Rejection: the Key to Success

Here's my story of a crummy high school summer job to cheer you up:

When I was a kid I worked in one of those phone sale boiler rooms. We were selling Cleveland Press newspaper subscriptions. I hated it. Who wants to be one of these people who calls strangers at home to sell stuff? Who wants to be a telemarketer? It was the only job I could find and I needed the money.

There was one guy who sold a lot more than anyone else. I couldn't figure it out. He got lists of phone numbers like we did and dialed like we did -- but he sold a lot! And he was just a year older than I was. So, I asked him how he did it. He was a real nice guy (not always a plus in the telemarketing industry -- making his success more baffling) and he told me his theory. He said the reason he sold more was because he called a lot more people in an hour. If someone said no, he said "OK" and went to the next phone number. He logged almost twice as many calls as anyone else.

His theory was that you would get a certain number of sales out of 100 phone calls, and the idea was to not waste time with the people who said "no." "For every person who says no, you are that much closer to the sale." What a good attitude.

The Cleveland Press went out of business, but I bet this guy went on to big things.

Resolved: You gotta get the rejections to get the sales!