Episode #193: Dealing with Rejection In Sales

Dealing With Rejection In Sales.

Everyone hates to be rejected, but not many people have this as a fundamental aspect of their work. We ask colleagues for help, and they assist.We ask our bosses for advice, and they provide it. Buyers though are a different case. They can easily find a million reasons not to buy and unashamedly tell us “no”. Rejection itself is not so much the problem, as is how we respond, how we deal with the rejection. Risk aversion is a fundamental part of the fabric of Japan and buyers more than most observe this in distinct detail. They would rather give up on something better if they thought there was a possibility their decision might bring some stain on their record.

Failure is hard to recover from in Japan. There are no second chances here. People have learnt the best way to avoid failing is to make as few decisions as possible, especially any decisions, which can be traced back to you. Best to have a group decision, so the blame can be spread around and no one loses their job.

Having given the sales presentation, many salespeople in Japan simply don't ask for the order. They get to the end of their spiel and they just leave it there. The buyer has not been asked for a decision. It is left vague on purpose so that there is if there is a “no”, then that will not have to be dealt with directly. The Japanese language is genius for having circles within circles of subtle obfuscation.The end result is a “no”, but nobody has to say it or hear.

To get a sale happening, the buyer has to do all the work here in Japan because the sales people don't want tocommit to take the plunge and ask for the order. If they get a “no”, their feelings of self worth are impacted, they feel depressed, that they are failing.

Sales though is totally crystal clear about success and failure. It is very hard to argue with numbers. You either made the target or you didn't. You have to up the ante regarding the volume of activity This sounds easy, but it isn't when you are feeling depressed, insecure, and plummeting in confidence. The key is to see sales in a different way.

An increase is volume activity will even out the rejections. Rejection isn't about you personally. Buyers don't care that much about salespeople as people. They are rejecting your offer, as it is made today, in this part of the budget process, at this point in economic cycle, in this current construction, at this price and with these terms. We haven't shown enough value yet to get a “yes”.

The answer is to see more people. In that way, you can have a better chance of meeting a buyer for whom all the stars align, and they can say, yes. At the same time you need to keep working on getting better at showing more value. We need to harden up and become tougher.

Whatever you are selling, you always need to remember your AFTOS mantra. “Ask For The Order Stupid”. Never say no for the buyer and understand that no is never no forever.