Some people aren’t into the idea of rejection but actually, there are positive reasons why getting a no is not such a bad thing. 

Francisco Terreros is a co-founder of Felkrem, a full-service sports marketing agency focused on two core services. First, they represent professional footballers/soccer players in their careers both on and off the field, and secondly, they sell brands and reach the players’ demographics through sports and marketing. They are FIFA agents and marketers who do sales every day. The sell to parents and kids they want to sign to their firm as well as to teams and sponsors. 

They are selling their experience as sports marketers to brands who want to capitalize on their understanding of how to navigate and reach their target demographics. 

Their company is surviving, thriving, and growing rapidly despite the competition in the industry. Felkrem is dealing with the athletes' professions and their dreams. 

Getting no as a sales rep

Sales reps have been in this situation once or twice in their careers as salespeople. It’s difficult to hear the rejection, and much more difficult to accept it. But why do we get a no and why is getting a no not such a bad thing? 

A seller’s job depends on his ability to  get a yes, so naturally, a no for an answer is a hard pill to swallow. 

Lions are the kings of the jungle. It’s their natural instinct to turn their chase into actual food. They have their hunting strategies matrixed down that when the prey gets away, they don’t just give up. They walk and find another kill. They also don't necessarily go for the biggest and the fastest one. They change their game occasionally  and go for something else. 

As sellers, we need to think like lions. It is our instinct to turn the potential sales opportunities into yeses. Our game must also be matrixed so that when we hear no, we don’t walk away dejected. Instead, we walk away with a new plan in our head. We should learn to walk away and get the next one. We need to understand that no is part of the process and it’s going to help us figure out what we must tweak to get the yes. 

Overcoming this is a hard job because our lives depend on the yes. ‘

The sales process is a numbers game and our closing rate of yes comes before several nos. Your sales career will change once you realize that and calculate how many nos you need to get a yes. Simply put, a no means one step closer to the yes. 

Back to the beginning 

We must all begin learning the basics before we become successful in our craft. Cisco got an internship with the sponsorship department in a major league soccer team in his area. He was assigned to support the sponsorship team. He took pictures of activations, set up banners in the stadium, and met with clients at the game to let them into the gate. He was a secretary but he needed to be more. He started coming in two hours before his shift and observed. With his notepad in hand, he listened to the sponsorship guide sell and he took notes to understand the process. Weeks later, he asked for more and he was given a list of people. He started calling and calling and got zero yeses. 

Years later he realized that all those nos taught him something since they got him closer to the job. The nos helped him understand himself and his techniques and what he needed to do to change the no into a yes. 

Cisco wouldn’t have been able to understand that it’s all a system and a process if he didn’t start with the basics. 

The hungry lion 

The analogy of the lion is perfect for this subject matter. After missing their prey for a couple of times, a hungry lion is more zealous than ever to catch another one. A hungry lion is persistent and patient in an intelligent way, not in a desperate way. 

We need to help our team understand that. Teach your team to think like hunters and that the no is a way for them to become hungrier. Not desperate; just hungry. Desperation can be felt a mile away, so don’t be that desperate seller who tries to oversell. Be hungry and be patient. 

A seller’s desperation is a puff of wind that clients don’t want to inhale. It’s also good to take a mental note that clients can hear your desperate sound even in a phone conversation. When your voice drops and your tone shifts, your client will start to zone out. Pay constant attention to how you sound and how you deliver your pitch. 

Turn that no to a yes

Cisco had a seller call him in the past for a pitch and his voice and tone were giveaways to his desperation. Cisco helped him understand the process of no and he asked the seller to count the nos he got before he had a yes. A week later, the seller talked to Cisco again but now with a triumphant voice. He said that he got 33 nos before he had a yes. Those 33 nos are no longer awful experiences because those are the setbacks that got him to a yes. 

Knowing the nos is the beginning. Doing something to lower the no-to-yes ratio is the next step. You do that by identifying where the gaps are in your pitch or in the presentation and you fill those gaps. 

‘Check me’ partner  

Accepting no is a difficult thing but this process is a continuous one. Even if you get better at getting yes, you’ll still face some nos along the way. It’s better to have someone who’ll be on the journey with you. Find someone who can check you and get you back to reality when you’re facing a slump. It can be your co-worker or your business partner. It can be another team member or your boss. It can be anybody who can get you back to your feet. Teach them to remind of you three things:

• What did you learn?
• What can I do better next time? 
• The no means you’re one step closer to the yes.

