Rejection hurts, no matter how much we try to brush it off.
I’ve seen a lot of builders and contractors put their everything into creating the best bid, quote or proposal. Only to have the prospect choose somebody else.
What hurts is that these builders and contractors know that they could have done a better job than the competition, but still people judge them as less.
However, when we look at salespeople, a “NO” today might mean a “YES” tomorrow. They don’t let one rejection bring them down.
I know you might have heard me saying this, but when it comes to promoting your product or service… be a salesperson.
With that in mind, I’d like to share some tips on how you can handle rejection and make it more manageable.
1. Don’t Get Emotional
If you get stuck thinking about the rejections that you’ve had, your business will never grow. You’ll start losing confidence in yourself, thinking that YOU are the mistake.
In the business world, rejection is rarely personal. It’s mostly a dissatisfaction on the product or service itself or that the prospect just doesn’t need it today. But maybe two months from now? Or maybe the competition did it for a cheap and dirty price, and the prospect wasn’t educated on the cost of quality work.
2. Ask Questions
How else can you know what went wrong if you don’t ask?
Ask your prospect why didn’t they choose you.
You can send them a survey, if you want.
Ask them to be completely honest. And no matter what their answers are, you have to listen to them wholeheartedly.
This way, you will learn. But a warning, don’t be defensive.
3. Keep Your Focus
Don’t let one rejection make you feel worthless and incapable. It helps if you have a goal that you can keep your focus on.
Nobody said that in business, everyone will say “yes” to you. There are some things that you can’t control. So keep your focus on the things that you CAN control.
Things like, what’s the next step I should take? How are you going to present your bid or quote on the next prospect?
Basically, don’t get stuck. There’s a quote that says, “keep moving forward” and that’s what you should do.
4. Make Changes Where Needed
Once you know what went wrong why you are being rejected, then do something about it.
Imagine yourself being on a boat with a hole on the side. You know there’s a hole there, you know where the hole is… but you’re not doing anything about it, thinking that it’s too small to be a bother. So eventually, the water will get in and fill the boat and it will be a problem that you can no longer handle.
We’ve all been there. There’s a “minor problem” and we ‘don’t have time’ or don’t feel it is important enough to worry about right then and there… so it eventually becomes bigger and bigger as time goes by, becoming an urgent problem before we know it.
So the best thing to do is once you know where the problem is, then do something about it.
Could it be that you are talking to the wrong prospect? Or that you are not presenting your company well enough? Or that you haven’t established a name in your area yet?
In the construction business, or in any business at all, it’s okay to be rejected. Rejection shows you what you are missing or that you are just probably talking to the wrong person. You have to learn as much as you can. Then apply the knowledge that you have gained. You have to be vigilant on what the problem is, so you can take an action immediately.
Never take rejection personally but learn from it.
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