What if rejection wasn’t the thing that you were afraid of, but instead it was the goal?

I speak to a lot of small business owners who have just started their company and they often want to know the same thing: “How do I start selling my product or service?” I understand why a lot of you are getting caught up here. You’ve spent all of this time developing an idea or sourcing materials for you product. Buying equipment, building websites, purchasing domain names, and creating social media accounts. Purchasing a logo, sacrificing your time away from friends and family, investing your own hard earned money and the list goes on and on.

The point is, you’ve put a lot into your business up to this point and you’re ready to launch but you can’t. Fear sets in and your frozen. Fear of what? That’s for you to decide but if I had to bet my own money, I would bet on fear of rejection. You can say a lot of of other things and try to sugar coat or put up smoke screens but it’s all about rejection.

It’s like sending your kid off to school for the very first time. You wonder, “Is she going to be okay without me?” “How will the other kids treat her?” “Will she be accepted?”

The key to overcoming that fear is to turn that energy around on itself. What if rejection wasn’t the thing that you were afraid of, but instead it was the goal? This bring me to a strategy that I learned very early in my sales career and one I still use today. It’s called the “100 No’s” strategy. The goal is to start prospecting and pitching your product and collect 100 No’s.

This is a great strategy and here’s why.

1. Each “no” you receive comes complete with a lesson.

   Ask yourself, “why did they say no?” “where they not in a position to buy?” “Are they my ideal customer?” Collecting 100 no’s is like taking a crash course in marketing and sales 101

2.  You’ll get better each time

   Your 1st no won’t sound like your 7th no and your 7th no won’t sound like 78th no. Each time you will learn how to refine your pitch, the best words to use, the best ways to present information. By the time you’ve gone through your spill a few times you will have a solid pitch to use for the next prospect.

3. You’ll make sales

   If you went and knock on 100 doors pitching a product or service that actually brought people value I have no doubt that you would make a sale. The point of collecting 100 no’s is so that you go out and actually try. You become a doer and not just a planner who is likely to have paralysis by analysis. You will no longer be known as the idea guy. Instead, you will be known as the guy who gets things done. The CEO of GTD (getting things done).

No matter what your business is, start collecting your “no’s” today! 100 emails, 100 phone calls, 100 Twitter and Instagram DM’s, 100 knocks on 100 doors, 100 direct mail pieces, smoke signals, pigeon calls. However you do business, START TODAY!