One of the reasons so many people quit their network marketing businesses is because they can’t face the fear of rejection. Fear can be debilitating. I compare prospecting with speaking in public or if you’re a guy, asking a girl on a date for the first time. It’s daunting and can pretty much give you a nervous breakdown! Right guys?
In my early days of building the business fear was one of the things that stopped me. I’d come home from a meeting or major function and be all fired up and ready to go. I’d plan out my evening phone session and right before it was time to start I’d make coffee or read a book on prospecting or listen to a tape on prospecting. Basically I’d do anything to not have to make those calls. I’d watch some TV, hang out with my wife, play with the kids. All the while watching the clock and quietly beating myself up inside for not starting the phone session. When the time came for my phone session to be over and it was too late to call, a sense of relief mixed with shame would come over me. But I knew I had all the time in the world to do it so doing it tomorrow would be just as good. Until tomorrow and the same thing happened.
What was the problem? Part of it was procrastination, and I thought the bottom line was fear of rejection because I took it personally. When someone didn’t want to get in my business I thought it was because of me. It wasn’t until I learned the reason I felt that way: My self image was extremely poor.
Poor self image comes from parents, teachers, siblings, and co-workers who, for whatever reason, don’t believe that you have what it takes to complete a particular task, whatever that task may be. After you hear their negative beliefs about you so many times you start believing it yourself. Then it becomes true about you.
There are several things that you can do to change that. I’m going to highlight some of those things in upcoming blogs. But the foundation of that change begins with changing yourself. The only way to change yourself is through Personal Development. You really have to build your business from the inside out. That is, build the person and then the person will build the business.
There’s an old story of a father and son on a weekend afternoon. The father, tired from his work during the week, was looking forward to reading the newspaper for a couple of hours. His young son came into his den and asked him to have a catch outside. The father told him that he would play with him later because he wanted to read the paper. The son joyously left the room only to return a few minutes later with the same question. Again the father sent him away. After this happened another time, the father took a section of the paper which had a big picture of the world on it, tore it apart and gave it to his son. He told his son to tape the makeshift puzzle of the world back together and then he’d play with him. No sooner than 5 minutes went by when his son came in with the puzzle all taped together. His father was amazed. "Son, how did you put that picture of the world back together so quickly?" His son replied, "It was easy dad. On the back of the page with the world was a picture of a man. When I put the man back together the world went back together too."
That is so true on many levels. Just like the business, when you work on the person, the person will change their business and the world. And that’s the mission of network marketing. I know you can do it and I definitely believe in you!
One Response to “How to Overcome the Fear of Rejection”
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March 26th, 2008 at 11:37 am
How to Hire the Ultimate Sales Manager and How to Run
a Sales Organization Better Than Ever
Ive discovered the magic secret to getting companies
to perform like a champion racehorse. It took me my
entire career to really figure it out, but boy do I
have it down and boy does it work. The following is a
chronicle of exactly what I learned and how I learned
it. You will learn a great deal about running your
sales organization with much greater results.
The secret to having a fantastic sales team is in
getting every one in your office to perform like a top
producer might perform. When I was a top producing
sales rep, selling advertising, I instinctively did
all the things youd want every rep to do. I went
after only the biggest possible clients. I wrote
effective sales letters. I followed up with a
vengeance. I sent constant promotional pieces
depicting more and more sales points. I offered
fantastic and stimulating insights about how to
succeed in my market and never, ever, ever let
rejection even slow me down. In fact, when rejected, I
became even more aggressive, more determined that they
understand why they HAD to have my product.
Then I had the good fortune of working for billionaire
businessman, Charlie Munger. I doubled the sales of
the first company given to me in just 15 months and
then doubled the sales of eight other divisions, most
within that time frame or shorter. The first company
he gave me, I doubled three years in a row. How?
Remarkably simple, but 99.9% of companies dont do it:
I put into place the policies and procedures that made
every single person perform like a top producer and I
worked ON the business at least one hour per week,
without fail. You can get profound results in your
business if you work ON it (rather than just IN it)
only one hour per week. As long as that one hour is
designed to be proactive and youre committed to
improving the process incrementally. If today, you
started working on how you get appointments, for
example, and you looked to, once per week, make that
skill just a little better, within ten sessions (ten
weeks) you can have a profound improvement.
In most sales organizations, the sales are ad-hoc,
with everyone running around doing what THEY think is
best and the management setting very little or no
minimum standards of performance. For example, what is
your standard for what type of account your
salespeople should go after? Have you worked on this
aspect of proper targeting? What are they going to
present? What are the top five strategic objectives
you want to achieve from every interaction with every
buyer (seriously, have you sat down and talked about
that, planned that out? Practiced it, role-played it
and polished it to a fine luster?) It goes on, I just
kept setting higher and higher standards raising the
bar on what I now call: the minimum acceptable level
of performance.
And though I went on with my career as a trainer (with
now more than sixty Fortune 500 clients) to TELL these
stories, to TEACH these concepts, to build many
different training products that INSTRUCT on this kind
of thing, I never realized how to transfer that
directly to another company in the most effective way.
