I read this blurb this morning in Business 2.0 and thought it was cool. It’s like what I talk about… how persistence through failure and rejection increases the odds for success. The article was about making cold calls for sales (calling someone unsolicited to try to sell them something) but it applies 100% to trying to get a job, or really any type of goal-reaching.
In baseball, even the best hitters make outs 70 percent of the time. Likewise, cold calls usually end in a “no,” no matter how skilled you are at making them. The key, therefore, is to remember that with each rejection, you’re one call closer to a “yes.”
“People get discouraged because they don’t understand how many ‘nos’ they need in order to be successful,” says Stephan Schiffman, author of five books on cold-calling.
Schiffman estimates he’s made more than 100,000 cold calls in the past 30 years and still makes 15 a day to CEOs and sales VPs to expand a client list for his training seminars that includes companies like Nextel and CompUSA. He claims his own batting average is pretty good: getting 150 people live on the phone for every 293 numbers he dials. On average those calls lead to 9 physical appointments, from which he closes 10 sales.
“People have a fear of cold-calling only because they don’t anticipate those kinds of numbers,” Schiffman says. “My motivation increases with each ‘no’ I get.”
That last part is powerful. Look PAST the failure, the ‘no,’ and look forward to the success, the ‘yes,’ you will ultimately reach if you keep trying. Most people won’t even do this.