Rejection is inevitable in cold calling, but it doesn't have to stop you from achieving your sales goals. In fact, you can use rejection as a learning opportunity and a motivation to improve your skills and strategies. In this article, you'll learn how to overcome sales rejection in the context of cold calling by following these six steps:
The first step to overcome sales rejection is to change your attitude and perspective. Instead of taking rejection personally or letting it affect your confidence, see it as a normal part of the sales process and a chance to grow. Remember that rejection is not a reflection of your value or ability, but a result of many factors that are beyond your control, such as timing, budget, or fit. Focus on the positive aspects of your performance, such as the number of calls you made, the rapport you built, or the feedback you received.
1. Do not take it personal. 2. Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine how many times per day prospects are approached by other sales reps and companies. It can become annoying to the Gatekeepers. Remember that it’s not a rejection, it was a “not right now”. Try again another day. 3. Be authentic, kind and understanding. 4. Do NOT carry a rejection into your next call. Remind yourself what you have to offer or are selling is beneficial for that office/practice/company and will enrich their business/patient care, or customer. If you truly believe that, that WILL come through authentically and be received positively. 5. Try again. Your WIN is coming. The only way it doesn’t, is if you stop trying. 6. Expect good things to come to you.
I turned rejection into a sort of game, and it made getting the NO's out of the way so I could get a yes to an appointment/conversation, here's how: 1. Realize they don't even know me, and/ or that I am trying to help them & their business, So DON"T take it personal 2. 1 in 59 calls actually answered generates an appointment or referral. (Baylor University) I used 1/60. 3. Take your average deal size let's say it is $10k 4. Take your avg close ratio 1/2 or 50% 5. 1/60 times 2 = 6. Deal size of 10,000 divided by 120 calls to get me the 10k 7. That meant, for every NO I got, I just made $83.33 So I retrained my mind to think of rejection in a positive manner as a yes, I just got paid another $83 bucks and it works.
A cold call is only the first of many opportunities you will have to make a personal connection with an individual or organization! Just keep grinding, when timing meets need the connection will be made. You just have to go with the flow and not let rejection or lack of response stop your momentum!
Smile and dial is an overused term but it’s so important. There will be bad calls - you’ll stumble, prospects will cut you off and move on. The important thing is leaving a positive impression and getting information in every conversation.
Our goal as sales professionals is to find the yes. Out reach like cold calling and networking are our tools to find our yes. Every no get’s us that much closer to our next yes.
The second step to overcome sales rejection is to review your results and identify what worked and what didn't. Track your key metrics, such as the number of calls, the number of conversations, the number of appointments, and the conversion rate. Look for patterns and trends that can help you understand why some prospects said yes and others said no. For example, you might notice that you had more success with a certain industry, a certain time of day, or a certain opening line.
The real key here is to interrupt all the typical patterns that is causing every other salesperson to fail. Your key metrics should be feedback from your buyer. You can only get to this stage by giving better experiences and making an impact on the people you seek to serve. Strictly selling stuff isn’t going to take you very far. Fighting back against the stereotypes of sales that create negative outcomes is the way. Here are a few things we’ve found from the buyers our sales Rebels serve: -People don’t like being interrogated -Nobody wants to hear about your product -People prefer a natural flow of conversation -People are busy so setting up a later time to talk more should be the outcome Be a Rebel!
Rejection is part of the sales process, but if you learn your matrix you will love rejection, I know that after 20 Nos I will get a yes, so the more Nos the closer to the YES! Keep smiling
Authenticity seems to be the key driver in most of the successful sales interactions. Customers are seeking people who can connect and understand their businesses and unique needs.
Handling rejection in cold calling is part of the sales journey. I view it as a learning opportunity, adapting my approach based on feedback. Resilience is key—I see rejection as a temporary setback, not a reflection of my capabilities. I continuously refine my pitch, focus on the next call, and celebrate small wins. Building a support system and maintaining a growth mindset help me navigate and learn from each rejection.
The third step to overcome sales rejection is to learn from your mistakes and improve your skills and strategies. Ask yourself what you could have done differently or better in each call, and seek feedback from your manager, your peers, or your prospects. Listen to your recorded calls and evaluate your performance, such as your tone, your pitch, your questions, and your objections handling. Identify your strengths and weaknesses, and work on the areas that need improvement.
Taking a moment to review your conversation might seem painful at first, however as you play it back you can reflect on other ways you could have approached the situation differently. Being willing to get feedback is critical to getting better in your sales pitch.
Learning from your mistakes will help make you so much better. With a tool like Gong, you can listen to your cold calls (and meetings) and learn what you can do better. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result. If you aren't getting the results you want, then it's time to look at a different way of approaching it. Having others listen is the best way to find areas of improvement.
You have nothing to lose. Open your mind, open your ears, meet someone new who can probably teach you something. You always walk away with more than you brought in.
From my experience, when you become strong at meeting objections, building value and separating yourself and your product from your competitors then you need to learn to appreciate the benefit of a warmed up lead/contact in the future. These callbacks are much more easy to deal with and succeed more so than a cold call. From there tracking your numbers is critical to gauge your improvement and success rate. You have not “sold anything” until you meet and overcome an objection. My first sales job, I tracked contacts reached, callbacks, and turndowns. If I had 150 turndowns “per day” I would achieve my own weekly goal for sales.
