I’ve used quick stories about my dad in other posts – he works full time for our church, but he also started his own business as a landlord. He buys properties and rents them out to tenants, and he does this in an area of town that’s known to be not as “nice” or “friendly.” He wants to give people in this neighborhood a chance at a good living situation, which they might not otherwise get.
My dad had been conversing with another businessman in town who owned a few properties that he wanted to sell. He had been talking about selling his properties to my dad for a while. The conversation actually began over a year ago, and the sale was in the works for months. Finally, they got all the paperwork done and a price settled. All that was needed was a signature from the seller.
When my dad brought him the last document to sign, he got an unexpected answer – no. The seller backed out at the very last minute, nullifying over a year of preparation.
It hit me by surprise when my dad told me, “It took me about two or three minutes, then I was okay. ” No hard feelings, no disappointment, no bitterness over the time spent. He let it go after just three minutes. And I really do believe it when he said that.
Apparently the guy who was going to sell came back to him a few months later and told him how much he was affected by my dad’s positive response to the sale not closing. He said he was astounded by how my dad handled the situation, and it’s affected how he’s been doing business from that point on.
Hearing “no” is not easy, especially when we’ve been gearing up for a “yes” for so long. But how we handle our response says a lot about not only our character, but our faith. When we’re able to let things go and move on (and do so quickly!), we can be a testimony to those we are working with. My dad told me that he wasn’t upset about the situation at all – in fact, he was honored that he was able to influence another businessman the way he did. This kind of mindset will not only help us recover from disappointments in sales, but will help us to be more effective in serving those around us.
BoweryJE22
This is a truly great story illustrating how mindset is everything. It is hard to fail especially when we expect success. This can often damage of self esteem and effect us in our life. We must keep this from happening through a positive mindset as your dad did. He took what seemed to be a negative situation and took a positive from it by positively impacting another person.
That is a fantastic example of buoyancy and being able to accept “no”. Having the ability to rebound like that is extremely valuable in any situation, especially sales. I know personally, I have a much harder time accepting a “no” if it’s unexpected or after I’ve invested a lot of time an energy into the prospect.