Yes, Its true. Sales Rejection, if handled right, can be one of the most potent selling tools, provided of course, that your boss is not the younger (or elder) brother of Hari Sadu (of the Naukri.com TV ad fame).
Why's that? That is because it is only by rejection that one learns. I remember once in my first visit to the man who will be placing the order, as I shook his hand and I handed over my card, Mr. Customer was just looking at my company name and logo and then he asked me " Do you deal with XYZ's products? " and incidentally XYZ was our main competitor-the No 1 in the country with us at No.2. I stared at him, taken aback and told him that they were our competitor. The small room was full of nervous energy and the funny point struck both of us. We smiled and the tension was broken. I told him that I am there to sell my company's products and that I did not have a clue as to how to do that, so I would be obliged if he gives me some advise as to how I can convince him to give us a try-out. That was the start of an excellent relationship and I'm happy to say that after three years, I had replaced most of XYZ's products by ours.Anybody can sell new products to a new factory but phasing out your competitor is not easy, let me tell you.
Whenever you read success stories of people, do you really think that this person , who has written a book on sales, succeeded every time he pushed. Nope-that is impossible. Rejection is as much a part of the sales rep's official experience as acceptance is. In fact the average sales rep is more at home with rejection than acceptance.What you need to do is after each rejection, you need to list down and find what went wrong.
Here's how you do it.Write a list of all the activities you carried out serial numbering each activity ending with the rejection. This can't be done in the head..it should be done on paper. Do it at the earliest because memory's credibility differs from person to person. Your aim is to explore all the cause and effect relationships. There will be an action from your side followed by an action from the customer's end and so on, till you come to the rejection point. From the point of rejection,recheck by going back and keep on going back till you came to the mistake you made or to the activity you could have done better. Write down the actual customer's activity resulting from your mishandled cause effect. Analyze how the cause could have been different and the effect may have been favourable if you had done this instead of that.
So, you learnt something new. Add it to your win-resource-inventory. Never let defeatism bring you down. Its going to try whether you want it or not, don't tell your self " No. I won't be able to do this" . That is what defeatism and self pity wants to hear. Give them a kick on their bums and send them away. Tell your alter ego " Charlie Brown" and get on up and running. Success is just round that corner, pal!
I apologize for the long silence but I was enjoying my annual sabbatical in Timbuktoo. I'll make up for it, don't worry.
With love
Bilbo Hobbit
Why's that? That is because it is only by rejection that one learns. I remember once in my first visit to the man who will be placing the order, as I shook his hand and I handed over my card, Mr. Customer was just looking at my company name and logo and then he asked me " Do you deal with XYZ's products? " and incidentally XYZ was our main competitor-the No 1 in the country with us at No.2. I stared at him, taken aback and told him that they were our competitor. The small room was full of nervous energy and the funny point struck both of us. We smiled and the tension was broken. I told him that I am there to sell my company's products and that I did not have a clue as to how to do that, so I would be obliged if he gives me some advise as to how I can convince him to give us a try-out. That was the start of an excellent relationship and I'm happy to say that after three years, I had replaced most of XYZ's products by ours.Anybody can sell new products to a new factory but phasing out your competitor is not easy, let me tell you.
Whenever you read success stories of people, do you really think that this person , who has written a book on sales, succeeded every time he pushed. Nope-that is impossible. Rejection is as much a part of the sales rep's official experience as acceptance is. In fact the average sales rep is more at home with rejection than acceptance.What you need to do is after each rejection, you need to list down and find what went wrong.
Here's how you do it.Write a list of all the activities you carried out serial numbering each activity ending with the rejection. This can't be done in the head..it should be done on paper. Do it at the earliest because memory's credibility differs from person to person. Your aim is to explore all the cause and effect relationships. There will be an action from your side followed by an action from the customer's end and so on, till you come to the rejection point. From the point of rejection,recheck by going back and keep on going back till you came to the mistake you made or to the activity you could have done better. Write down the actual customer's activity resulting from your mishandled cause effect. Analyze how the cause could have been different and the effect may have been favourable if you had done this instead of that.
So, you learnt something new. Add it to your win-resource-inventory. Never let defeatism bring you down. Its going to try whether you want it or not, don't tell your self " No. I won't be able to do this" . That is what defeatism and self pity wants to hear. Give them a kick on their bums and send them away. Tell your alter ego " Charlie Brown" and get on up and running. Success is just round that corner, pal!
I apologize for the long silence but I was enjoying my annual sabbatical in Timbuktoo. I'll make up for it, don't worry.
With love
Bilbo Hobbit
No comments:
Post a Comment