By

Dr. Gary S. Goodman  2004

Author: The Law Of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable

It sounds a little masochistic, but I actually appreciate being rejected. No, I don’t needlessly relish sting of reproach, or eagerly welcome scornful criticism, per se. But, as a writer, a salesperson, and an entrepreneur, I have come to appreciate that there is a strong correlation between frequency of rejections that I withstand and amount of success I generate, especially in my career. Every professional writer can wallpaper a mansion with rejection slips. In fact, I read somewhere that famous novel, The Yearling, was submitted under a different title as an experiment, and it was rejected by scores of publishers AFTER it had won incredible acclaim. Curiously, original publisher rejected work, too. Salespeople are taught that there is a math-of-success. They have to withstand a certain number of no’s before they can earn a yes. And few entrepreneurs succeed after trying only one venture. Typically, it takes several attempts and even when one initiative prevails, its lifespan is limited. As I write this article, in fact, I’m probably not experiencing ENOUGH rejection. If I want to get more done, to appreciate thrills of more achievements, I need to put myself on line, more and more. I have to ASK for what I want and need, and of course when I do so, I’ll be giving people power to say NO. Let me ask you this:

What could you achieve in life if you decided to become totally and blissfully impervious to hostile criticism and to rejection? What careers or hobbies would you pursue that you’re just too emotionally brittle to engage in, now?

For instance, a friend of mine is a professional actor. He is among 10% of thespians who actually finds a considerable amount of work in field. In fact, just this year he appeared in four motion pictures, and a few were highly publicized, and did fairly well at box office. But he has to constantly trawl for work and he is a tireless self-promoter. He even asked me if I could send a note to visitors to my web site that would tout brilliance of his most recent film! Though he hopes that one of his roles will become a breakout success and will attract even more roles, he doesn’t assume this will occur. On contrary, he hustles day in and day out, answering every casting call, and networking like crazy to hear about roles that he might play. He behaves like a kid who is struggling to get into business, and he’s grateful for every break he gets. He speculates that most people don’t make a living in acting field because they become worn down by rejections. They stop believing in their skills, and as a result, they try less and less. And by trying less, they succeed less. If they would just work numbers, and eagerly go for every opportunity, they’d work more, polish their skills, and they’d stay busy doing what they love. Success would then become inevitable. I’ve been giving considerable thought to fear of rejection, and here’s one of my conclusions about it:

It isn’t rejection that is intrinsically disturbing. It’s interpretation we make about it that drives us nuts and prevents us from realizing our potential.

Eternal Email

Eternal email can occur several different ways. The most common of these is checking your email every five minutes in eager anticipation of something new. Another way to waste your day with email is by relying on it for long messages or conversations that last longer than a few sentences.

To control your email instead of other way around, set aside two or three scheduled times a day to check it. Also, never have a conversation over email that could ever be misinterpreted because of rigidity of writing instead of speaking. Embrace your telephone for communication with your clients, prospects, and colleagues. In age of information overload, a friendly voice on other end of phone can greatly separate you from your competitors who are taking hours of their client’s time with excessive emails.

Personal Phone Calls

How many people do you know at your office that take at least a dozen personal phone calls a day? I bet at least one or two people came to your mind almost immediately. Do you know why? Because taking personal phone calls is one of most distracting and unprofessional things you can do in a corporate environment and is immensely irritating to co-workers. If you’re concerned with productivity, this should be one of your most irritating pet peeves.

If you don’t think that taking personal phone calls at work is such a bad thing, then you may be very person at office that everyone is complaining about.

In sales, if you’re having problems with personal phone calls, I recommend putting a little note on receiver of your phone that says “Can this Wait Until Later?” Most of time, when you take a personal call at work, it’s because you think it has to happen right now. Ask yourself this question before taking any personal phone calls at office and you’ll quickly start to take less time each day with distraction.

Unplanned Internet Research

A killer for sales people is surfing internet for hours at a time and justifying it as prospect research. Should you do research every day on your clients and prospects? Of course you should, but only if it doesn’t interfere with your more important tasks such as meeting with clients, following up with prospects, and asking for referral business.

The key to overcoming unplanned internet research, as well as many of these other distractions, is planning your day night before. Lay aside a reasonable amount of time each day for research (probably between 30 minutes to an hour) and make sure you don’t go outside of that time next day. Try to keep this philosophy for your sales research, only do research that you plan to act on in next 24 hours. That will prevent you from doing any research that you might forget before having opportunity to use it.

Running Personal Errands on Your Sales Route

Whether it’s dry cleaning, grocery shopping, buying shoes, or anything else, keep your personal errands out of your business life. Why? Because you have a limited number of hours each day to sell and you can’t afford to spend that time on things that aren’t making you any money.