Sales takes trial and error from the start. You can take as many sales and marketing classes that you can buy, but nothing compares to the real deal of getting out and doing some real sales with customers. Unfortunately, almost no one can be a perfect salesman right away. It takes practice, successes, and failures, to hone your craft and turn into a pro. But where does failure fit in to all of this?
Failure is a natural part of any sales experience, or any experience for that matter. It takes many attempts to get something right and this is the same for sales. Sadly, many people avoid situations in sales because they fear rejection and failure. Fear is natural but overcoming anxiety over stressful situations is how we move through life. When we encounter rejection, we can deal with it intellectually, or emotionally. Dealing with rejection intellectually would be reviewing the facts, seeing what went wrong, and then accepting that there is another chance for success. Dealing with rejection emotionally would include looking inward and seeing how you were feeling during an interaction where you were rejected. However, if we invest too much emotionally into a certain sales outcome, then we are setting ourselves up for disappointment. We need to have a realistic idea of what could happen in sales and be able to accept a positive or negative outcome. Professor Sweet compared being rejected in sales to being rejected in dating! They are very similar in that it’s okay to fail because you can just keep trying until you get it right.
In sales, Mattson discusses “the real you” vs “the role you.” “The real you” is who you are when you are around people you trust and are comfortable with. “The role you” is how you act in a job or more professional setting. Mattson’s point in distinguishing the real you vs. the role you is saying that you can fail functionally, but that does not lessen who you are as a person. This point is incredibly important, especially in a difficult field like sales. Your education, job, and even the people you are around do not define who you are and failing at those things does not diminish who you are either.
To summarize, failure is a natural part of life, and especially in sales. We must learn to fail to win and it’s important to have realistic goals about what’s possible. Making mistakes and failing is okay and it does not reduce who you are as a person. It just means you’re human! Keep messing up, keep making mistakes, and keep failing. It just brings you closer to your eventual success.
testacr22
I really like that you talked about setting realistic goals for yourself. If you go above and beyond saying that you are going to become the best salesmen in the company during your first week you will never be able to accomplish it, but if you set a more achievable goal such as I’m going to sell 10 products during this first week it will still be a challenge, but not impossible.
This post made me think of Jordan Belford and how he would knock on doors to sell meat for as long as it would take to sell it all. He would fail many times before finally succeeding. It’s not about how many times you get knocked down, it’s about how many times you get back up.