Be reminded of those three things to overcome the depression and dejection that come with the no. So, go and find yourself a Check Me partner. 

This can be applied to basically every aspect of our lives because our society fosters a culture of positivity and negativity. People have high emotions of happiness and low emotions of sadness. This contrast is good because you won’t be able to feel the satisfaction and elation that comes with happiness if you haven’t experienced something bad. 

At the end of the day, rejection is a necessary evil to achieve heavenly success. Your no is one step closer to your heavenly staircase of success. 

Remember that every no in sales means you’re one step closer to the yes. #Positivity 

We don’t have to become an expert in overcoming rejection but we do have to understand the tools to help us overcome the rejection. 

Learn to turn your awful nos to beautiful yeses. 

“Why Getting a no is not Such a Bad Thing and How to Accept it!” episode resources 

Connect with Cisco in his social media to be inspired. Follow him on Instagram or shoot him a mail. 

This episode is brought to you in-part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a tool for sales reps and sales leaders to become better in doing their pitches and presentations. The program has 12 courses to help you find the right customers, ask the right questions, and close great deals. You can get the first two modules for free! 

If you’re a sales rep looking to hone your craft and learn from the top 1% of sellers, make plans to attend the Sales Success Summit in Austin, Tx, October 14-15. Scheduled on a Monday and Tuesday to limit the impact to the sales week, the Sales Success Summit connects sellers with top-level performers who have appeared on the podcast. Visit Top1Summit.com to learn more and register! 

If you’re a reader and loves reading and listening to books, you can also check out Audible as well and explore this huge online library with thousands of books. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

If you like this episode, don’t be shy and give us a thumbs up and rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

Salespeople don’t like to hear the word “no” but Andrea Waltz is going to help you change the way you look at that response so that you’ll find yourself trying to go for no.

Andrea and her husband struck out on their own about 19 years ago. They did sales workshops and trainings for big companies, and they found that their rejection piece was the thing everyone loved.

This was a problem and a solution that affected everyone no matter what business they were in.

In this replay of a 2017 episode of The Sales Evangelist, Andrea offers the following advice to those dealing with rejection.

IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU.

Although it’s true that the rejection isn’t personal, it’s hard to avoid internalizing that rejection. It’s normal to respond emotionally when someone tells you no.

If, however, you allow rejection to take control of your sales process, you end up with mediocre results because you’re little more than an order-taker.

GO FOR THE NO.

Eventually you’re going to have a conversation with someone, so rejection is always a possibility.

Andrea’s husband had an experience once selling menswear, and his manager asked him what the customer said no to. Her husband pointed out that the customer bought everything he recommended and didn’t say no to anything.

The manager then asked, “Well then how did you know he was done?”

As sellers, we tend to sell to our own wallets, but if we could get comfortable being told no, it’s possible that we’d be even more successful.

We must get used to hearing “no.”

HELP STRUGGLING SELLERS.

“No” doesn’t mean never; it means not yet.

“No” is the beginning of a negotiation. If you call on someone who is happy with the current supplier, that won’t necessarily be true forever.

You must stay in touch and follow up even when people tell you “no.”

Encourage your sellers to continue the follow up. It’s easy to lose track if you don’t use your CRM.

There’s also an interesting phenomenon around getting a “yes.” Everyone celebrates that “yes.” Contrast that with the person who makes 20 phone calls and gets nothing but “no.”

Consider that a lot of those “no” answers can turn into “yes.”

Track your “no” answers. Set a “no” goal.

If you get permission to follow up, you absolutely must do it.

MANAGE “NO.”

Sellers must learn to distinguish the different kinds of “no” answer. When you avoid hearing “no” you don’t get good at handling rejection emotionally.

When you get used to hearing “no” you learn to distinguish the “no” answers that could potentially turn into a “yes.”

Get permission to follow up with that qualified prospect. At worst, ask if you can check back in a few months to see if anything has changed.

You can also try to figure out what the “no” is by figuring out how you got to “no.”

You have nothing to lose at this point, so try to figure out why it wasn’t a good fit. Figure out why people are saying “no” and figure out how you can mitigate that in the future.

TALK TO THE RIGHT PEOPLE.

