Sales rejection is a fact of life if you're in sales. You must learn to understand and deal with it properly to keep it from wearing you down, as it inevitably occurs. If you take sales rejection personally, you will have a very hard time surviving in sales. What is necessary to understand is that most of the rejection you will experience as a salesperson is not actually personal at all.

To come to grips with rejection in sales you will need to realize that, at least initially, there are three major things people reject. They are as follows:

• People reject buying certain products or services.
• People reject certain sales methods.
• People reject products or services based on timing.

What's key here is that these items are rejected "initially." If you linger with a person too long after he or she has rejected one or more of the above items, then the possibility of being personally rejected becomes more likely.

Study and Respond

In a sales prospecting encounter, time is of the essence! You have to ask about what's important and be able to determine whether to continue or break contact based on what you hear from the prospect. Become proficient at identifying the types of rejection you hear and learning how to respond. Consider these examples,

• Product Rejection. "My house doesn't have a basement, so I can't use a basement remodeling system." Potential follow-up, "Thank you." This person is totally unqualified and you should probably take him or her off your list.
• Sales Method Rejection. "That all sounds great, but I never buy anything over the phone." Potential follow-up, "Ok. I understand. Would it be alright if I sent you some information through the mail?"
• Rejection Based on Timing. "I just bought the product you are selling yesterday." Potential follow-up, "Ok. Very good. When do you think you'll be looking into this subject again?"

Make a study of the "no's" you hear and formulate appropriate responses for the common types. When in doubt, break contact with a prospect by simply saying, "Thank you." You will find that it is very rare that you are ever getting rejection that is personal in nature. Realizing this should give you a confidence boost and help make handling sales rejection a whole lot easier.