Nobody likes rejection. That “no,” particularly an aggressive one, feels… well… we believe the technical term is, icky. Your stomach knots up, mouth goes dry, brain goes dark. It makes you kind of want the next call to be to your mom just to reaffirm that someone likes you.
Fear not, you are very likely likeable despite getting a “no” or ten, and what’s more, you are not alone. Everyone gets rejected. Everyone. And everyone has had these mini momentary panics over getting rejected.
There is a cure; one sure-fire way to shake that feeling and get you back to yourself. Do it again. And then when you’re done, do it again, and again, and again. Do it until it’s second nature. Do it until the “no’s” are just white noise, merely the busy tones you need to get through in order to get the ring of a yes.
And this is not just hopeful banter, statistically speaking; you will get a yes, and lots of them as long as you keep making those calls.
There’s something else at work improving your odds: the more you do it, the better you will get at it. Nobody sounds good on his or her first call. It takes practice. Do you think, “You talkin’ to me?” just rolled out of Robert DeNiro’s mouth all perfect and awesome the first time? Of course not. He practiced, he rehearsed. He put the work in to make it one of cinema’s most quoted and memorable lines.
That said, until you’re the DeNiro of sales, here are a few tips to get you through:
- Have a script and practice it–The more familiar you are with what you want to say, the less you have to think about it and the quicker you can handle potential objections.
- Get a list of call handlers and have them at the ready– One of the biggest mistakes an agent can make is taking objection as rejection. An objection is just a question that needs an answer, a problem needing a solution; so, give them one.
- Remember, they are not rejecting you–When you get a no, a real no, you have to stop thinking they are rejecting you. They aren’t. They are simply not selling their house, business or property. They are simply saying no to a service they don’t need. It’s not you, it’s them.