Getting in the game: Removing and replacing the fear of rejection

Getting in the game: Removing and replacing the fear of rejection
by Carson Heady – March 2015

Those moments prior to dialing, pulling that door or entering the board room are like stepping in the batter’s box or breaking the huddle.

You formulated a semblance of a strategy, thought (or over-thought!) and now you have to execute the play. But what if I whiff? What if the pass is intercepted? What if they say no?

[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]I have found that rejection is a natural human reaction to changing status quo. Most people don’t like change, and most of the time your product or service is asking them to do just that, change for a perceived value. Overcoming this obstacle is purely a numbers game. By knowing exactly how many contacts, calls, demos, presentations, it takes to close a deal, you effectively establish a process. The numbers dehumanize rejection by making it all part of the end game. Celebrate the losses along with the wins, they are all part of the process. ~David Woodbury,  Venture Builder/Rev7.co [/dropshadowbox] A fear of rejection can prevent us from playing the game effectively, if at all, spelling D-E-F-E-A-T from the start. We may be confident in our knowledge of the product or service we represent. We may have prior success or failure we’ve learned from. But, facts are facts: no one enjoys being told “no.”

So, how does one eradicate the trepidation surrounding rejection?

Overcoming “No”

1. Be Prepared.

The more ready you are to confidently present your product, service and yourself, the less likely you can be deterred from that path. Knowledge and the ability to delicately drive through the selling process are what lay the foundation for the successful sale. Preparation builds confidence because it’s one less thing to worry or think about. Arm yourself with as much as you can in the situation. Go in with your intended qualifying questions, plans for rebuttals and confidence to close.

2. Name the fear.

Recognize the fear and work to dismiss it. You have more control over it than you think. If you have a fear of rejection, acknowledge its presence and contemplate why it exists. Are you afraid of not selling because you fear repercussion? Do you feel unsure of yourself or your pitch? Similar to the “release the mechanism” scenes from the Kevin Costner baseball flick For Love of the Game, you hone in on your directive and drown out everything else. If you allow yourself to deviate from the game plan because of desperation or fear, you certainly will hear “no;” so it’s all the more reason to ensure you remain undeterred.

3. Focus on process.

The real “fear” you should have, if any, is that you leave out a crucial step or do not give customers a clear picture of why they need what you have. Replace the fear you have of being told “no” with a focus on simply sticking to steps. You cannot control what your contact will do, but you certainly can control what and how you deliver. When you leave the conversation, your goal is to have a signature or a clear-cut reason as to why the customer decided against buying with a specific plan to follow up or move on.

4. Learn from the rejection.

Customers may decide against buying for reasons completely out of your control. That said, what worked during your presentation? What did you say that you may want to omit next time? Are there ways to tweak your product offerings or strategy based on the reason for opting out? It is very possible to lose the business today only to regroup, retool and revisit with a better solution that your customer will choose to use.

5. No isn’t forever.

The customer who decides against change today may feel differently given some time or change of circumstances. Leave a solid, lasting impression: Stand apart from those simply trying to get a sale at any cost. Earn the relationship. Stay in touch. Offer to help in any way you can. Find a way to be valuable, even if it brings no immediate monetary gain. When they have a need you can fill, you’ll get the call.

Bottom line

Never even think about the “no.” Your focus should be to control what you can in the selling process. We spend too much time worrying about what never comes to fruition. You control truly learning your customer’s needs, formulating a plan to address those needs, and addressing any concerns. You won’t win them all, but if you leave each conversation knowing the specific reasons your customer did not purchase, you did your job and can learn, grow and get ready for the next “yes.”

3 Questions You Must Answer if You Want to Work in Sponsorships

3 Questions You Must Answer if You Want to Work in Sponsorships
by Matt Brand – June 2014

Whether you want to work in the Wide World of Sports Sponsorships, or really any competitive field of business, you’re going to face someone like me in the interview process. I always ask these three questions in the interview:

  1. What are you not good at?
  2. How do you plan your daily/weekly schedule?
  3. How do you penetrate companies you are going after?

What do people like me on the other side of the desk really want to know from questions like these?

What are you not good at doing?

I usually start off interviews with this question or make it my second or third question. I learned of it while reading an industry magazine years back and it always has stuck in my interview repertoire. It usually catches people off guard and throws them off course.

All of us go into an interview well prepped on the basic questions that we are going to get asked. But, typically, we don’t plan on telling the interviewer what we struggle with. Now, I have seen this answered many ways. What I’m not really looking for is the typical:

  1. “I don’t take no for an answer,” or
  2. ” I work long hours and need to do a better job with work life balance.”

I’m looking for someone who is genuine and authentic; somebody who has humility and empathy. Being part of an incredible team at work that gets along famously can accomplish extraordinary results.

How do you plan your schedule?

Because I have always led sales organizations, this is a key question I always ask experienced candidates. I pretty much know in the first few minutes of the response whether this person is a high caliber player or just a run of the mill salesperson.

I know this is not going to be a good hire if I hear something like:

  1. ” Well, I come into the office on Monday and start making telephone calls for appointments that week and I come back into the office on Friday to do my paperwork.”
  2. ” I typically send emails asking for appointments and wait to hear back and then set my schedule based on responses.”

