When he first started work as an eager new sales rep, Eric generated deals by reaching out to 30 new cold leads every morning. Like many other sales reps, he heard some version of silence, or “No, thanks”, far more often than the infrequent agreement to have a follow-up meeting, but initially didn’t think much of it. As weeks of this passed, however, a concern that he may not meet his quota slowly grew. Eventually just a few weeks from the end of the sales quarter, with only a handful of follow-up meetings scheduled, the stress peaked, transforming into a fear of rejection and call reluctance – a dangerous self-perpetuating cycle that spells disaster when not addressed.
While Eric’s story might be on the more extreme side, we’ve all been there at least once in our lives. No matter how good at selling you are, if you’re working hard and pushing boundaries, rejection will eventually be inevitable, and learning how to navigate through it effectively can mean the difference between crippling anxiety, and continuously growing confidence and skill.
Read on to learn 3 effective ways to navigate rejection, to minimize the chance of receiving one, and to come back more effective at sales every time
Do your homework and solve as much of the lead’s problem as possible before you call, to minimize the chances of a rejection
A survey by CSO Insights reveals that 42 percent of sales reps feel they don’t have all the information that they need to succeed, before making a call. Proceeding into sales calls without it can spell death for the potentially budding relationship. Find out how your product or service solves your lead’s problem before you get into a call with them to maximize your chances of getting a follow-up call.
Find out why you were rejected to open up new opportunities to present your value
There are any number of reasons for which a lead might want to stop engaging with you. You will never know why, however, unless you ask why they chose not to proceed, and what they’ll be doing instead. If you really believe that you can help them, then asking questions about the reason for their decision can reveal information that you can use to strengthen your pitch. For example, if a customer rejects you on the basis of price, but you never find out what they think is reasonable, you’ll never have the opportunity to counter.
Eliminate the sting of losing a sales deal by focusing on increasing knowledge and skill
Rejections get under everyones’ skin, but you can minimize the sting by focusing on what you learned. Asking questions about why a customer wasn’t amenable to a deal can teach you important ways to navigate through similar situations in the future.
Vtiger CRM lets you build comprehensive profiles for your leads and customers, so that you can plan your engagements better, and can see the bottlenecks affecting your sales pipeline. Sign up for a free trial, or to learn more, get in touch with us at [email protected].