If you’re getting a large number of “no” answers, determine whether you’re talking to the right people. Consider that maybe you aren’t contacting qualified leads.

Maybe your presentation needs a few tweaks.

If you’re only being proactive, you’re only dealing with the “yes” answers.

People usually have to be contacted multiple times before they say “yes.” They are often hesitant to change, so if you’re changing a service but the prospect doesn’t want to make a change, that’s why multiple contacts are necessary.

Add value. Get them accustomed to the idea.

CHANGE YOUR MINDSET.

Understand that you don’t just have to focus on “yes.” That mindset shift forces you to let go of being perfect.

People have been conditioned to believe that “no” and failure go together.

When you avoid “no,” you miss opportunities for some big “yes” answers. We want to give people permission to believe that it’s ok to get a “no.”

Create a “no” awareness.

“JUST GO FOR NO!” EPISODE RESOURCES

Learn more about these concepts by visiting GoForNo.com. You can also grab a copy of their book Go For No!: Yes Is the Destination, No Is How You Get There.

This episode is brought to you in part by our TSE Certified Sales Training Program, which teaches you to improve your sales skills, find more customers, build stronger value, and close more deals.

The next semester begins in April.

This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It’s super easy, it’s helpful, and I recommend that you try it out.

You’ll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link.

I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility.

If you haven’t already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss a single episode, and share with your friends!

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

As salespeople, we’ve all faced new rejection. It feels like a punch in the gut every time. It can sometimes make you question if you should even stay in the business.  

Kevin Yee knows what I’m talking about. Rejection is especially hard to handle when you are new to it as Kevin was.

Kevin left the pharmacy industry and now runs a high ticket closing agency of about ten team members working with B2B and B2C clients.

It was risky move but after attending a sales training course, Kevin was highly motivated. He was excited to start making calls but terrified at the same time. He knew he lacked experience and that affected his confidence. Kevin wanted clients but he wasn’t sure if he was really going to be able to help them.

Intellectually, he knew he could work hard and figure things out but he remained insecure.

THE WRONG FOCUS

He was so focused on those insecurities, that within moments, his first client had control of the call. Looking back, Kevin realizes he was trying to be someone that he wasn’t. He is naturally inclined to be helpful but he was trying to be authoritative in his delivery.

He knew all the right things to say but he lacked conviction and it came across in his voice. It didn’t help that the client was also not interested in the services of a high- ticket closer.

Kevin had worked so hard to put everything in his training so the rejection really hit him hard. His confidence in sales was shaken.

He didn’t want to go back to pharmacy, however, so he decided to try again.

TRYING AGAIN

At the time, he was a one-man sales team. He had a marketing background so he set up a sales funnel for himself where he was the closer at the end. With help from his YouTube channel, the leads started to come in.

It was a good problem to have.

Kevin signed on a few friends to help out. Having confidence in the team’s ability to get results made it easier to reach out to more and more clients.

Certainly, the best time to close a sale is right after closing a previous sale because that is when confidence is high.

It has been six months since the sales funnel took off. The team has been getting better and better and Kevin has focused on getting more and more clients. He learned how to really connect with people and to be a good friend to his clients. Kevin takes the time to really learn about their businesses so that he can tackle any problems his clients may have.

He knows that the most important part of any new business is marketing and sales.

WORKING WITH OTHERS

He and his team are currently in the process of onboarding a B2B client with six-figure packages as they continue to reach out to new clients.

They strive to authentically reach out to people to help solve the closing and sales problems of their business. He believes there is a lot of opportunity on the table and is excited for the future.  

Kevin knows he could not have done it alone. He encourages you to reach out to others, especially if you are struggling. He believes that you have to have a giving mentality to succeed; nobody wants to work with a selfish person.

Sometimes we just get so focused on our own lane that we fail to realize there are cars next to us. Kevin hopes his story will inspire others who may be ‘in the slumps’ to keep putting themselves out there, and to rely on others for help as you continue to do the same for others.

“NEW REJECTION” EPISODE RESOURCES

Check out Kevin’s YouTube channel at Kevin Yee PharmD, or contact him at refugeehustle.com.

If you haven’t already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss a single episode. Share it with your friends who would benefit from learning more.

This episode is brought to you in part by prospect.io, a powerful sales automation platform that allows you to build highly personalized, cold email campaigns. To learn more, go to prospect.io/tse. It will help you with your outbound to expand your outreach. It allows you to set it and forget it. Your prospecting will never ever be the same.

