Reject the rejection

After meeting with the boss, the head salesperson mustered the troops.

“People,” he said, “I’ve just been informed that we’re going to be having a fire sale.”

“A fire sale?” an agent spoke up. “But we sell insurance.”

“I said a fire sale, and I meant it,” the head replied rather coldly. “Anyone who doesn’t make a sale gets fired.”

Here is another salesperson story.

“Take a bunch of flowers home for your wife, Sir,” urged one street vendor.

“I haven’t got a wife,” replied the young man, refusing the offer.

“Then buy a bunch for your sweetheart!”

“I don’t have a sweetheart, either,” says the man.

“Well then, buy a couple of bunches to celebrate your luck!” says the persistent vendor. Good sales people never give up!

Have you ever been rejected by your clients and customers before?

I throw this question to salespeople in every sales kickoff rally and mid-year conference. Each time, most hands would shoot up across the hotel ballroom.

I would then proceed to say something that would change the perspective, the life, and the drive of many a people in sales. I tell them, “All of you are mistaken. You have never been rejected by your clients and customers.” Frowns would form on faces. Body language and postures would turn to doubt, disagreement, disbelief, and even detest. I would then explain, “You have never been rejected by your clients or customers because your clients and customers do not know you well enough to reject you. They merely refused you.” And if one has this kind of mind frame, then you would never walk away from a prospective sale feeling dejected. You would go back to your work place with a renewed drive to prepare, to do your homework, and to close the account the next time.

This is why winners reject the rejection.

Now let me tell you about some great men of history, those who have rejected the rejection of this world and risen from failure to real achievement.

In 1902, the poetry editor of The Atlantic Monthly returned a sheaf of poems to a twenty-eight-year-old poet with this curt note: “Our magazine has no room for your vigorous verse.” The poet was Robert Frost. He rejected the rejection.

In 1905, the University of Bern turned down a Ph.D. dissertation as being irrelevant and fanciful. The young physics student who wrote the dissertation was Albert Einstein. He rejected the rejection.

In 1894, the rhetoric teacher at Harrow in England wrote on a sixteen-year-old’s report card, “a conspicuous lack of success.” The sixteen-year-old was Winston Churchill. He rejected the rejection.

How about you, have you ever been rejected by your boss? Have you ever been rejected by your clients? Do they know you well enough to reject you, or did they simply refuse you?

I have had refusals and I have had rejections. Refusals came from people who used to do business with me. Rejections came from those who knew me well and I have loved and cared for, but now are out to get me.

Guess what? No matter who they are, they do not know me well enough to reject me. They’re not omniscient. (Although many of them think they are.) They are not omnipotent. (Although many of them try their best to be.) Only God knows me thoroughly. He knows me even better than I know myself. And He doesn’t reject me. He accepts me. He forgives me for the boo-boo’s I have committed in my life.

And if you put your trust and faith in Him, you will experience the same thing.

Reject the rejection. Refuse the refusal.

Excel in what you do. Be the best that you can be. The best revenge is a life well lived. And when you have done so, do be gracious. Never look down on anyone. Remember God’s Grace.

(Attend Francis Kong’s one-day life changing seminar “SUCCESS THROUGH EXCELLENCE” on August 13, 2010 at the SMX Convention Center. For registration and tickets, call Inspire Leadership Consultancy Inc. 632-6872614 or 09178511115.)