Don’t Give Up After the First Failure   

“Pragmatic Sales Psychology” short episode series, writing #22

History, on a grand scale, is littered with examples of massively successful businesspeople such as Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) who was rejected by over twenty publishers before writing some of the most well-known children’s books of all time. The music industry is full of examples, too many to mention, of artists who had to overcome rejection and failure before making their mark.

The fact of the matter is that many hugely successful people failed more than once on their way to success. So, what do these people have to do with sales? They all had to refine and continue selling their brands and concepts before landing on solid financial ground. Let’s boil this down to day-to-day service and retail sales; you may need to do the same, refine things that are good but not performing well, to reach the highest level of your own selling success.

Refining your initial approach is one area you may need to improve, in order to overcome the failure of the past. If you are finding it difficult to get people initially interested, even though you have a great product or service, then it may very well be that you haven’t spent enough time admitting that your approach is not selling the things/benefits that are most important in the eyes of the consumer. You probably need to put your “selling the benefits” cap on and wear it more often inside your engagements.

If you get a lot of folks to consider what you sell but are not getting enough actual sales, it may be that your sales process needs examination and refinement. There are benchmark points that need to be acknowledged by the potential buyer before the purchase can be consummated; you are most likely not getting the prospect into a total agreement mode before moving on to the next topic.  You aren’t, as we say, closing the door before moving into the next room, psychologically.

If you are getting enough people to talk to (be it “live” or through modern media resources) and they are checking you out but not going to the bottom line, you should definitely get some help with, or try, some new closing techniques.

Failure is fuel. It motivates those of us with the need to figure out how to perform at our highest acceptable personal level. If you have the inclination to take failure as a stake in the heart, if you feel like you want to roll up in a ball and die from the heartbreak of it, then you need a new point of view. Citing those above, who are only a few of the available good examples, reminds me to remind you of this: sales is a creative process. The first set of activities that make up your sales activities early on should never be the same ones you end up using near the end of a great career. The best sales professionals evolve. They examine even minor elements of their sales activities, always looking for a new way to improve what is already successful.

Let’s disregard the grandeur of the three initial business icon examples I used at the beginning of this blog; the reality is that most of us do not aspire to be or will not become GIANTS in the business world. We do, however, aspire to be as hugely successful as the goals we have defined for ourselves; therefore, it follows that we must self-examine and continually practice our honorable craft of being a sales professional with an open and creative mindset. It is the examination of those little failures that tally up to enable us to overcome the obstacles we find lined up in front of us.  We will not only survive, but also thrive because of the lessons learned from our failures large and small.  There is a lot of Will Rogers-flavored wisdom in the old cliche, “You Live, and You Learn!” 

“Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success”  Robert T. Kiyosaki

Jack Klinefelter
Latest posts by Jack Klinefelter (see all)

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top
Scroll to Top