The Law of Wasted Efforts

Probably every Salesperson has the same feeling every time they go out into the field, that will they be able to deal with the “fear of rejection”? We all know that there will always be many more rejections compared to our successes and achievements. However, we grapple with the fear of rejection many times which leads to doubting our own capabilities. In the last two decades with a career in Sales, I have acknowledged that along with the fear of rejection, I must appreciate “The Law of Wasted Efforts” to enjoy the success of clenching the deal.

I remember when I started my Sales career in the Year 2000, I was hired as a Management Trainee, and within a week of training, I was thrown into the ocean like many before and after me to scout for net new customers. Going for Sales cold calls and introducing myself, talking about the company that I represent and Products and Solutions we deliver. Every time, it used to give me a jittery feeling! Initially, striking the conversation with unknown people, where few would lend an ear and many would be condescending, was a phase of discovering life and I kept thinking “Am I really cut out to do this?” Was I allowing the “Fear of Rejection” to become a “Dominant Thought” in my mind, which was making me skeptical of my success in closing the deal?

However, with time, Sales calls became a part of my daily routine like for most of us. I started understanding and imbibing the different steps of the Sales Lifecycle, and how one can continue to improve in prospecting? Gather information about the Account and Prospects, be ready with the Pitch and Power story and keep eyes open to probe and identify opportunities. All these things became part of the process while meeting customers.

In Spite of understanding the Sales Lifecycle, the fear of “Failure of rejection” would still bother the subconscious mind. Each time one did not get a positive outcome from the initial couple of meetings, the following days would pass in overcoming the fear syndrome. However, with time, I also learned about the concept of “The Law of Wasted Efforts”.

Do you know?

Each female salmon lays between 1,500 and 10,000 eggs. However, only a few of these eggs survive to be adult salmon.

Lions hunting in pairs and groups have a success rate of 30%. Whereas, Lions hunting alone have a lower success rate of 17 – 19%. Hence only succeeding in 1/5th to 1/3rd of their attempts

The God of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, the world’s best batsman in cricket has scored half-century or more runs in just 1/3rd innings in International Cricket matches. If we consider scoring a half century or above as a criteria of success, then his success rate is a meager 33%!!

So I finally understood that whether it’s about surviving in nature or hunting as a predator or playing the game for a country’s pride or going out for Sales cold calls, this awareness of wasted efforts makes you sharper, better, richer to ultimately live, pray or succeed. 

The message is simple, you can halt or take rest momentarily but you can not say QUIT, because success does not come after a few attempts of failure; you need to keep trying, till you succeed, so learn to grow in your life understanding the Power of your Wasted Efforts.