Prospect.io is offering three months at half-price.

Previously known as TSE Hustler’s League, our TSE Certified Sales Program offers modules that you can engage on your own schedule as well as opportunities to engage with other sellers in other industries.

This episode is brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It’s super easy, it’s helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You’ll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link.

Mailtag.io will give you half-off your subscription for life when you use the Promo Code: Donald at check out.

I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we talk to Alex Quin about how to step up our game, get back up when we get knocked down, and what to do when everyone tells you no.

Alex is an investor who focuses on projects that he is passionate about, whether they be in entertainment, media, or fashion. His current projects include a globally-distributed clothing company based in Miami and several content creation projects bound for Netflix and Amazon.

As a public figure, Alex has had the opportunity to work with many brands that use his image and likeness for promotions and commercials. As an entrepreneur with several successful projects that garnered a lot of media attention, Alex became an influencer despite initially wanting to remain behind the scenes. [01:28]

HARD WORK AND CONSISTENCY

Some view his achievements as an overnight success. Alex doesn’t agree. He knows it took many years of hard work and consistency.

Yet people tend to focus on the finished product.

Consider social media for example. We want to portray ourselves positively and in the best light, which can come across to others as a perfect life. But social media is just the highlight reel. It doesn’t show the downfalls, the difficult times, or the moments of self-doubt.

When all the hard work is glossed over, it is easy to be fooled into thinking that you are the only one not succeeding.

In reality, everyone makes mistakes. But those mistakes can become opportunities to learn. [03:16]

Alex cites money, or rather the lack of it, as his biggest challenge. He started an advertising company using money he earned working in the fast food industry.

No job was too small. If he needed to clean bathrooms in order to afford computers or camera equipment or to pay the rent on a small office, he did it.

It was a difficult journey and he worked with a lot of people who let him down. [04:46]

HOW TO HANDLE ‘NO’

As sellers, many of us enter the industry assuming everyone will be nice, or at least polite. So rejection really hurts.

It takes a while to understand that they aren’t necessarily being mean to us but that maybe we are just not offering a good fit for what they need.

So how do we handle ‘no?’

We need to be realistic. We can get so involved in our project that we lose the outsider’s perspective and fail to see our own shortcomings.

Maybe the prospects are saying ‘no’ because there is a flaw in our presentation. Maybe we aren’t doing something right.

We need to re-evaluate ourselves and keep an open mind.

Is the feedback coming from a negative perspective or from a constructive criticism perspective? If you are continually hearing ‘no’ – what is the common denominator?

Find out why you were rejected.

It is the least you can do for yourself. Find out what part of your pitch caught their attention and what part turned them off. [05:38]

Study your project. What do you need to do – what might you need to change – to get a ‘yes’?

The founder of Starbucks had hundreds of rejections, as did Walt Disney. They both learned so much throughout the process that when the ‘yes’ finally came – they were ready.

A ‘no’ is an opportunity to learn because it points you in the direction of improvement. [07:33]

MENTAL HEALTH

Learning to handle rejection is also extremely important from a mental health perspective. Depression is real. It is often overlooked but it happens.

As entrepreneurs, we deal with a lot of negatives and the only way to keep a positive outlook is to turn those negatives into positives.

Maybe things are falling apart so that you can build them back up in a better way. Maybe the structure was wrong or the foundation was crumbling; this is your chance to fix it.

Entrepreneurs are not successful simply because their one crazy idea took off. They are successful because they worked consistently at that idea. [08:56]

It can be confusing when you see all the young kids on social media making so much money. You have to realize that most entrepreneurs aren’t successful until their mid-30’s or mid-40’s.

You are not in competition with other people. As an entrepreneur, you are in competition with yourself.

Your success depends upon your abilities:  your ability to be organized, to be focused, and to care for your mental state. It is your achievement when it works and it is your fault when it doesn’t.

Think of it as a race. Don’t focus on the competition, or the people behind you, or next to you. Focus on what you can do this time to make it better than last time.

Focus only on the finish line and go for your personal best. [10:04]

Think about your outreach. Can you improve your email? Is your offering good? Maybe it is all great but the timing just doesn’t work for your client.

