An insurance dealer cold-called me from an unknown phone number. Probably got my number from the database his company acquired from the official business registrar agency.
Most of people would hang up the phone immediately, or as soon as the guy introduced himself “Hello sir, my name is .. and I am from ABC Insurance company.”
I could feel that guy was green through his uncomfortable mumble. “Perhaps he got 49 rejections for today shift” - I thought,
And this would be his 50th rejection since I did not have any plan to purchase his personal insurance package.
“Look, sorry to interrupt you but I have no intention to purchase your package. Thanks for calling!” I replied him after listening patiently to his quaky introduction.
“.. and good luck selling, Cố lên nhé! - Fighting” - I had my last sentence and hanged up. Pretty sure I heard him saying: “Thanks”
I am never a good salesman myself, even after 5+ years going back and forth the sales pipeline - So I feel for this guy.
Firstly, it is never his fault for making such the call. A stupid/or greedy manager should be responsible for this. Keep fueling the outdated database to sale team. In one month I had received 05 cold calls from different salespersons - from the same big insurance company. At least they should invest some money into a CRM system.
Secondly, he is brave enough to go beyond his current ego to earn an honest living and experience. He would certainly expect a rejection, plus swear/insults or whatever the heavier the words could throw at himself. I believe I have read an article stating that insurance seller is one of the most hatred occupations in Vietnam.
Some of us just don’t have that gut. I am not that sure on how long left he could keep his ego in check before exploding (quit the pitiful calling job) but I am certain that his future ego will be much more resilient and well-manned than his current one. And it would help his career tremendously.
My first job was to sell online ads for a boutique cultural website and failed terribly at this. I kept my ego saying “I could never be able to sell this because of x y z reasons…”. For the next business, I lost count of how many time I cold emailed prospects for our designing service - I believe I landed the first service trial only after 300 cold-emails.
Each win (even the smallest one) earned up a little confidence on me and the team. Rejections in kind tone also did the math. For this case, at least I could cheer him up a bit - after all tedious saga day he has endured.
Let face it, selling is hard but an indispensable part of business. A good product is nothing if we don’t know how to sell it to customers. An inferior product could be still sold out under the good hand of salesmen.
Jackson Pollock - No 5, 1948 - the most overrated paintings of all time?
All of the great business successes out there started with the endless amount of “NO” pointing out against their initial creators. Imagine if the founders took the “NO”, there will be no Google, no Apple, nor SpaceX.
Don’t lose hope, keep trying! Take the “NO” as an incentive to continue, not to give up.