Dealing with Sales Rejection

These words of wisdom will help you sail through days when prospects are refusing to sign on the dotted line.

By Brian Haney, LACP, CLTC, CIS, CAE, CFS, and Aamir Chalisa, MBA, LACP

Rejection is a way of life for many agents and advisors. They make professional sales presentations to well-qualified prospects and then face rejection and disappointment when these prospects decide not to work with them. This forces many of them to wonder: Why does this keep happening to me? What am I doing wrong?

For advice on coping on days like these, we recently spoke with two NAIFA members — Brian Haney and Aamir Chalisa, and this is what they shared with us.

Advisor Today: What tactics do you use to cope with sales rejection and stay positive?

Brian Haney: There have been several powerful things I’ve learned that help me stay focused, positive and always moving forward.

The first was the basic truth that a no from a prospect or client only means I am one person closer to a yes.

While having a prospect decide not to work with you shouldn’t ever feel good, it certainly doesn’t mean the end of the world and is something we don’t need to take personally.

The reality is, I am not a fit for everybody. Nor should I try to be! The “no’s” I get only mean I am weeding out those people who aren’t ideal fits for my practice, getting me closer to those who are.

The second truth is: Mastering your process solves a lot of ills. Sometimes getting a no isn’t really a no, it’s a sign you may have missed something in your process with the client that is keeping them from being able to commit and say yes.

Whether you adopt Sandler as I have done or another high-level sales process, mastering your language and taking the same consistent approach with each client will help you determine what a client may really be saying when they say no.

I’m comfortably equipped with many “reversing” techniques to help handle objections or no’s, when what they really are indicators that I may not have done as sufficient a job in my process, and I just need to address that with the client. This helps me turn objections around fairly easily to win the opportunities I should win and also helps me get to the real no’s much faster so I can move on.

Rejection actually makes you a better salesperson. In my 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, I have dealt with rejection many times and every experience has taught me more and made me even better.

It is as if rejection has taught me to get better and to provide better answers to my clients’ objections.

Keeping a positive attitude has been the key, though. I have found that creating a positive situation out of a negative one is the key to a successful career in sales.

Working in the financial services industry allows us to serve the American public and help them become financially secure. There is no better career in the world that allows you both to help people in times of need with insurance products and assist them in planning for their retirement.

Perhaps the last and possibly most critical thing to any sales success I have is a daily commitment to a positive outlook. It’s not cliché to say, “how you start your day matters.” There’s significant psychological evidence that a bad attitude or less-than-positive outlook hinders your performance for the entire day. So be sure you have an early morning routine designed to have you walking in the door excited, hopeful and positively charged each day so you can adapt, respond and handle whatever comes your way!

Aamir Chalisa: When you are in sales, you learn over time to deal with rejection from prospects and clients. Staying positive and knowing that rejection is never personal has helped me overcome adversity and allowed me to still be at the top of my game.

So always keep this in mind when you feel rejected after receiving a bunch of no’s from prospects: It is the prospect’s loss and you tried your best to help them. Keep your head high, move on to the next prospect and remember that there are people who need your advice, your help and your guidance.