The fourth step to overcome sales rejection is to try new approaches and experiment with different techniques. Don't be afraid to test new scripts, new offers, new questions, or new ways to handle objections. You might discover that some approaches work better than others for different prospects, situations, or goals. Keep track of your results and measure the effectiveness of each approach. Be flexible and adaptable, and don't stick to the same old methods that are not working.
The top openers (these are snippets of them) used by Rebels that set the most appointments are: -I’m one of the 47,000 sales reps that calls you every day asking for 15 min on your calendar… -Good news, I’m not calling about your cars extended warranty… -Well, you’re either expecting a call from a number you don’t have saved or you love taking sales calls… -This is a sales call, probably not your favorite thing but would you give me the chance to earn time with you… Just to give y’all a few to play with! Be a Rebel!
I don’t follow a script as such but I know what my objectives are and what I want the call to look like. It’s never about my service it is always about their pain point, I ask questions, I listen to their answers, I offer advice like I would if I was talking to my prospect in a non cold call environment, like the pub. Hopefully you are calling your ideal client because you know your product or service solves their problem.
If you're not already doing this, you should give it a try. Smile. That's right, smile. A former boss put "smile" stickers on all our phone receivers. I thought it was ridiculous. Cynical me even worked that into my pitch: "I know you can't see my face but I want you to know I'm smiling because my boss told us to smile." It got a few laughs. But as time went on, I did find myself smiling, and customers even commented on it. My face-to-face customers noticed it, too. I had never thought of smiling as a skill, but I really believe it is. Once you do it enough, you can even smile through the worst rejection.
I use to keep a tally of how many calls it took for me to schedule an appointment. I realized it took me about 20 dials to get someone to meet with me. After that, I knew that I had to make at least 40 calls a day to have at least (2) meetings every day. That helped me make my goal of (10) meetings a week, which helped me grow my pipeline of having 3-4 sales a month based off my close ratio. Try tallying your calls, and remember NO is short for Next Opportunity!
The fifth step to overcome sales rejection is to celebrate your wins and reward yourself for your efforts. Recognize and appreciate every positive outcome, no matter how small or big. For example, you might celebrate getting a referral, booking a meeting, closing a deal, or receiving a compliment. Celebrating your wins will boost your morale, your motivation, and your confidence. It will also help you create a positive association with cold calling and make it more enjoyable and rewarding.
You should celebrate everything in sales. The wins, the losses, the journey overall. Staying excited about what you’re doing is a key ingredient to ultimate freedom in sales. Keeping a positive attitude and staying in a better mental state is the key to consistently performing better day after day. Don’t let the losses get you down, celebrate the fact that you’re closer to success. Don’t brush off the small wins, make sure to stay focused on the micros and how they are ultimately effecting your bigger outcomes.
I agree. You have to amplify every positive because they are heavily outweighed by the number of negative responses. Even if you are talking to someone with a need for your product or service it may take time to build your value in their eyes. If their response is “No”, try and find out why and then create a response to address that area in a follow up call or email. It rarely happens that the first call gets the win! You have to stay focused and use each call to uncover details that make you a good solution.
The sixth and final step to overcome sales rejection is to keep going and don't give up. Rejection is part of the game, and you can't let it stop you from pursuing your sales goals. Remember that every no brings you closer to a yes, and that every call is a new opportunity. Keep practicing, keep learning, keep trying, and keep improving. The more you cold call, the more you'll develop your skills, your resilience, and your results.
Remember for every no you will finally get a yes. The prospect you got a no from might just be a “no not right now” it might be bad timing when you make that call so don’t give up if you think you can help your client solve a problem. Sometimes it took me 18 months or more to win a sale with an ideal client.
Recognize if every call made resulted in a yes, each of your clients would be saying yes to someone other than you. Don't be afraid to push back on the brush off if you are confident what you bring to the table is of value to them. Channel your sales courage and question why not or why not now. You will be surprised how many of those no's can be turned in to a let's have a deeper conversation.
It’s important to remember resilience and how it will bless your life to stay the course. It’s not about “accepting rejection” as much as it’s about believing that you’re making a difference in the businesses you seek to serve. When you’re fixing problems, solving the unsolvable and being a Rebel Leader it should give you the motivation and desire to keep building your legacy. Rejection will fade with time as your reputation stands out from the white noise and becomes a legend within the community you sell to. Keep pushing, Rebel!
I don't hear no. I hear not right now. Some the fattest rejections I've initially gotten from cold calling have turned into solid customers
When you decide to begin a career in sales, it is important to remember that you are in for the long game. Do you homework on selling, take courses and meet sellers outside of your field. Study your competition. If you lose alway try and find out why. When you make money put some away for when you have leaner months. It really is a great field to be in!
It helps to be money motivated. Every call you make can be equated to a dollar value and pushes you toward your own success and wealth creation.
You can't win them all, and you don't need to. Know your sales maths: every no brings you closer to the next yes. Learn to get better, but detach from the outcome and commit to the process
Always remember to use the 80/20 rule - 80% listening to your potential client, 20% talking to your potential client. This helps building both relationships, trust and respect. Today too many sales people talk at the potential customer/client instead of listening