Until now. Certainly, my products are going to make
you a more effective leader, trainer and manager.
Certainly, they make your sales reps more effective in
every area from selling to presenting to cold calling
to even time management. But if youre the right size
company, I have a proposition for you.
I have mastered the art of becoming a virtual sales
manager. For the next six months, just long enough to
get your organization running like a finely tuned
machine, one hour per week, I become your sales
leader. – I literally run the sales meetings, weekly,
and every week I raise the bar in some area of
competency. It only takes one hour per week, but the
results are profound.
Lets take getting appointments. I have a client
that was getting maybe one or two appointments per
week, even though they have four salespeople. Every
week, I worked with the sales reps, just one hour per
week, like all my training teaches (work ON the
business at least one hour per week and you can have
profound results.) In this case, I drilled down
further and further on EXACTLY what the reps were
doing. What was the activity level, who were they
targeting, what were they saying, what tools did they
have, etc…
Each week the sales reps would go out and do the
assignments Id give and then come back the following
week and report in, telling me of what went on, where
they failed, where they were struggling. I would then
tune-up each subtle nuance of getting around the
gatekeeper and how to use voicemail as a valuable
weapon rather than a closed drawbridge.
Next, I meticulously worked on the exact telephone
pitch. Exactly. What were the five to seven elements
of what would make someone want to meet with them?
When the person was trying to turn you down or get off
the phone, what were the three to five ways to not let
that happen? You wouldnt believe how much I had to
work on the close of a telephone pitch. When do you
shut up and what do you say to actually set that
appointment.
Then I would role-play the heck out of the reps,
constantly improving every little word, every
sentence. Within about ten weeks, the meetings started
to pop left and right. A client that was getting a few
lousy appointments per week, were now getting 30
appointments per week with the exact same sales team.
And heres the kicker, ALL of the meetings are with
Dream prospects. Where the sales reps once went
willy nilly after whatever company they thought of at
the time, I had them ONLY work on the Dream
prospects. So the results have been staggering. Huge
meetings with huge prospects, every deal a monster -
as compared to the previous year where they got only a
few monster prospects in play, now theyre in play
with 20 to 30 monster prospects every single week. In
this case study Im talking about, I doubled their
sales over last year and Ive only been helping them
for five months, just one hour per week.
But it doesnt stop there. I got everyone so good at
closing prospects for a meeting that many would cool
off and cancel once they were out from under the
white-hot heat I had perfected in the sales pitch. So
then I put into place three separate steps to make
sure that no one cancelled and that has worked really
well. They went from a 25% cancellation rate to only
one in 30 canceling.
What next? Now lets work on the client sale call
itself. Whats the first thing you do when you walk
in? Whats the second? What are the exact questions
youre going to ask and why are you going to ask each
one of them? What are you looking to do for every
question you ask? Then the presentation. If you know
my material, you know how devoted I am to a great
presentation. Set the buying criteria in that
meeting. Set it righteous, make yourself the absolute
most logical choice and dis-empowered ALL of your
competitors completely while youre at it.
What are ALL the strategic objectives you are looking
to accomplish in every interaction with a possible
client? How will they be met? What do you want the
next move to be? What would be ideal and then what are
the five layers of alternatives below if you cant get
the ideal thing to happen?
With or without me, this is what you have to do to
have a fantastic sales organization. Work ON the
business, once every week, for just an hour, but work
ON that sales process and perfect it. Another example.
What do you do when someone hangs up on you? What do
you do when someone says Call me back in a month?
What would a top producer do in each of those
situations? Or if you sell electronically, how many
ways do you maximize every interaction?
Okay. All that said, time to talk about the new
service Ive perfected: The Virtual Top Producing
Sales Executive!
Everything Ive described you can do on your own and
you can improve every aspect of your sales process.
But heres where I might be of assistance. If you know
my material, you know how critical a psychological
profile is. Only .001% of salespeople have an ideal
psychological profile.
Allow me to use myself as a case study on
psychological profile. I was always fascinated with
finding these types and when I couldnt find them,
thats what forced me to become more and more
systematic about the processes of selling within an
organization. The more you can systematize the sales
process, the more you can rely on excellent selling
going on in your organization.
The reason I was able to double sales for Charlie
Munger was because I was SURE of what a top producer
would do because I was one. I KNEW what systems and
procedures to develop because my instincts in this
area are all natural, all part of my innate
psychological profile. A top producer responds
perfectly to rejection by becoming more effective. A
top producer becomes more aggressive when someone is
brushing them off, more persuasive if someone isnt
buying and always comes from the place of serving
THEM.
These steps can be honed into every aspect of your
sales process and you CAN get regular salespeople
operating more and more like top producers. You just
have to drill down like a scientist into each and
every aspect of the sales process.
Ive found that when I take on a client, I become
emotionally attached to their success, and my
particular skills become invaluable on their behalf. I
become better at selling and pitching their product
each and every week, applying all that to a
systematized selling process that works like a
machine.
So its not just that I really understand the process
of constantly improving your efforts, raising the bar
every week, improving performance constantly, its
that I have, myself, this mutant-like sales mind that
becomes totally attached to YOUR success.
