for the prospect’ s answer and the most obvious was, he doesn’ t have a need because he doesn’ t have any agents( the target audience) working for him. I responded immediately with,“ Oh, I’ m sorry, I didn’ t realize you didn’ t have agents.” He said,“ I do. But they know everything.” I was instantly taken aback. In fact, I was downright offended. My intense reaction caught me by surprise because it’ s far from typical for me. I came back with,“ You’ re kidding, right?” His response,“ Nope, they know everything.”
I then launched into a series of questions and statements, breaking about five or six rules of selling.“ I have a brand new agent who did $ 16,000 in commissions his first six weeks in the business. I also have a 73-year-old, 48-year veteran agent, who doubled his income in nine months. I’ m the top insurance sales trainer in New England and your people are all set? They know everything? Let me ask you, what do they carry in their hands into a cold call? Where do they park in a client’ s parking lot? Are they getting through the gatekeeper to the decision-maker in major accounts 95 to 98 percent of the time?” You know what he came back with, don’ t you? Right.“ Thanks, I’ m all set.”
I know, consider the source and“ win the battle, lose the war.” This person obviously wasn’ t my market because he didn’ t believe in training and improvement. For some reason though, none of that seemed to matter to me in the moment. In addition to breaking the five or six rules such as: Rule # 1: Agree, and Rule # 2: Ask questions vs. throw a bunch of stuff on the wall and hope something sticks, I became completely unglued. I didn’ t care that I was being combative and argumentative, another broken rule. All I could focus on was: how dare he dismiss me with such a backhanded, brush-off response as:“ I’ m all set.”
Debriefing the Call
As I regained my composure and debriefed after the call, one thing became crystal clear: I was so sold on my seminar and its ability to help any and all insurance agents that I took the rejection personally. I also realized that the personal rejection I felt after that call was like rocket fuel. I was now like a man possessed. I was extremely motivated to call as many people as possible. I imagined that many of them would be his competitors who would then use my techniques against him. I also imagined everyone buzzing about how good my seminar was and somehow it would get back to this prospect and he’ d realize what he missed. A little crazy maybe, but remember, emotion is not logical. And nothing motivates like the right emotion. The personal rejection I felt was almost the same as if someone told me I wasn’ t good enough, or there was something I couldn’ t do. Whatever it was, it lit a fire in my belly that carried me for about three days and frankly, whenever I need a little motivation even two weeks later, I think about that call.
Advantages of Taking Sales Rejection Personally
Advantage # 1: It Strengthens Your Resolve
This is about the motivation that I mentioned above. Think about the things in your life that mean the most to you: family, friends, being a good example for your kids, perhaps your faith, other causes that are important to you, or proving yourself to others. These are all things that you take