Face it selling is hard work. On a good day you are plowing through lots of No’s to get to a Yes or two. How do you stay motivated and fight through all these sales rejections.

Learning to Process Rejection

The first thing that will help you to stay motivated and focused on selling is learning to process rejections.

In the case of email campaigns you can simply have an assistant process these responses, keeping these rejections (maybe even complaints) completely out of your head. It might even make sense to do the same with initial phone calls. If you have a brand new list of leads you might want to have an assistant pre-qualify each of them for you.

These initial contacts are likely to be you largest concentration of rejections. Sparing yourself all these No’s can be a big motivational boost.

Learning from Customers Saying No

When the customer says, “no” it is rarely about you personally. It means there is something about the sales process, the product, or the pitch that is not giving them the confidence to buy.

Try asking these questions on each rejection:

• What was the objection?
• Was it valid or just a brush-off?
• Was I prepared to overcome the objection?
• Could I have overcome it better?
• How could I have pivoted better?

Chances are that you will see a No like this again. Going through this quick checklist will teach you something and better prepare you for the next call.

Failing Faster

Ultimately, you know that you are going to hear more No’s than Yes’s. Therefore, the best advice I have ever heard came from Jeffrey Gitomer when he said, “fail faster.”

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Sales people talk too much. And it may be impacting our sales conversion. When we are talking to a customer they are likely to be full of questions. After all if they knew everything about our products and services they probably would have already purchased.

In no industries is this premise more important than mortgage and debt settlement. Your customers are full of questions. Your transactions are complex. And no one likes to talk about finances our understand scary numbers.

If you have finally gotten you customer on the line start listening. Any good sale begins and ends with good conversation.

Think of every call as more of a dinner party conversation than a sales pitch. It will be a lot more fun doing sales, your customer will enjoy talking with you more, and you will close more deals.

Let’s outline some dinner party best practices:

1. Introduce yourself in a warm and inviting way. Avoid the show. Don’t drop names or fancy titles.

2. Lead with a question about them. And then ask a lot more throughout the discussion.

3. Use their first name often. It seems more personal, people like to hear their name, and it will help you remember it.

4. Did I mention to ask questions. People would rather you be interested in them than have to endure your rambling sales pitch.

5. Make sure, especially if you don’t land the deal, that they know how to contact you in the future. Really work hard to convince them that you really want that to happen.

What are some of you secrets to forcing yourself to listen more and pitch less?

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Everyone is looking for the sales silver bullet. Unfortunately, there are few short-cuts. Getting to “Yes!” is a skill that needs to be practiced and learned. The best practice is contacts, and lots of them.

If there is a secret to selling it is he with the most contacts wins. I can guarantee you the sales person with the most contacts on your sales floor right now is the one that will end the month with the biggest numbers.

That is the magic sales formula–put 5-12 contacts on every lead. Why does it work?

People

First, it works because you are dealing with people. Distractions, priorities, and imperfections are always working against your sales process. Your urgency is not always met equally by that of your customers.

Attention

Second, you have to get on the radar. Most people in today’s business climate are overwhelmed with tasks and projects. Chances are they have been squeezed by downsizing and budget cuts. You need to grab their attention.

Often getting their attention for a mortgage or debt management conversation means getting above the noise of their job or the stress of potentially losing one.

Timing

Third, there is the issue of timing. When you contact them the first time who knows where they are, what they are doing, or what they expected. I promise you–your first contact will be inconvenient. So, don’t get frustrated and don’t expect them to chase you down. Get to that 5-12 contacts.

Trust

Finally, multiple contacts and messages builds trust. It lets them know that you care, that you will be there to support them through the process. Your diligence, discipline, and follow-through will nurture a sense of trust that will carry through to a deal.

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Internet marketing is an amazingly complex and sophisticated art form. The things marketers are doing to bring you the “right” customer is incredible. However, do not over estimate the capability of marketing to close a deal for you–it can’t.

In fact, there are some studies that show, at best, the marketing techniques are only about 50 percent correlated to conversion. That is pretty weak statistical linkage.

That leaves the sales process to play a pretty big role in landing that deal. So, lets take a look at a few things that will make that part of your business better.

Sales Organization

Organization, and more importantly culture, is what makes revenue pump out of a sales team. It is the fine balance between initiative and accountability that will make your numbers consistently strong.

