personally and they are all things you’ re willing to fight for and in many cases probably even die for. This fight and belief is one you want to have about your product or service if you are going to go out and get beat up and rejected. The average salesperson calling on a major account gets rejected 11 times before they get an appointment. If you don’ t have a ton of motivation and resolve, how are you going to get through the 11 rejections?
Advantage # 2: It Strengthens Your Soft Underbelly
When I looked more closely at the premise of not taking sales rejection personally, something occurred to me. It seems as though“ not taking things personally” is simply a way to protect one’ s fragile ego. While it’ s true that a healthy ego is important in sales, it’ s also important to have a strong ego, in other words, an ego that doesn’ t fold like a lawn chair or cheap suitcase when times are tough. As a result, if someone is able to take rejection personally and have the strength of ego to endure the impact of that, it means that they’ ll not only have the motivation to face the rejection necessary, but they’ ll also be strong enough to thrive in both sales and in life. In short, taking rejection personally will serve to toughen you up.
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John Chapin
John Chapin is a motivational sales speaker and trainer. For his 5-Steps to Sales Success report and monthly newsletter, or to have him speak at your next event, go to: www. completeselling. com. Chapin has more than 32 years of sales experience as a number-one sales rep and is the author of the 2010 sales book of the year: Sales Encyclopedia( Axiom Book Awards). Email: johnchapin @ completeselling. com.