Studies indicate that a child will hear the word NO anywhere between 140,000 to 200,000 times while growing up compared to only fractional amounts of hearing the antonym Yes. Today as adults, it’s no wonder why we will go to great lengths to avoid hearing the word No -particularly in sales. What air is to breathing is what No’s are to selling-the key to survival. Salespeople’s careers are becoming asphyxiated because we are terrified of hearing the word No. Instead of taking a chance and possibly making a sale, we avoid rejection-take the path of least resistance, bowing out graceful and broke. As a consequence to our fear, we perform the ancient ritual of Hari Kari, shamefully falling on our sword-disemboweling our career and becoming yet another casualty of the blacktop. If you are tired living up to your draw; if you’ve run out of Hollywood worthy stories of why you cannot pay your rent; if you’ve grown weary of parking your car in the service department, secluded from Rodney the repo man or if you’ve once again written the day care a check “from the wrong account,” take the path of most resistance and become a pro at hearing the word No.

• Become a rejection specialist: If your mama didn’t tell you Yes very often,why do you expect a customer to? In selling, No’s are professional, and never personal. If you want to hear the word Yes more often, see how many No’s you can grab today.  No’s are an indication of your work ethic. While most salespeople faint at the      first sign of defeat, great sales consultants press onward.
• There really is safety in numbers: The #1 reason why most sales consultants do not perform to their ability is because they are not catching enough Ups. When a salesperson’s month begins to derail, they elect to sit instead of surge taking on the role of victim instead of victor. Instead of surging ahead, vowing to working harder, increasing the amount of Ups-even in the face of more rejection, some salespeople take a back seat to their month, swearing they’ve become cursed by the bad credit gods, blame management for not taking a short deal, or sneer at the top producer for hoarding all of the House Cheese. Each month you stroke a check to your insurance company insuring your valuables in the event of a total loss. Similarly, if you want adequate coverage in order to safeguard your month from total annihilation, grab the lion's share of Up’s and enjoy the No’s.
• You can’t grow without the No: Walt Disney went bankrupt; Oprah was not “made for TV”; Steve Jobs was fired from his own company. In spite of failing miserably, successful people are dyslexic to the word NO. When successful people hear the word NO, they move ON because they know, you can’t grow without the No.  Success is uncomfortable; when something doesn’t work, learn from it and try another approach. Remember No is only temporary, never fatal.

Hockey great Wayne Gretzky advised, “You will miss 100% of the shots you never take.” On the blacktop, as well as life, you will receive everything you never ask for; work every deal, every customer as if they'll say Yes, sometimes you’ll be right.

I’ll see you next time on the blacktop.