British statesman Winston Churchill once said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” It is known that sometimes, even the most capable salesmen often fail to close a sale because they fear rejection because losing a sale is a mental agony. Nevertheless, most often, seasoned and trained professionals deal with rejections positively, recuperate effectively, and continue to sell.
Fear is a powerful human feeling that can derail the continuity of a journey of a salesperson in the high-stakes world of business. Customarily, the effectiveness of sales careers is often judged by numbers. Invariably, great sales professionals confront the pressure of meeting sales targets, facing stiff competition and the constant burden of administrative hassle. Therefore, they feel that they cannot fail in any transaction.
What is the fear of failure or atychiphobia in a psychological context? It is an emotional response to the possibility of not meeting expectations or achieving desired outcomes. In the context of selling, it is linked to the performance pressure of a salesman. Selling is a results-driven profession, and the salesmen are under constant pressure for continuous performance.
Repeated rejection
Sales professionals also face repeated rejections, and they are forced to emotionally manage such rejections. Whether it’s a prospect saying “no” or a deal falling through, repeated refusals can erode confidence and amplify the fear of failure. However, despite such fear, successful salesmen pursue their sales targets relentlessly to succeed.
Professional salesmen have the courage to withstand the rejections they face every day. They have the courage to endure despite repeated fallbacks. Ego drive is a quality that must be inculcated in sales professionals because it is a notion that makes them want to make a sale as a personal gain. To a seasoned professional, making the sale provides a powerful means of enhancing ego and it dramatically improves confidence.
Many salesmen, at the beginning of their career in sales, tie self-worth to the job and performance. Those who are not accustomed to failure and unable to meet the targets may internalise it as a personal disaster that can lead to inadequacy. This is one of the key reasons for employee turnover in sales teams.
Commissioned-based roles
Also, many salespersons around the world, work on commissioned-based roles where their main income depends on the number of deals they close. The fear of losing a sale can directly impact their livelihood and this financial uncertainty heightens the fear.
Most sales professionals are naturally competitive by nature as they face competition every day. They compare their performances with the high performing peers. When they fall behind them, they might come up with a feeling of inadequacy that may intensify fear.
Fears of failure can hugely impact personal performance and can lead to psychological and practical consequences. It can result in procrastination where they will impulsively delay meetings or follow up calls to prolong the decision of the buyer. This also can lead to avoiding potential challenging opportunities. Procrastination is an intensely dangerous factor in closing a sale.
Also, persistent fear can slowly take off the confidence of a salesman, even an experienced one. An unconfident salesperson tends to use the sales pitch ineffectively, slow to negotiate, or handle customer objections wrong. With fear of failure, a salesman might attempt to stick to safer strategies, evading creative high-reward opportunities.
Professional salespeople who invariably experience higherlevels of stress throughout their careers can easily be subject to burnout. This emotional exhaustion can affect both individuals and teams that impacts productivity and morale, making it a costly consequence to an organisation.
When fear of failure impacts day-to-day actions of salespeople, they may miss out valuable opportunities of closing deals. This not only negatively influences career growth but also often manipulates them to shift careers to other areas.
There are many approaches to overcome the fear of sales. Setting realistic goals by breaking the target into sub goals is an effective strategy to follow. Breaking down the main objective realistically to smaller and achievable milestones can boost morale and confidence.
While closing deals is the ultimate goal, focusing solely on outcomes can increase pressure and fear. Instead, salesmen can concentrate on the process—building relations, understanding customer needs and delivering value. When they focus on doing the right things, they can achieve results.
Salesmen must be trained to embrace growth mindset where self-belief improve abilities and intelligence with conscious effort and learning. Adopting to growth mindset allows individuals to view failure as an opportunity for growth rather than a limitation.
As discussed, rejection is inevitable and is part and parcel the job. Salespeople can be trained to develop a positive routine to process and manage these rejections. They must be coached to think the rejection as a challenge.
Natural phenomenon
A salesperson’s ego often acts as a shield against the discomfort of repeated rejections. However, if salespeople embrace rejection as a natural phenomenon related to the job, they can view it in a constructive context. This approach encourages a mindset of continuous learning and resilience, essential traits for long-term success in sales.
Good sales managers often identify this weakness in salespersons in their teams. They provide constructive feedback and guidance to individual team members. They can identify the fear of their team members easily and build confidence through training or by providing effective mentorship. A good leader who has experienced similar challenges can provide guidance and reassurance.
Sales people are trained to believe in optimism and keep a positive mind. Therefore, they must always visualise success even in the most difficult situation. They must practise engaging in mental rehearsals where they visualise handling a customer and closing a deal. This mental rehearsal can boost confidence and reduce anxiety.
Sales professionals must be trained to step out of their comfort zones time and again and take calculated risks. They must pursue challenging prospects or experiment new strategies. They must also ignore failure in such situations and treat failure as a valuable experience. Also, salesmen must be encouraged to seek knowledge from seniors that leads to more self-confidence.
Finally, the fear of failure, a common feature among salespeople must not hold back individual performance. It must be reframed as a learning opportunity to implement practical strategies. Fear can be a powerful motivator that has to be treated as a stepping stone to mastery.
