Carol Bartlett is a senior level executive with broad experience in the oil & gas and transportation industries who manages more than $200M in annual sales. Using a combination of proven techniques, Ms. Bartlett focuses on growth results. She bridges theoretical business principles and philosophies to strategic actions that give profitable results. By deploying integrated proven strategies, she adds value to companies that want to grow sales and increase profits.

Jol Hunter has spent a large portion of his career as a partner with the national firm of chartered accountants and business advisors. In the past few years, with three other gentlemen, he has owned a substantial Atlantic Canadian business and so he is experiencing the joys and challenges of the ownership and operation of a medium-sized business.

Chris Spurvey spearheaded the growth of Plato Consulting to the point that it was acquired by KPMG, one of the largest management consulting firms in the world. In his time there, he sold more than $300 million in consulting services. After the acquisition, Chris changed his focus to helping other "non-sales sellers" find a way to grow revenue in a consistent, stress-free manner. He published It's Time to Sell: Cultivating the Sales Mind-set, founded Make Sales a Habit University, and became a growth advisor to business owners and their management teams throughout the world.

 

This week, we delve into the topic of handling rejection, from both a sales perspective and a personal perspective. We share some of our stories and ideas about managing rejection and the mind-set that is needed to overcome rejection and grow afterward.

Listen to the full episode!

 

Developing Grit

There are two ways that we experience rejection. One way is when you expect something good to happen but it doesn't, and the other is when people say outright, "Oh, no thanks." When you're in sales, you must embrace rejection and either learn from it and use it to improve your process or simply focus on the number of offers you make rather than the number of rejections you receive.

 

Reasons for Rejection

You should try to understand why the rejection happened. Often, our assumptions about the reason for the rejection are wrong. It's entirely possible that there's nothing wrong with you or your potential client. Maybe the timing just isn't right for you to come together. Your potential client may think that your product or service is awesome but might just be overwhelmed or not have enough budget. Maybe the individual or business is dealing with recent failures or other pressures and doesn't have the bandwidth to start a new project. There are many possible reasons.

 

Having the Right Mind-set

Managing ourselves, our mind-sets, and our health are all important elements of building a successful business and dealing with the ups and downs that come along.

I'm reminded of a video of Steve Jobs in which a man walked up to him and said, "I want to be an entrepreneur. What advice do you have for me?" Steve said, "I encourage you to be really passionate about what you're doing. You need to expect that lots and lots of things are going to go sideways and, therefore, you'll need your passion and belief in that thing that you're doing to help you get through those things. And you'll need to look after yourself well in order to be persistent enough to keep on going."

 

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Steve Jobs's advice on being an entrepreneur