Ok folks, in this module I want to talk about handling rejection. In my opinion, this is an important training topic, because the reason a lot of people in our industry don’t make money is they are afraid of rejection. They are afraid to pick up the phone and make the number of calls they need to make.
Before I get to that, I want to say this, these training calls tend to focus on the mental or mindset aspect of building a business, and there is a very good reason for that.
Technique is easy to teach, and we have that in the training center. In fact, I was talking to Bill Bassett the other day about the invitation approach we will be using for the FFS, and I told Bill that the fact is, when you’re calling people to invite them to hear your information, as long as the approach is short, sweet and focused, it almost doesn’t matter what you say, as long as you say it to lots of prospects. Your approach could be:
If I could show you how to put 10-15 people a week in your business,
or, If I could show you how to get 15-20 free targeted prospects calling you everyday,
or, Would you be open to looking at an opportunity to build a strong residual income in 120 days?
Or finally, If I could show you how to put $2-4000 on your kitchen table in the next 30-45 days…
I use all of those approaches and they all work. In fact, a couple of those could be used for any opportunity you want to market, so as I said it’s not always about technique.
Let me put it this way.
If someone walked up to me today and said, “Al, I have been empowered to grant you one specific wish. I can give you the best technique ever developed or I can give you a success mindset so which do you want.”
Given that choice, knowing what I know about life, I’m going to choose the success mindset every time because, with the right mindset, I will learn the techniques I need, but if I am the victim of a negative mindset, or “stinkin’ thinking,” I would never be able to use the technique in a way that would lead to success.
One of my mentors, Robert Allen, the real estate guru, used to say, “Drop me in any city in America, take away my credit cards and give me $100 cash, and within 72 hours I will buy a piece of real estate,” and he’s done that.
I could honestly say something similar. Drop me in any city in on this planet, take away my money, and within 30 days, I will have a place to live, a telephone and I will have $10,000.
The only reason I could do that is because I have trained myself to have a success mindset. I have trained myself to look for opportunity in every situation.
I want all of you to have that same kind of confidence in yourself.
So, with that said, let’s talk about the right way to handle rejection.
I’ll start with this, one way or the other, you are going to have to deal with rejection or the word No.
What you have to decide is what kind of No’s you want to deal with.
You could chose to hear:
No, you can’t afford this card.
No, we can’t afford a vacation.
No, you can’t retire yet because you don’t have enough money to retire.
Or
You can choose to hear this type of No.
No, I don’t want to see your email.
No, I don’t want to go to your conference call.
No, I am not interested in joining your business.
My point is this, you have a choice. Hear No to the things in life you want or hear No from people as you build your business. The No’s you get as you build your business will lead to the Yes’ for the things you want in life.
So, if you have to hear No anyway, it just makes sense to deal with the No’s that lead to Yes.
What I’m trying to do is this. Get you to change your attitude regarding the word No.
Here’s something else you want to keep in mind, THE PEOPLE IN THIS INDUSTRY WHO HEAR THE MOST NO’S ALSO MAKE THE MOST MONEY.
And what’s also interesting is those people don’t care about getting a No because they understand, now listen carefully, IT’S PART OF THE PROCESS.
So, if it’s part of the process, get over it and move on to the next prospect.
I’ll tell you a quick story.
As you folks know, I have been in sales and marketing for my entire business career. There was a time when I was so afraid of hearing No, or being rejected by a prospect, that I wouldn’t make the calls and my income was lousy.
I did the same thing you folks do when you bought Make Money or Make Excuses. I started training. In my mind, I couldn’t allow myself to fail because I had dropped out of college and the alternative was a factory job or some boring menial labor job that ultimately would have cause me to blow my brains out.
So I corned every top salesperson that would talk to me. I paid guys to let me ride with them to watch what they did. I bought books by the sales masters and after I read the book I would try to get the author on the phone and, believe it or not, a couple of times I did and they talked to me.
As a result of that training I was able to change the way I thought about rejection. There was a day when my wife said to me that she would like to ride with me one day and watch me work. At that time I was selling life and health insurance.
So she rode with me. I went on one of my appointments, made my presentation and the couple didn’t buy.
