How to Deal With Rejection to Improve Your Sales?

The constant refusal was exhausting, but she knew that all her pent-up anger would lead nowhere, so she decided to turn her frustration into motivation. "Rejection made me more determined to continue and turn it into acceptance," she said.

Now, Rebecca is the head of sales for Los Angeles-based Moxion, a startup entertainment company, and she says the constant rejection she faced early in her career has set her up for success in a prestigious sales role where deals take two years to close, suggesting this has made her more flexible.

Jacob Clendenning, a business coach and managing broker for a real estate company, says that refusing to buy is inevitable in sales, and getting used to feeling comfortable about it is very important because accepting a refusal is the most critical thing in sales.

Fear of rejection is part of our nature

Clendenning believes that most of us suffer from rejection because it is linked to our self-worth. SUCCESS certified instructor Eli Schaugh says people who deal with rejection smoothly are the most extensive self-esteem.

“It is not a matter of experience; it is a matter of emotional fortitude,” says Schaugh, a neuro-linguistic programming (NLP)  practitioner. However, fear of failure is the driving force behind our discomfort with rejection. Still, there is another seemingly contradictory reason, which is fear of success. Schaugh says, “Fear of success can be handicapped because it means that your life will change and get out of your comfort zone, and everyone wants to stick with it.”

Five steps to help you grow

Clendenning says that some people are better at facing rejection than others because their ideals have shown appropriate behavior during the formative years of their lives, and that is like money; if you grow up in a family that lives on monthly salaries, you will live mostly from your monthly salary, and the same applies to rejection. If you grow up in a family that does not deal with it well, you will not deal with it well, either.

If you're bothered by rejection, here are five steps to help you master the field and convince others of your product.

1. Change your circle of relationships

Clendenning says that one way to change your relationship with rejection is to change the people you spend most of your time with. If you want to quit smoking, you won't spend time with a group of smokers all day. The same is right here.

If you want to succeed in sales, there is no point in spending all your time with people who fear failure. Instead, focus on those who use rejection as a path to move forward.

2. Permanent standby

People may overlook the importance of preparation, but it is essential in sales. You must learn to be smart, study your products and sales texts well, and practice with as many potential clients as possible.

“Sales are 100% preparation, so if you train only 50%, you will be only 50% good, and you will set yourself up for failure,” says Clendenning.

3. Learning from rejection experiences

Schaugh says there is no such thing as failure, and as long as you learn, you develop, so instead of feeling embarrassed when you lose a sale, it is critical to think about why you are unsuccessful, as he says: “The people who have achieved the most success are those who can learn from their mistakes, and the more you learn from the mistake, develop, and become able to act differently next time, failure becomes a success.”

4. Learn from your mistakes

Although you may be tempted to study sales better in order to master your profession, the ideal person to study is yourself. Schaugh says, “You can study the careers of successful people all day long, but if you can't learn from your failures, you may not reach their successes. The best lesson you can take to achieve your continued success is to study your own growth.”

5. Optimism

If you go through a difficult phase, don't be pessimistic or think you won't be able to make a successful sale, and you should avoid thinking about what might go wrong before each sale and instead think things will go well.

“Convince your brain that you will do the right thing to achieve the right result, and focus all your energy on how to achieve this, rather than thinking about planning to face obstacles because when you think about it, many obstacles will appear,” says Schaugh.

Enriching Your Personal Life

One of the hardest things about working in sales is learning how to deal with the inevitable rejection you'll face, which is reason enough to show that sales aren't for everyone. However, one of the precious things about thriving in the industry is that you'll have more emotional stability in your personal life.

When Rebecca was in her thirties, she decided to pursue her passion for becoming a jazz singer. Although she knew it was too late to enter the jazz world, she took the step, saying, “Eventually, I entered the jazz world and created a band to sing along to my day job. I think facing rejection in sales helped me to be more flexible and persistent in my personal life.”