You can’t prospect for very long without having an unpleasant experience.
Somebody’s going to be upset at you walking in and disturbing their day, and if you take it personally, it’s going to wear you down. You have the potential to help people, so don’t let one or two negative interaction get in your way.
Right place, wrong time.
Here’s the way I look at prospecting: if somebody gets upset, it’s a little bit like you’re driving a car, the light is green and you proceed through the intersection. A car coming from the cross street runs the red light and T-bones you, bam. You’re totally in the right, the other person was in the wrong, but you know what? It happened.
You and I have no idea what’s going on in that person’s life. That person that “ran that red light,” may be racing to get to the hospital, or they may just be clueless. Who knows? But chances are, 99% of the time when people get upset with a salesperson who calls them, it’s because of something that happened before that call and all they’re doing is taking out their aggression on you. Unfortunately, I’ve done this in my own life, have you?
Shake it off.
When somebody gets upset at you, you just move on.
If you do take it personally, you’re going to hyperventilate and not make the next call. But if you don’t take it personally, you just shrug it off. You blow it off and you make the next call.
I want you to be excited about making prospecting calls because you’re helping people—not dreading it. You have the potential to help people, and you’re excited because you never know when the next sale is going to happen. But more importantly, you just have to accept that whatever happens is okay.
It’s not about you.
It’s not about you on the prospecting call. It’s about the prospect.
The prospecting call you’re making is to get the customer talking. I treat the prospect as if they’re a bobblehead doll. My job is to just tap the top of their head. When I tap the top of their head, it gets moving. That’s how I engage you.
Some people take the rejection personally. We’re told this personal rejection is the bad part of sales. It makes me laugh. How could it be personal? The prospects don’t know us. They are refusing your offers to sell, not you. Maybe if they knew you better they would reject you. There are those people that brighten a room when they leave. However, that’s not you. If your spouse asks for a divorce, that’s personal rejection. If your private club asks you to leave and never return, that’s personal rejection. If you ever feel personally rejected by a prospect, remind yourself that “My prospect doesn’t know me. How could the rejection be personal?”
Remember, rejection is rarely personal. Rejection is just part of the process. When you get rejected you break even and shake it off. Now what’s so tough about that?
Happy Selling,
David