So we’re in the car headed to my next appointment and she asked me a question about that last prospect. The one who didn’t buy, and for a few seconds, I had no idea who she was talking about. I had completely put that man out of my mind. As far as I was concerned, that prospect didn’t exist.
What I had learned from the masters was, you cannot allow yourself to get upset about a No or focus on the No. The biggest reason for that is. If you allow a No from a prospect to bother you, you take the negativity into the next call or appointment. That will make it more difficult to sell the next prospect.
So, with that in mind, let’s talk about a couple of techniques you can use to better handle rejection.
1st - Don’t take it personally. If you were a young man or woman and you asked someone out on a date and that person says No, that’s personal. The person you asked either likes the way you look or they don’t.
But, when you’re asking a prospect to take a look at your opportunity and that prospect says No, he or she is not rejecting you personally; instead they are rejecting your opportunity. This is something you HAVE TO understand. There is a big difference between saying No to you and saying No to your opportunity. What you need to do is mentally separate your personal self from your business self.
I used to tell new salespeople all the time, when I’m working, I put my ego in my hip pocket and I kept it there until I was done working for the day.
Next, keep in mind, even though that prospect said No this time that does not mean the door is closed forever on this prospect. If you talked to the prospect, you have established a relationship with that prospect. Next time you call this person, he or she might be open to a new opportunity.
Next, attach a dollar value to the No’s you’re getting. For example, let’s say over the course of a week 90 people told you No, but 5 people said Yes and each Yes was worth $1000 to you. Well, if you made 5 sales @ $1000 each that’s $5000. If you had to hear 90 No’s to make that $5000, that means each No you heard was worth $55.55mto you. So with that in mind, how many No’s do you want to hear every week? Are you willing to hear 90 No’s to hear the Yes’ that produce the lifestyle a $5000 weekly income can buy?
Next, you want to understand this basic truth. Each No you get puts you one step closer to your next Yes.
The only way that doesn’t happen is if you quit. You need to tell yourself, every time a prospect says No that I am one step closer to my next Yes and get excited. I mean really excited because if you go into the call with excitement, you are more likely to get that Yes. But if you go into the next call and you’re down because the last prospect said No, you are more like to hear another No.
In fact, I remember I got a call one night from a student, and the student said to me, ”Al, I want to ask you a question and I want you to be totally honest with me.”
I said OK.
He said, “Al, I put a bunch of people on the call today and they all blew me off. How would you handle a day like that?”
My answer was this, I told that student that if I had a day like that, and I’ve had many, I would treat it just like a day when I made 2 or 3 sales. I would pat myself on the back for working hard, doing every thing right and I would go to sleep that night and sleep like a baby. I would do that with the knowledge that I don’t care how good you are or how great the opportunity you’re promoting is. There will be days like that. In fact, I remember a song, either the title or the chorus in the song said, “Momma said there’d be days like this.”
Folks, you always have a choice. You can have a bad day, get a lot of rejection and beat yourself up. Start doubting yourself or your opportunity, or you can say this was a character-building day, and because I kept working, kept a good attitude and did not allow low results to ruin my day I am a stronger person tomorrow.
Next, focus on the end game or the results you’re after. I’ll give you an example of the power of this. Thanks to the election, the Vietnam War, the results has been in the news a lot lately. What I have always found interesting about that war was American troops never lost a battle. In all the time we were there we did not lose one battle but we lost the war. What this said to me was the soldiers we were fighting kept their eye on the end result. They didn’t care that they lost every battle they stayed in the game and they were prepared to stay in the game for a 1000 years if necessary and they won the war. That’s the same attitude you want to have about your business. It doesn’t matter how many No’s you get or battles you lose, if you stay in the game you win
I want to issue a challenge to you. I want you to commit right now and the next 3 days you will go after 100 No’s. Approach this as a training exercise. Get on the phone with the goal of getting 33 No’s a day for the next 3 days.
Don’t worry about the people who say Yes, you are looking for 100 No’s. In fact, celebrate each No.
Invite these people to my conference call or a call for your primary company. I can guarantee this, you get 100 No’s over the next 3 days and you will make money period.
If you like this article, click on the website link above to learn how to get my free training on how to have unlimited prospects for your business without spending a dime.
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