you got married, numbers game. If you are going to succeed at anything you must run the numbers, with an understanding that 80% (or more)of everyone is going to tell you no. Whatever the reason it is not you personally, remember that, and take on each day of cold calling with that attitude in mind.

My favorite analogy for the right way to think about sales calls is a shiny new deck of cards being handed to you every morning. Crack the seal, shuffle ‘em up, and they will be in a different order every day. 2 Jokers, 4 aces, 12 Jacks, Queens, and Kings, and the rest are 2’s thru 10’s. Start turning them over one by one the 2-10 category are people that are going to say no right out of the gate, next. Jacks, Queens , and Kings are going to listen to what you have to say, and come up with a good excuse as to why they aren’t going to buy either. I would but my Grandmother’s dog is going to have puppies next month and it just doesn’t work for me. (You laugh, somebody told me that once as their reason for not buying long story…..

Aces are your bread and butter, and there are four of them in every deck. Pitch goes great, warm-up works like a charm, couple of small objections, boom check in pocket. Feels great right, not thinking about all the people that have told you no anymore are ya? I once pitched the same guy in the same house, three times in one day, cause I forgot the house and the face, numbers game. (Footnote: I remembered him the third time when he opened the door. oooof, only thing I could say was, *laughing* Well, change your mind yet?)