Rejection and How To Bounce Back From Them

Rejection is no stranger to all industries, but when it comes to lead generation and cold outreach, it really is a big part of the job. Tenacity and resilience are key skills required to excel in sales, but also necessary to deal with the day-to-day of a highly competitive environment. Keep reading as we shed light on the not-so-glamourous parts of the job and how the Nectar team works to overcome them. 

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1. Keep moving and maintain momentum

Being a seasoned salesperson, Founder and CEO of Nectar, Ben Bagg has all the tools and skills to succeed in sales. But even this cannot protect him from rejection altogether. Instead, he changed his perception of rejection. By detaching himself from the outcome, Ben is able to remain (mostly) unaffected by rejection. Through years and years of doing sales and facing rejection, Ben learned that the best counter to rejection is simply maintaining momentum.

“Keep your momentum; you are in control of your own thoughts and feelings. Just because a lead doesn’t want to talk to you or is not interested, does not mean there is anything wrong with you. My recommendation is to push through and remove yourself from the outcome. The only way to do this is to be repetitive, do more, and maintain momentum. But you have to go through pain to get to the other side”  

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2. Reflect on what can be done better

Prior to entering Nectar Group as its COO, Shuk Huay ran two businesses at a tender age of only 23 and she has had her fair share of rejections. In Nectar she handles the marketing side of business which involves selling ideas to clients that don't necessarily say yes immediately.

Quoting the book The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Shuk deals with rejections based on these four principles; be impeccable with your word, don’t take anything personally, don’t make assumptions and always do your best.

“Rejection is just what it is. Something may not have been done right to get a yes. So I reflect on what I have done to change my strategy and to improve on myself to do better in the future”.

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3. Don’t be afraid to ask why 

Nectar’s Sales Business Development Manager, John Chew is no stranger to sales rejections. Besides sales, John overlooks the performance of the company’s SDRs (Sales Development Representatives). As a team leader he is responsible for devising game plans for his team members when they are faced with rejection. For him, it’s all about knowing the “why” from the “no”.

“Pick up the phone, call your lead and ask them in an approachable manner and follow up on their rejection. Find out the reason behind it and what can be done to get the best outcome for both parties. You now have a revised game plan post rejection.”

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4. Focus on the end goal 

Stephanie Boey, Nectar’s Brand Manager has had the daunting job of building and growing the department (pretty much from scratch). Devising Nectar’s marketing strategies, developing a functional communications arm, and creating awareness about the company are just the tip of her responsibilities. Although she is not a Sales Development Representative, Stephanie experiences rejection all the same

“I sell ideas, concepts and creative collaterals with the end goal of achieving a numerical target. And the thing about ideas is that there is no right or wrong answer from the get-go, it is highly subjective - and is essentially an opinion. It is extremely easy to tear down the straw man idea unless you’ve really thought it through and know it inside and out. When it comes to rejection, it really is part of the process. I don’t see it as a dead end, rather as an obstacle to work around, and a way to exercise my creativity once again to find a solution around that ‘No’, with the end game in mind”

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Rejection may not look the same to everyone; each person experiences and faces it in a unique fashion. As long as you view rejection as an opportunity to do and achieve something greater, you will be well on your way to mastering the art of dealing with it. As Ben eloquently puts it, “detach yourself from the outcome.”

While rejection manifests differently in the various roles, the same formulas can be applied to bounce back from it. Just like the mantra “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, look at rejection as a learning curve to do better in future sales.

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P.S. Curious to know how our SDRs (Sales Development Representatives) handle sales rejection and what they do to overcome it? Check out this video and share your thoughts.

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