No, Part 2

“No” is the most depressing word that you will ever hear, right? As marketing people, we hate to hear that word. It means that we have failed in our quest. It doesn’t matter why they tell us this, we have failed. Maybe we have just spent time marketing our business’s product or service; maybe we have just wanted to start a relationship with a new acquaintance. We are a failure, useless to ourselves and to our business.

Before we slink off into the corner, hide under a blanket, or slit our wrists, let’s take a deep breath and think what this word means. Is it the end of the world, both for us personally and in business? Does it mean that we are total failures in our search to represent our business or to make new friends and build relationships? Of course not, it just means that whatever we were after at that moment will not be ours.

How many times did Thomas Edison fail before he discovered how to make the electric light bulb? Did he stop? How many times have many thousands of successful people been fired from jobs for which they were not suited, only to find success, and joy, in their later lives in pursuits that brought them to our attention as mentors and trainers?

Every time that anyone tells us “No”, they have brought us closer to the person who will say “Yes”. As a marketing person who only wants to market to someone, we must expect to receive rejection, even when all we want to do is meet and get to know someone. We cannot let this get us down; we must not allow this temporary setback delay our success any longer than the moment at hand.

When I spent my first career in business developing computer systems, I heard all the excuses. ”That won’t work here.” “We have never done that in that way.” “We aren’t that type of organization.” “We do things differently here.” Well, if we don’t try new things, we may never get new results.

A friend of mine always says “If you always do what you have always done, why are you surprised if you always get what you have always gotten before?” If we try something new, and it doesn’t work, undo it and try something else. If we can try something for free, and it works, we have found something great without spending anything.

As marketing people, we must get acquainted with hearing “No”. We cannot get everyone to agree to hire us, purchase whatever we have to offer, or even meet with us to get acquainted. It just will not happen. We may even get more rejections than acceptances, especially if we are starting a new endeavor or offering a new product or service or trying to make a career change. We must persevere.

Negative feedback must not have a devastating effect on us; we must learn from it. If it means that our approach needs changing, we must adapt. If our choice of target market needs adjusting, we need to do so. We cannot let rejection be our downfall; we must believe in ourselves and our ability to hear, learn, adjust, and succeed.

Please leave me your comments, or email me at Jim@JimTeasley.com, or call me at 360-314-8691. Need to reach out to someone to help them deal with rejection? Why are we waiting to act? That is where relationships and partnerships are most successful. Be of help to someone today or let someone help all of us be better. Don’t let “No” win.