Imagine the impact on your life if the fear of being struck by a car prevented you from ever crossing a street. There would be many times where your journey would come to a halt—nowhere to turn and no progress possible. 

The fear of rejection will do the same for your sales career. 

Rejection is a normal feature on the sales landscape. Not every prospect will want to talk to you. And not every prospect who does take the time to talk to you will become a client.

Some will reject your product or service: they won’t see it as a solution to their problems or achieving their goals. Others will indirectly reject you; they will have an existing relationship with a supplier, and nothing you say or do will give them reason to change and develop a relationship with you.

To shield themselves from the daily rejections, many salespeople resort to a simple, but effective defense mechanism—they avoid rejection-generating activities, like prospecting. And, when they do interact with prospects, they avoid situations where rejection is a potential.

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For example, they avoid asking prospects to make commitments or decisions. They suggest, “Why don’t you give it some thought and I’ll get in touch with you next week,” rather than ask, “Do you see this as a reasonable solution to your problem?” By avoiding the potential rejection scenario, they are not vulnerable to rejection. They are protected.

Protected, but weakened.

You didn’t learn to safely cross a street by avoiding it, you learned to assess the dangers and avoid them. You learned to observe the speed of the vehicles and their distance from you, and to factor in your foot speed to allow you to make a calculated decision when it is safe to cross.

Sometimes you casually strolled across the street, other times you made a mad dash. And sometimes, you decided it was prudent not to step off the curb until all traffic had passed. By allowing some degree of vulnerability to the danger, you developed the skill to safely cross a street.

Selling isn’t any different. If you learn to assess the dangers in sales and avoid them, you can minimize rejection and overcome your fear of it.
 
Here are a few suggestions.
 
Prepare. Whether it’s a call to an existing customer or a cold call to a prospect, make a pre-call plan and attempt to fashion a message that is likely relevant to their situations. If you must “wing it”, expect a higher rate of rejection.

Qualify opportunities. Before working on a proposal or a presentation, make sure you have uncovered exactly what the prospect needs and what they expect from you, whether they have the budget and are willing to invest it, and how they will make their decision. Then you can put together a presentation that is a custom fit, without qualifying this way, you invite rejection, stalls and put-offs—a milder form of rejection.
 
Get a commitment. Whether you’re meeting with a prospect for the first time or you are going back to make a presentation, get an up front commitment from the prospect about what will occur.

For example, if information is needed for you to determine whether your product or service fits their situation, ask the prospect to be prepared to share that information with you at your meeting. If you schedule a presentation where you expect to get a buying decision, ask the prospect to commit to making a decision, yes or no. If a prospect won't commit to these terms fro the meeting, suggest politley that it might not make sense to meet at all.
 
If you are in sales, you can’t escape rejection entirely. However, If you learn to assess the dangers in sales and avoid them, you can minimize rejection and your fear of it, and develop the skill to “cross the street.”

Joe Marr is a public speaker, sales and management consultant and trainer, and runs Sandler Training - Ann Arbor. Contact him at (734) 821-4830 or visit his Web site.