Be like Steve

Q. I'm not hitting my sales goal, and my company has cut back on marketing and advertising, so I don't have any hot prospects. My boss wants us to do more of our own business development by cold calling. How do I make this less painful? A. First of all, stop whining. You don't like cold calling? You better polish up your resume and start looking for another job. That, or change your attitude immediately. The best don't need help with leads. They are self-reliant. The reason why the average person hates cold calling is the high rate of rejection. This makes you feel like a beggar and a loser. Sales people, like all people, generally live in fear of rejection. That fear is your worst enemy and stops you from accomplishing your goals. If you want to be successful in sales, you must embrace rejection-even celebrate it. Every rejection is one step closer to your goal. To succeed at business development, you need to have a winning rejection philosophy, like my friend Steve. Steve is not the most physically appealing man I've ever known. He's a great guy, but the first impression he gives is not a good one. On more occasions than I could possibly count, I've watched Steve confidently walk up to the most beautiful woman. The rejections were so brutal that I would cringe in pain on his behalf. But without fail, Steve would come bouncing back with a big smile on his face. He'd shrug his shoulders and say “Oh, well, her loss.” And he meant it. So what does this success story have to do with sales and cold calling? Steve was one of the best salespeople I've ever come across because he was persistent and had a winning belief system. Now pick up the phone-just by making the calls, you are on your way to achieving your goals.