I am looking for the person who is setting appointments every day! These high caliber sales people are active and taking and making connections all day, every day. They are typically booked two weeks in advance and are always prospecting and cultivating. Because prospects and customers cancel all the time these high end sales people are plugging in these cancellations with new opportunities and follow ups. You’ll recognize these people because their phone is always ringing and their follow up paperwork and processing is never ending. They don’t care because they are printing money!!!

How do you penetrate companies you are after?

This question shows me how well potential candidates understand how corporations work. I often hear a response like this, “Well, I research the company online and find out what they do. I then find the key contact in marketing and try to get an appointment.” I usually follow this up by asking the candidate, “What if the marketing person won’t see you or won’t respond?” If I get, “Then I usually will call back or move on to the next target,” I know that this is probably not going to be the hire that gets my team to the next level.

I wish I had a better sounding name but I am looking for a rat. A rat finds the hole and gets in. Because corporations are large and each department has different goals, the best sales people know how to network ALL departments in order to gain entry. For instance, if a sponsorship person is looking to sell a major apparel manufacture in Dallas and can’t get any traction with the marketing department, perhaps they should focus on finding out who is responsible for HR (Human Relations) and try to sell them an employee outing or special event. Perhaps they should approach the CFO’s Executive Assistant and ask her when she is scheduling the next finance meeting for out of town employees and ask if it could be at the stadium with tickets and food and beverage (much more fun than that dim conference room at the Holiday Inn). The salesperson could approach the VP of Sales with an opportunity to meet the coach or GM in an upcoming meeting. The sales person can network their family, friends, or people they go to church with and find someone who works for that company that can give them the inner workings and key decision makers. 

The best salespeople instinctively know how to work every department within a corporation looking for a hole that will gain them access.

Close

If you can successfully answer these three questions to show that you are genuine & authentic, are constantly planning and making appointments, and can find ways to dig into even the most impenetrable companies, then you can close the interview with a career in sponsorship sales.


Cover photo courtesy of ED.

 

3 basic questions you should ask premium seat buyers

3 basic questions you should ask premium seat buyers
by Kirk Wakefield – July 2013

Preparation is the key to selling efficiency

Preparation is on anyone’s top 10 list of what makes successful salespeople. Successful preparation is based on asking the customer the right questions.

Knowing the right questions is one thing. But knowing the right answers can lead to more sales and more efficient selling (i.e., close ratios).

A little research

One of our NFL client partners wanted to help their sales staff get a head start in understanding individual suite rental customers in preparation for the upcoming season.  In the two weeks after the season ended we collected responses from a sample of 20% of individual decision makers from the previous season’s rental customers. Among other things, we wanted to know the answers to three basic questions and the relationship between these answers and how likely customers would be to buy again and refer others.

Three basic questions

Corporate buyers are likely to be passionate fans, but that’s not the reason they are buying. They are buying because they believe potential clients are passionate league or team fans. So, sure, it helps if they love the team. But in an NFL city, odds are most everyone locally or regionally has at least some affinity for the team. This leads to the first basic question you need answered.

Where does your business come from?

The results show the vast majority use the suite to build relationships with local (71%) and regional (84%) customers. However, those indicating they also have extensive global (37%) and national (68%) markets are significantly more likely to recommend renting suites to others, representing your best promoters and referral sources.

Know their business

If the premium buyer’s customers are primarily local and regional, promoting the team angle may be useful. But if their customers are more national or global, then we really need to ask what else influences the choice to rent a suite.

What influences which game you’d like to select?

Too many salespeople assume price is the main issue. Don’t start there.

From our sample, almost 1/3 aren’t really concerned about the price. More importantly, concern about the suite rental price had no bearing on whether or not they’d be likely to rent again next season. Statistically speaking, what did?

 

know what influences

 

The most likely return suite rental customers were those who wanted to (1) know who the opposing team was, (2) review the entire schedule when it was released, and/or (3) who were planning a special occasion.

Why are those good answers for you? Because it means they’ve already decided in favor of buying, the question is which game? Greater concern for knowing (a) the kick-off time, (b) day of the game, or (c) the price had no influence one way or the other on likelihood of using a suite the next season.

The upshot is that if you focus efforts on prospects in a true-decision making mode (team, schedule, occasion), your close ratio should be higher.

Compared to other options, how would leasing a suite from us help you win business?

We aren’t the only game in town. Our clients can entertain in other sports & entertainment venues. The heart of this question is what is it about leasing from us that helps meet your objectives?

know why buy

What we see from our study is it’s not what you think. Most don’t think leasing a suite guarantees closing a business deal.

The big insight is that a suite offers the best chance the invitation will be accepted and won’t fall through. What your clients really want is just to make sure they have a chance to close a deal.

What’s the worst fear when we throw a party? The people we wanted to come don’t show up. It’s been the same since high school; now we’re just playing for different stakes.

A second big insight is predicting who will be our best promoters and source of referrals. The ability to predict a client’s NPS (Net Promoter Score) is highest among those who strongly believe the suite provides the best return on objective (i.e., the chance to sell) and is the best choice for doing so in the market (viz., “differentiator in the customer entertainment universe”).

Conclusion: Act

Premium sales isn’t as simple as asking these three basic questions, but it sure helps. The key is in preparation. Teams like those who commissioned this research know that knowledge is power. Now let’s go get some.