Salespeople face it every day. It never goes away. At times it seems to be in “remission,” but it always returns. Just when it appears to be under control and losing its grasp, it becomes overwhelming.
It’s the fear of rejection — the agony of once again hearing the two-letter word, “no.” Whether it’s trying to get an appointment or pushing for a close, the fear of being turned down is there, and it’s the leading cause of call reluctance.
Call reluctance is a mental condition that prevents salespeople from picking up the phone or walking up to someone to introduce themselves.
All call reluctance is based on fear — fear of rejection, fear of the unknown or the fear that we should be doing something more productive with our time.
It’s a deadly disorder that any salespeople can catch.
Understanding the fear of rejection
Here are a few ideas to help your salespeople understand the fear of rejection:
- Rejection is very personal. Selling is a profession where you put yourself on the line. Price is the most common excuse salespeople use to overcome rejection. The price excuse takes several forms: “They didn’t want it because the price was too high.” “They were just shopping and didn’t want to spend.” The permanent solution is to stop using price to ease the pain of rejection. Look for the real reasons and the fear of rejection will disappear as the sale comes to a close.
- Ignoring the fear of rejection can be fatal. The fear never goes away. Some salespeople try to avoid rejection by staying with existing accounts and only occasionally calling on new prospects. Without even realizing it, the salesperson who avoids dealing with the fear of rejection becomes less aggressive, less adventuresome and less effective.
- The best way to cope is to focus on successful situations. Every salesperson knows success. It’s out of the successful situations that the fear of rejection can be controlled. The fear of rejection can keep salespeople from selling situations they need in order to be successful.
5 ‘rejection’ tips
Here are five tips that help salespeople cope with (and overcome) rejection:
- Qualify every prospect. If you fail to qualify each of your prospects, you’ll make calls that foster rejection. Taking time to research prospects leads to more sales and less rejection.
- Try not to make a call without adequate preparation. The prospect knows when a salesperson is “winging it.” Being prepared means knowing something about the prospect’s business and the challenges facing that business. Well informed salespeople are valuable to customers because they solve problems. By involving yourself more deeply in your prospect’s business, you’ll also become indispensable.
- Be sure you’re meeting the prospect’s needs. The best advice is to try not to open your presentation by talking about your product or service. Ask questions that give you some insight into how you can best meet the prospect’s needs. If you propose to solve problems that don’t exist for the prospect, you’re almost sure to feel the pain of rejection. Figure out ways to help your customer become more successful. Taking on the prospect’s problems is an important success strategy.
- Use your presentation to justify the price. You have little control over price, but you do have control over presenting the prospect with enough reasons to buy. Your price can be higher than the competition as long as the prospect feels it’s justified in terms of the values and benefits offered.
- Differentiate your product or service from competitors. Before you can prove that your product or service is better, you have to prove that it’s different. If your prospects can’t see the difference between your product and the products you’re competing with, they will usually buy the cheapest one. Even if your products are nearly the same, there are always ways to differentiate, such as service, delivery, product durability or company reputation.