I work in sales… What about you?
I don’t know about you, but every Sunday I need to pump myself up before the coming week…
Because I know it will be full of rejection when cold calling.
One of the ways I get “in the zone” is by remembering that being rejected is normal when selling pretty much anything.
Seth Godin is one of my favorite authors because he’s not only a wonderful writer, marketer and teacher, but he’s been through the sales and rejection process personally.
And endured.
How Many Times Has Seth Godin Been Rejected?
900 times… In a row (according to the video clip below).
For 8 years during this period he says he was close to bankruptcy.
Other famous people have been rejected many times in the process of becoming successful at what they wanted to do.
Apparently, John Grisham was rejected by over 30 publishers for his first book, “A Time to Kill”… Indeed, his second book, “The Firm” was so successful that people often think it was his first book.
Dr. Seuss was rejected by 43 publishers.
Stephen King had a nail above his desk that he used as a spike to hold his rejection letters…
He had so many he had to get another nail… His first published novel, Carrie, was rejected 30 times by publishers.
Joel Myers, founder of AccuWeather, might take the cake, though…
Joel worked a decade to sell his accurate weather forecasting service, calling 25,000 businesses before he had 100 paying customers…
Meaning he heard “no” 24,900 times.
I feel better already.