I Thrive On Rejection

I proudly wear those words on a T-shirt, and I believe them, too. Success, wonderful as it is, isn’t always a character-building experience because we tend to contribute wins to our own innate brilliance.

Sometimes we are brilliant. We’re well-prepared in the call and we’re a wonderful value for the customer. On the surface it looks like we’ll close the deal and make the sale.

But we don’t.

The customer buys from our competitor and we’re left feeling frustrated. As we work through frustration, we face a choice. Will the experience beat us down or will look for another way to make the sale next time?

When I stumble, I pick myself up, dust myself off and keep going forward. I am what psychoanalyst G. Clotaire Rapaille calls a "happy loser."

Dr. Rapaille has spent a good part of his career studying people like you and me. His research shows a direct correlation between the number of nos you hear and the number of sales you make. The more nos, the more sales.

It's that simple. The more you thrive on rejection, the more you succeed.

If you would like to order your own “I Thrive On Rejection” T-shirt, click here.

If you would like to read an interview with Dr. Rapaille, click here.

And to happy losers everywhere, good selling!