Smile through rejection.

Seventy percent of professional sales people have not been trained beyond product knowledge. Many people running businesses have not been in the sales trenches, and they do not appreciate how essential it is for sales people to be thoroughly trained in every aspect of the profession before they are sent out the first time.

No one would ever expect a carpenter to begin building without an apprenticeship under a master who teaches him/her how to use every tool and skill of the craft.

No one would expect a person to walk into a kitchen and become a professional chef without having undergone several years of careful training under a master chef.

But salespeople are sent out with little or no training, and are then astonished by the amount of negativity and rejection they get from prospective customers.

The turning point in my life was when I learned that sales is both an art and a science. It requires ambition and personality along with specific, proven sales skills. One without the other makes it impossible for a sales person to achieve his/her full potential.

It is estimated that fully 50 percent of new salespeople quit within the first year because they cannot stand the incredible amount of rejection they receive.

However, even though the rejection rate in sales is often as high as 90 percent or more, if you could be guaranteed one sale for every ten people that you spoke to, you would soon be rich.

Smiling through Rejection

One company I worked for started everyone off every morning with a contest. The contest is to see who can get rejected ten times first, before anyone else.

Like runners at the starting line, everyone gets ready with their telephone in front of them, and then the sales manager rings a bell. Whoever can get rejected ten times before anyone else wins a prize. All the sales reps immediately start smiling and dialing.

And you know what happens? Because they are so positive and often laughing during this contest, they lose all fear of rejection. Because they sound so positive, prospective customers want to talk to them more about their offerings. Over and over again, sales people "lose" this contest because they are too busy processing new sales.

Try it for yourself. From now on, start first thing in the morning and make it a game to see how fast you can get rejected ten times.

Some years ago I worked with a salesman who was about to quit his job because of the amount of rejection he was getting. The market was tough and he was making 20 calls to get a single sale. There were 19 rejections for every acceptance. He was becoming discouraged.

Then his boss sat him down and asked, "How much do you earn in commission from each sale that you make?"

He had been trained to track his average commissions, so he knew the answer immediately: $500.

His sales manager then asked him to divide 20 into $500 to get an average amount that he earned per call, whether the person bought or not. The easy answer was $25 per call. His sales manager then asked him, "In what other line of work could you get $25 for every person you call on the phone?"

Suddenly, the salesman's eyes were opened. He realized that he was earning $25 every single time he phoned someone, whether they were polite or rude, friendly or hostile. He merely collected the $25 when he actually made a sale.

From that day onward, he telephoned eagerly, all day long. After each call, if the person had said that they were not interested, he would say to himself, "Thank you for the $25!"

All his fear of rejection was gone. He was eager to make as many phone calls, and see as many people as he possibly could every single day. And do you know what happened? The more people he phoned, the better he got at prospecting. The more people he spoke to personally, the better he got at presenting. The more people he saw, the better he got at selling. The more people he presented to, the better he got at answering objections and closing sales.

That year, his sales ratios from contact to close improved from 20:1 to 15:1. They then improved from 15:1 to 10:1 to 5:1 to 3:1. His income increased almost 700 percent. He became the top salesperson in his branch, and eventually in his company.

Some years later, he retired as a self-made millionaire.

Make a Point to Get Rejected

Here's my point: Make it a game to get rejected as many times as you can, first thing every day. The more rejections you get, the sooner it will be that rejection doesn't bother you at all. At that point, if you are lucky, the dam will break. You will become a prospecting machine. You will be calling everyone, and at every moment. You will have more appointments than you can handle, and you will be making more money than you can spend.

Remember, every top salesperson started at the bottom. Everyone who is doing well was once doing poorly. Everyone who is at the front of the line started at the back of the line, and had to work their way up through hard, hard work.

There is no profession in the world like sales. You can start off in sales, at any level, and soon enjoy one of the highest standards of living in our society. All you need to do is work hard, continually upgrade your skills, and talk to lots of people.

Be coachable

Attend every VISION Saturday and any other training available as often as possibble.

Yours for success,

Leon Laugalis

"I talk to lot's of people, some say yes, my business grows."