EAT LESS, SELL MORE... STAND TALL!

"The tougher the rejection the more I would eat, the more tired I would get."

I confess to skipping breakfast and lunch for over 35 years through an assiduously rough and tumble, sometimes sales disappointing, sometimes sales inspiring consumer electronics market place. I also confess to arriving to work each and every day no later than 7:00am for the same three decades. Those that know me will testify to my disciplined style of business living. For those that don’t, please take the word of the New York Times.

Why perform this way? Because like so many of you I work through a business world of perpetual sales rejection. A highly competitive, always-on local-global-matrix-energized business world. The granite wall of disappointment for many of us is painful rejection in the cruel language of “no!” It was early career pressure from mammoth sales rejection that caused food to be my fatty, portly, heart and mind foil of protection. Yesterday and today, food slows me down. Daily hyper-sales-rejection and the pressure of promised sales-forecasts caused me to eat big breakfasts and lunches, which caused me to be sluggish and tired an hour later... just when it was time to perform at my peak on my next sales call.

It was and is pressure, heavy tolling and trolling pressure that smartly fueled my personal intense sobriety to eat less, work longer: fight harder. Failure in sales punishes brand productivity and if not corrected becomes a learned and sustainable product disability. Rejection punishes personal productivity. Rejection fails capacity, opportunity and heartfelt rewards. Rejection should be viewed as that which can be repaired, can be re-aligned, can be muscled up into the smarter language of opportunity.

Having said this, like you, I am extremely passionate about business opportunity and believe massive opportunity abounds daily especially around emerging digital content and relevant mobile provisions. The axiom of my words compliments all B2B and B2C manufacturers, retailers and channel partners for their incredible sales determination and aggressive push-to-pull successes for decades. These words remind us that selling is not for the faint of heart, not for the unprepared.

In my early days, food was my personal guerdon. Thirty plus years ago food was my insulation, protection and consistent reward for sales failure. Food helped and supported me through continual sales rejection. As I fell again and again selling one on one or in front of a large group with sad nervous energy I aggressively rewarded myself with more and more food to offset the pain of failure. Food instantly doctored my pain and anguish for trying so hard, for losing so hard. The tougher the rejection, the more I ate, the more portly, tubby, sluggish, tired and sleepy I became through the day, through my life.

Rejection in sales, for Spartans determined to win, determined to succeed, painfully triggers the need for some form of personally-balanced, personally-formulated restitution to lick the wounds, to re-strengthen determination, to find a better way. My reward today after the same long hard fought hours, win, lose or draw is a simple one-meal-a-day dinner. My heartfelt reward is dreaming of spending more quality time with my family. One meal a day, early and late business hours but physically fit and business confident now and for decades in mind, body and competitive sales performance. Now it’s time to give back broadly to those who have the will, the need, the passion to compete, while they hunger for personal protection and rewards greater than a colossal plate of food.

Why share these rejection centered thoughts? I share to respect, herald and word-reward sales champions throughout our business marketplace who keep the pain of rejection secretly tucked inside their heart and mind. To catalyst C-level commanders to invest early, to train the young determined who struggle to find their way on how to best muscle through rejection while hunting for sales success. Best commanded through professional selling skills; not through overeating food aggressively or left to whatever personal protection they may deploy to off-set selling rejection, off-set personal pressure, off-set the fear of failure.

For me personally “rejection is my protection.” Rejection motivates determination, overstimulates personal passion to succeed. Rejection for any sales arbiter smartly triggers a realization that we must earn the right to ask for the order not by telling about our wares, but rather through selling effectively. Rejection reminds us to fuel opportunity through highly imaginative creativity, through the dignity of valued knowledge, through ensuring competitive line logic assembly to gain our desired push: to ensure must have pull. Rejection to sales pros is simply and directly "a request for more information." When a prospect says no it is our fault, as we did not deliver the dignity of knowledge, the competitive value of opportunity.

Superior sales performance combined with smart personal investments delivers unbridled optimism and commanded energy to knock on one more door and gain one more opportunity. As we best enjoy the greater gift to give, take and make professional selling a priority today I am reminded of the following 12 Green Reign Leadership sales training principles simply titled here without specific explanation, designed to ensure remarkable sales victories when absorbed, when realized:

1. Hope is not a strategy: the strategy is always to find the righteous path.

2. Never let your heart battle your mind: for if you do, you will lose.

3. It’s not what you say it’s what you stand for: actions speak louder than words.

4. Never get caught between stress and humiliation: always utilize the dignity of knowledge to steady your path.

5. Ride the turnpike of truth, always: truth is not always reality... reality is not always the truth.

6. Be the pilot for the storm: by always leading from behind, not in front.

7. Know the doctrine of necessity: to determine and set the most prosperous course.

8. Connect with the courage of your conscience: always have a heart for the innocent.

9. Never negotiate against yourself: always be clear on what you wish to achieve.

10. Creativity allows you to escape the predictable: creativity + relevancy = won.

11. Give more than you take: so your heart shall receive more than you gave.

12. Caring is sharing, period: sharing, caring and giving is caring for eternity.

Of course respectfully, my style of skipping two meals a day is not for everyone. But finding the right way to protect yourself and protract sales through daily rejection is for everyone. Everyone who wishes to energize opportunity, grow a long tail career, enjoy and deploy a greater command and team fueled to make or take a market.

Peter Weedfald is the author of Green Reign Leadership, a book that focuses on ensuring market opportunity thru creative leadership advantage.