I become devoted to getting higher and higher levels
of performance in EACH area that counts; Getting you
more appointments; Getting you BETTER appointments;
Engaging your prospects more effectively; Finding more
ways to serve them, while building an automatic and
more powerful bond in the process; Making every
meeting count. Presenting ten times better than any of
your competitors, etc
How to qualify to be considered:
I have had 60 Fortune 500 clients and have received
fees in excess of a million dollars from a single
client. This means that the average company would be
unlikely to retain me. However, with smaller
companies, if you have outstanding potential, I
actually have a relationship where I take the majority
of my fees based upon performance. What would you pay
me if I could double your sales?
This is all done by telephone: Today, conference
calling has become so inexpensive that virtually
anyone can have this service. You could have five or
500 people on the phone with me once per week while I
tweak and polish every little corner of your
organization. And the other beauty is that this makes
the meeting something no one ever has to miss. Your
staff can call in from anywhere.
(BIG BONUS!) And the calls can be recorded, so as I
figure out the best ways to represent and sell your
products, you can have it all on CD: You can have an
entire course, customized to YOUR company, on CD
forever, all by a Fortune 500-level sales executive
who temporarily upgrades every aspect of your sales
process. So all NEW sales reps or mgmt coming into
your company later can get the same training that
everyone else has had.
Another important tip for you: Make your weekly
meetings mandatory. Thats how you get real progress.
Since each session takes you deeper and incrementally
builds upon the previous session, you must be on every
session. I will teach you how to make the meetings
mandatory. How to make sure no one ever misses them.
Even if a rep is sick, they can LISTEN. Just call into
the conference.
What is this worth? The last job that I had where I
worked for someone else (which is now 18 years ago), I
was earning in the mid six figures. My first year in
business for myself, I earned over a million dollars.
Ive had single clients pay over a million dollars and
one paid me nearly two million dollars. So what is it
worth to get a superb expert selling for you and
working ON the nitty gritty of making your sales
process stunning?
The good news is that I only need to spend one hour
per week working ON your business. So this makes my
otherwise six-figures-per-month fees much more
affordable. And the rate varies depending upon the
potential and the share of that potential youre
willing to give to have me double your sales.
One more major benefit, CEO Training. Where do you get
CEO training? Most CEOs dont know how to hold a
highly effective meeting. They dont know how to
structure their organizations or even themselves for
maximum productivity. They dont know how to change,
adapt and re-organize for new stages of growth. Each
phase of growth requires adjustments that most CEOs
never notice or understand. Ive been through every
phase of growth (Ive helped three companies grow to
$100 million) and reported to billionaires and CEOs
of the best companies in the world. Ive helped many a
CEO become a MUCH more effective CEO and Ill help you
do the same as well.
And unless youre not a nice person, well bond. Ill
care about you. Thats my psychological profile. Ill
become your greatest ally and asset, the one person
you tell anything to because Im not an employee, yet
Ill know your organization intimately (I begin my
relationships with a comprehensive audit where I learn
every detail about your company).
TO QUALIFY: In order to get you a free session with
me, to determine if we should work together, you need
to have activities and resources for me to work with.
Meaning, this offer is not available for someone who
just has a good idea and no actual company in place.
You have to have processes in place, resources with
which to begin your Dream Selling effort, and at least
a few salespeople for me to work with.
If you need help hiring the right type of salesperson
and you have the resources with which to do so, I have
perfected the methods to help you hire top producer
types.
So if you are an active company with great potential
that merely needs the finest management available
today, you should contact us. My assistant will open a
dialogue with you and then if you qualify, she will
get you on the telephone with me for a preliminary and
exploratory conversation.
Success Stories:
Doubled the sales of a magazine in 15 months, using
everything I told you about here.
Took a telecom company from $3 million in sales last
year to a $9.5 million pipeline for new business
within only three months.
Took another company with one salesperson and showed
them how to hire five more on straight commission. The
company went from $60K per month, to $250K per month
in six months.
A benefits broker was getting a handful of meetings
per month (mostly with small companies) and now they
are getting 20-30 meetings per week and ALL with large
companies.
Took a $5 million services company that was at
break-even, and added a million in increased sales,
from their current clients, and the only additional
expense increase was $35,000 So it was more than 90%
profit.
Took a newspaper with falling circulation and
increased their circulation by 350% in one year flat.
Took another magazine that was declining in sales
and had been for years, and got them a 67% increase in
one year.
Took a carpet cleaning company that was getting 6%
increases every year and got them an 87% increase in
sales in just one year. Virtually quadrupling the
sales per rep.
Took a company selling training products and
developed a $6 million revenue stream from scratch. It
saved this companys butt.
Took a billion dollar conglomerate that was falling
into the red at 10% per year and got them $100 million
in the black in a single year.
Took a manufacturing company in deep trouble (three
years of increasing red ink) and got them into the
black in a single year.
If you qualify, Id love to talk to you. If not, I
hope youve thoroughly enjoyed the education about how
to incrementally make your sales effort great!
For more information visit http://www.howtodoublesales.com