Best practices in sales management have a few common threads to building a strong sales organization:

• Start small
• Measure performance
• Develop leadership
• Reward results
• Quickly cut losses

The key theme in these bullets is maintaining high expectations for success.

Business Model

The business model you chose is going to significantly affect your sales process. How you get paid is core to how you sell.

However, regardless of your business model your sales process should emphasize revenue not activity. Too many sales processes are built around activity, not necessarily action.

Closely track your successes and losses, mapping your path to the former and crushing the obstructions that caused the later. This will give you a clear process based on definitive actions that increase the probability of closing deals.

Products

Products and services are the core of why you are selling. But, don’t make this a crutch. A good sales process can make these (as counterintuitive as it might sound) less relevant. A good sales organization will actually fuel a need for more products and services.

Could sales become your business’ core competence?

Customer Follow-Through

Now, for the grand finale. The secret to sales process success. You can do everything else wrong, but if you follow-up and follow-through with the customer you will win more deals than the competition.

A strong sense of urgency puts you in the pole position when your customer is ready to move forward on your offering. Never let someone else be there when your customer is ready to pull the trigger.

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The natural reaction when sales slow or you hit a closing slump is to cut back on the important things: less training, less motivation, less sales people. This approach is guaranteed to set you on shaky ground to blast your way out.

Sales motivation should be a key element for any “recovery” plan. Just like our economy–consider launching a sales “stimulus” plan in your sales organization.

Sales People are Emotional

The best sales people are emotional. They are high energy, success junkies. They want to win.

If they don’t win they will often descend quickly into a funk. When success comes they hit the ceiling. That is why sustaining motivation and confidence is so important to getting consistent sales performance.

Cutting back on those activities (i.e., sales meetings and motivational moments) is a recipe for sales failure. Or, at least long-term droughts.

Confidence is Contagious and Training Induced

Confidence is contagious. It quickly transfers to other team members and most importantly to customers. Customers are naturally timid to make decisions in tough economic times. Your confidence can help customers through this silent objection.

So, how do you put confidence into the conversation with customers? Training.

Those training sessions with your sales team that motivates them, shares best practices, and gives them in depth information about the value of their products to customers will exude confidence on the very next sales call.

Wins Increase with Wins

The real benefit to getting motivation into sales and confidence on the phone is the win. Winning is as contagious as confidence. Any high school basketball team can tell you the power of a win to get another win–the value of a winning streak to extend it.

That is why pumping up a win, even a small win in your sale organization can spark a rally in your sales numbers. Look for those small examples to get your next rally started.

Sales is the Revenue Life Blood

Remember sales is your revenue life blood. Cutting back on the elements of success in your sales organization is certain to sack your revenue. So, amp up the motivation, training, and confidence and you will be closing more deals in no time.

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There is not a sales person out there that would argue with the role of sales motivation in winning deals. Every sales meeting and rally should be packed with motivation. Motivation to set goals, break records, and bring revenue.

Is something missing? Do you feel like this isn’t working anymore? Are your sales suffering in this down economy? Chances are there were a lot of “yes” answers to these questions. Want the secret to changing that fate–transferring that motivation to your customer?

Don’t Neglect Sales Meetings

Sales meetings are the heart and soul of your sales motivation. Unfortunately, as times toughen I see a lot of organizations abandoning their sales meetings. This will lead to a dangerous degeneration of confidence and motivation.

Sales people are social by nature and need that collaboration to prime their engines. Sharing best practices, reviewing products, and cheering successes are important. Even if sales are down you need to pull together that motivational moment. You need to look for and reward every little positive.

Building Confidence in Your Sales Team

Keeping the negative out of the room is critical. There is certain to be a lot of grumbling and “can’t” floating around the sales floor. That is not going to help any deals get closed.

Confidence is a state of assurance. Most of the sales people in your organization have been consistent closers at one time or another–remind them of those successes. Take some time at your next sales meeting to reflect on what worked to build past successes. Are there ideas to be relearned?

Most importantly look for and highlight the smallest successes in hard sales environments. Look for opportunities to leverage those small successes into larger ones.

Transfer Confidence to Your Customers

Confidence is contagious. That is the most important reason to crank up the sales motivation during tough sales environments. Your motivation, your confidence can and should be transferred to your customers.

Many of the prospects you will talk to will be timid and pensive in this economic environment. You have to cut through this hesitation. You have to flush out this silent objection. To get the deal you need to transfer your confidence to the buyer.

Your motivation will give them confidence to make that decision.

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