LEAVE AN OPEN DOOR

Alex recalls working on a huge proposal for a global brand a few years ago. He spent three months researching and building strategy but didn’t get the deal through no fault of his own.

He and his team had done everything they could have possibly done. The client loved it but they were simply not ready.

No amount of sweet talking would have changed a thing.

Fast forward to the present, and that same company now endorses Alex.

You never know where something might lead. Leave an open door and don’t burn bridges. Do good business with good morals. [12:34]

Don’t be upset when faced with a ‘no.’ It could become a ‘yes’ in the future.

It is understandable that several rejections can eat away at your confidence. We all have our insecurities. You have to love what you are doing so much that it doesn’t matter what other people think about you.

Don’t listen to negative comments. Understand and have faith in your talent. Listen only to those people who want the best for you personally and professionally.

CONFIDENCE IS KEY

You will meet setbacks and failures because nothing is perfect. But you were brave enough to come up with and pursue your idea, so the negative opinions of others should not stop you.

If others don’t see that confidence in you, however, they will move on. You must have confidence and project confidence.

There are ways to build confidence. Books you can read, classes you can take – the more you learn about something, the more confident you will be when speaking about it.

Use frustration as fuel to improve yourself. Educate yourself. Be informed. Hustle inspires hustle. Surround yourself with uplifting people and rise together. [15:13]

You will face rejection. It is not the end of the world. Get yourself back in the game.

When Alex is having a bad day at work, he reads about the struggles that Elon Musk is going through with his business, or reads about the daily struggles facing people without clean water.

It puts a renewed perspective on things.

If you are listening to this podcast, you are already in a better position than most. You have access to a computer and a desire to learn.

If you don’t know how to use what you already have to do well, then do your research. Learn how. There is an alternative to everything.

ENERGY ATTRACTS ENERGY

Don’t let the game change you. Don’t allow other people to bring you down with their negativity.  Radiate positivity.

Don’t give your energy to people whose loyalty is controlled by opportunity. Weed out the people in your life.

Why are they trying to help you? Why are they doing what they are doing? You can’t give from an empty cup so take care of yourself first. [17:01]

“PLAN, PREPARE AND REFUSE TO GIVE UP” EPISODE RESOURCES

Alex loves to connect with people and to give marketing advice. Reach out to him at www.Alexquin.com.

This episode is brought to you in part by prospect.io, a powerful sales automation platform that allows you to build highly personalized, cold email campaigns. To learn more, go to prospect.io/tse. It will help you with your outbound to expand your outreach. It allows you to set it and forget it. Your prospecting will never ever be the same.

Previously known as TSE Hustler’s League, our TSE Certified Sales Program offers modules that you can engage on your own schedule as well as opportunities to engage with other sellers in other industries.

This episode is brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It’s super easy, it’s helpful, and I recommend that you try it out.

You’ll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link.

I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility.

If you haven’t already done so, subscribe to the podcastso you won’t miss a single episode, and share with your friends!

How much is your self-worth? How do you overcome your fear of rejection? Today’s snippet taken from one of our recent sessions over at the TSE Hustler’s League is about the idea of self-worth and how you can overcome your fear of rejection. How Would You Rate Yourself? We play all these roles – husband, […]

The post TSE 685: TSE Hustler’s League-“Your Self Worth” appeared first on The Sales Evangelist.

Rejection is part of sales. And if  you don’t know how to handle it then probably this isn’t the career for you. But sales can be learned and it can be learned by anyone. It’s a matter of finding that process to help you get over rejection and ultimately gain confidence. Today’s guest is Omar […]

The post TSE 629: Sales From The Street-“The Old Way Is Not Working” appeared first on The Sales Evangelist.

Sometimes we don’t like to hear the word “no” and this episode is going to change the way you look at it. Oftentimes, it takes multiple approaches before your prospects finally say yes. and that’s what our guest today, Andrea Waltz, is going to teach us. Andrea is the co-author of the book Go For […]

The post TSE 593: Just Go For No! appeared first on The Sales Evangelist.

 Today, I’ve pulled out yet another snippet from one of our training sessions over at TSE Hustler’s League so that you too might be able to benefit from these. In this clip, we talk about overcoming the fear of rejection and the concept of upselling, which are two essential factors in any salesperson’s success. Here are […]

The post TSE 335: TSE Hustler’s League-“Rejection and Upselling” appeared first on The Sales Evangelist.