When you�re closing more sales and making your sales numbers, selling can be one of the most rewarding and fulfilling professions in the world. But when sales are down and prospects aren�t calling you back, you may find yourself doubting yourself and taking it personally. So let�s take a look at what it takes to keep yourself motivated to bring in more clients.
There are 3 steps to follow in the process of gaining more clients and growing your business.
1. Prospecting and developing new clients.
2. Getting more involved with current clients in order to gain referrals and more business.
3. Contacting the highest-level decision-makers to get larger business deals.
As a business owner, we understand the importance of achieving these objectives. Why then do so many business owners have difficulty getting beyond the first step? It seems as much as we are motivated to achieve sales success, there may be a stronger need to avoid the possible rejection and failure we may experience when calling on prospects and clients.
Let�s talk about how rejection plays a role in sales success. Fear of failure and rejection can cause you to lose your enthusiasm, your confidence and your initiative. If you experience rejection, it can damage your ego. If you take the negativity or unkindness personally, you might become disappointed, depressed, and defensive.
There are three reasons we might take rejection personally. Each of them relates to the 3 objectives. They are:
* Emotional Involvement: You�ve been doing business with a client for a period of time. You spent a great deal of time cultivating the relationship. You want to ask them for referral business but you�re afraid you�re putting them on the spot or that they will say no. You�re concerned this might jeopardize the relationship you�ve worked so hard to create.
* Perceived Importance: You may tend to call on people you�re most comfortable with. You may hesitate to call higher into a company as you feel you lack the experience and confidence to carry on a conversation with a seasoned high-level executive. If you believe you have little in common with the CEO of a company, chances are you won�t call on him or her.
If we believe we need to be accepted by others to feel good about ourselves, then we will be vulnerable to failure and rejection. Successful people look at failure as an opportunity to learn and grow from it because their self-esteem is based on their own sense of self-worth. They believe they can gain more from failure than success and understand every mistake is a learning experience and grow from it. This is why whether they fail or succeed or are loved or rejected they always feel good about themselves.
So what’s the key to dealing positively with rejection? Five words sum it up…’ Do not take it personally.’ Things happen. People get busy. Customers have bad days. The economy goes up and down. You have a choice. You can take it personally and make those events an excuse for failure, or you can work on the four things that you have under your control: Your beliefs, your attitude, your emotions, and your performance. Take care of those four and the results will follow.
The next time you have a thought like �I can�t ask for referrals because I don�t want my client to think I�m too pushy,� change that thought to �My client is very satisfied with my service and is happy to refer me to others with similar needs!� Changing your thoughts is the first step towards changing your belief; however, it doesn�t stop there. Start practice saying it aloud to yourself and sharing it with others. When you do that, it will become more real for you.
* Select one of the 3 objectives you�d like to have a breakthrough in:
1. Prospecting and developing new clients.
2. Getting more involved with clients to gain referrals or additional business.
3. Contacting higher-level decision-makers or getting larger orders.
* Take a 3� x 5� index card. On one side of the card, write all the negative thought(s) you have about reaching that objective. Tell the truth, don�t hold back.
* On the other side of each of the index cards reverse the negative thought and write positive thoughts. This is the beginning of changing your negative belief.
* Begin to practice changing that thought by saying the new thought aloud to yourself and sharing with others.
* Write down the action steps to take and take one action step towards reaching the objective today!
