Warren Greshes - Dont Count the Yess, Count the Nos

Now that you understand the importance of prospecting, lets move on to handling rejection. And Ill get this right out upfront. Rejection stinks. I dont like it; no one likes it, and neither should you. Any sales trainer who ever tells you dont take it personally, just let it roll off your back, is one of two things, either an idiot or someone who has never sold anything. Everything in life is personal. And the reason we take rejection personally is we care.

But heres the big problem with rejection. I dont like it and neither do you, but in order to be successful we need lots of it. So, how do we handle it? Well, to me theres only one way to handle rejection, thats to know how much rejection you need.

You know, nos a rejection, but if you understand how many nos you need in order to make one sale, then nos are easier to take. Theres a call counting system on pages 7 and 8 of the Action Guide at the end of this book, which you can use to understand how much rejection you need on average to make one sale. Now, the chart on page 7 will explain what each column represents. The chart on page 8 is a sample of the actual chart you should be using on a daily and weekly basis to track your activity

This system will show you what your averages are, as well as what your success ratios are. To track your numbers, use the chart on page 8 on a daily basis, and then total those numbers up on a weekly basis. Keeping track of these numbers will do several things for you. One, it will allow you to save time. Two, it will allow you to make more money; thats a good thing. Three, its going to enable you to avoid slumps. And four, it will help you to anticipate problems before they become critical.

Now, people always ask how long should I keep the numbers for and I say you should keep the numbers forever. But you wont see a true average until after three months of tracking these numbers. And after that three months, you will know, for instance, how many dials you need to get to one contact, how many contacts you need to get one appointment, how many appointments you need to get one sale, and how many sales you need to make x amount of dollars in commission. Now, at the beginning of the year, you can formulate a plan by asking what do I have to do on a daily basis, throughout the year to the end of the year with the amount of business that I want to come home with.

Let me give you an example of what Im talking about. Far too many people start the year on the wrong side of the equation, especially sales people. They say, This year if I make a lot of calls, Ill make a lot of sales. Then they come to work on January 2nd to start the year and the first three people they call say, Drop dead. Guess what? The year is over. Thats their allot.

The successful salesperson starts from the correct side of the equation. She might say to herself, How much money do I need to earn this year to support the lifestyle my family and I choose to live? Once she has that amount sorted out, its easy to devise a plan expressing continuous action that will help her to achieve that goal.