Blogs / 5 Powerful Ways To Handle Rejections In Sales

Whether you are in sales or not, I bet you don’t like rejections.

No one likes getting rejected. Whether it’s from an interview or a potential client. And when you are in a job where you have to handle rejections every day, it can feel like an uphill battle.

Let me share a bitter truth.

Rejections can make you feel like a failure and can even make you question your self-worth. That’s one of the reasons why most people don’t want to choose sales as a career. They don’t want to deal with rejections.

Here is another truth.

Every job in this world requires you to sell and when you sell, you are bound to face rejections. If you master the art of handling rejections, you have the key to achieving remarkable success.

In this blog post, we will talk about the rejections that we face as sales professionals and ways to handle them effectively.

So, fasten your seatbelts, and let’s dive into some quick learning.

Let us first begin with understanding the psychological impact of rejections and why we want to stay away from them.

The Psychological Impact of Rejections

I have seen a lot of talented sales professionals calling it quits because they could not handle rejections. The numerous rejections that they encountered on an everyday basis played havoc on their mindset. They either started hating what they do (selling), resorted to manipulative techniques, or called it quits.

The fact is, rejections can be paralyzing. It can prevent you from taking risks and pursuing new opportunities. For example, a lot of sales leaders complain about “Call reluctance”. If we take a close look, it is largely because of the “fear of rejection” which has paralyzed the sales professionals to not make that next call.

On the other hand, some sales leaders attach their self-worth to the outcome of a sale. They take rejections personally which in turn sabotages their confidence. When this happens the survival instinct kicks in. To survive, some leaders become defensive and some react in unproductive ways. There are very few who can rationalize these rejections and explore techniques and strategies to overcome rejections.

If we want to effectively handle rejections, it is important that we first understand the role of rejections in the sales process and start viewing rejections differently.

We must believe that rejections are not personal attacks or indicators of failure, but rather natural parts of the sales journey. We must also believe that every rejection brings us one step closer to a successful sale. It is also important to view rejections as opportunities for growth and learning.

Here is how rejections can be viewed as opportunities for growth and learning:

1. It provides you with valuable feedback on your product
2. It can help you refine your sales pitch
3. It can help you understand your customers’ needs
4. It can help you find the right customer and product fit
5. It can help you Build great Resilience

We understand that rejections are inevitable and they are opportunities to grow. Let us look at 5 practical strategies that we can adopt to handle rejections with grace and turn them into opportunities for growth.

5 Powerful Ways To Handle Rejections In Sales

1. Turn Rejections to Learning Opportunities:

Next time when the customer says “NO”, turn that rejection into a learning opportunity. Proactively ask them for specific reasons behind their rejection and use this feedback to improve your sales approach/ product. By showing your willingness to learn more and wanting to understand your customers’ needs and preferences, you can tailor your pitch and increase your chances of success in future interactions.

2. Build Bullet-Proof Focus:

When you face rejection it’s easy to get carried away and focus on doing the unimportant work. To handle such distractions commit to X number of sales calls at the beginning of the day. As you do that, disassociate yourself from the result of these calls. Irrespective of the result, focus on completing the number of calls you committed. You may want to analyze the calls at the end of the day but not until you complete the committed number of calls.

3. Bounce Back Rules:

Create a 10-second bounce-back rule to protect yourself from your own mindset. Before the survival part of your brain kicks in and stops you from doing the important work, train yourself to bounce back. I often say, “Give yourself 10 seconds to pick up the phone and dial the next person“. This way you are safeguarding yourself from your own survival mindset. As a result, you are now focusing on the next opportunity and not the correct challenge.

Try this out next time and let me know how it works for you.

4. Take A Break:

When you are going through a rough day, it might feel mentally draining, and sometimes taking a break can be the best solution. You may want to catch up with other work but not make the calls. Taking a break because you want to give rest to yourself and bring back that focus. This is another powerful strategy that will be useful when faced with many rejections. Make sure that the break is strategic and not very long.

5. Embrace Rejections:

Sometimes you may not even know the reason for rejection. All you do is prepare yourself to handle the rejections well and when rejections show up, instead of turning bitter, accept rejections gracefully. Embrace it and find the best learnings from the situation.

In addition to all the above, focus on building your GRIT. Angela Duckworth in her famous TED talk, talks about the importance of GRIT and how it can change the course of your life. Do check out the video below.