Sales: How to Protect Your Mindset When Prospecting

A question I get asked quite regularly regarding Sales is, “How do you handle so much rejection?” After 28 years of consistent rejection, I’m immune and to be honest, I embrace and feed off it. However, I appreciate that starting in a sales role or being new to the sales arena that rejection can be daunting. So, we must take care of our most crucial gift, “Our Mindset”.

It would be best if you always were prospecting, and I recommend a daily commitment of activity. Put that time in your diary regardless of duration. I have a secret weapon – I view prospecting like a deck of cards. The breakdown is as follows:

• 2 ACES: Closed Business
• 4 Kings: Warm Leads
• 4 Queens: Introductions from your network
• 4 Jacks: Cold Lead
• 2 Jokers: Negative People, emphatic NO replies, Gatekeepers
• 36 Other Cards: Typical responses you receive, e.g. Not today/Too busy/I don’t need stock/Out of office/Voicemail etc.

I start each day looking for the Jokers and the other 36 cards. The reason is that as I turn these cards over, I am getting closer to the ACES and the better-quality prospects. Let’s look at two scenarios.

The day kicks off, and I find the ACES Quickly, then the Kings, Queens and Jacks kick in, and it’s a dream morning as a salesperson. That the afternoon contains a couple of Jokers and the 36 others has no impact as the job has been done, mindset intact.

The other scenario is where you have experienced days or weeks of Jokers and the remaining 36 cards. This scenario tests our mindset to the max. How do you stay positive? How do you keep your enthusiasm?

You go back to gamifying your prospects by using the deck of cards. You have just eliminated the tyre kickers, time wasters and others that you don’t want as clients. You will turn over the next card with a view that you are getting closer to an ACE each time you do.

Let me share the win over 80% of salespeople miss and why I embrace the Jokers and the 36 other cards: I have had substantial interaction with these prospects that will become the start of beautiful long-term relationships. They go straight into my CRM system. I connect on LinkedIn and devise a plan to interact with them going forward by sharing content, sharing value, and changing their colour to ACES, Kings, and Queens over the medium term. These are the ACES in disguise.

Mindset is everything in sales and life. Develop a Growth Mindset, and you are guaranteed greater success in the sales arena.

Always be prospecting and always turn over the next card.