How to Reframe Cold Call Rejection and Stay Confident

John Greene

March 15, 2024

7 min

Table of Contents

You’ve been cold calling for hours—and it's not going well.

Your morale is at a low point. Your rhythm is off, and you feel like every call sinks you a little lower.

An overwhelming feeling of rejection washes over you, and the phone is starting to feel like a hundred pound weight.

Has this ever happened to you? It happens to most sales people at some point or another—even the great ones. Unfortunately, your attitude and mental state impact your success moving forward. So it's critical to reframe your brain.

So... how do you get out of this funk?

And how can you prevent it from taking hold in the first place?

Most people see a “yes” as a success, and a “no” as failure.

The first key to reframing rejection is to shift your perspective.

Instead of viewing the call cold outcome as either a “yes” (i.e. conversion/appointment/sale), or a “no”, view every call as the possibility of getting closer to a sale, regardless of the result.

See the possibility behind every dial, every outcome.

Here’s the thing: in reality, there’s no such thing as “rejection.” “Rejection” is simply the story you tell yourself about what happened—a story that carries negative emotional weight and hampers you.

You know not everyone is a good prospect for what you provide. Your goal is  therefore to gradually improve the quality of your list, a process that requires weeding out or advancing the "no's."

In the words of Mark Cuban, “Every ‘no’ brings you closer to a ‘yes’.”

After you get “rejected”, ask yourself this question: “What has actually changed?” This is a trick question, because you’ll realize that nothing actually changes unless you choose to let it impact your morale.

This thinking will help you remove yourself from being attached to the outcome—and when you are outcome independent, you have more power in interactions.

Here are some other things to keep in mind:

Only 2% of sales are made on the first contact. 80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact. So, just because you get a “no” right now does not mean you won’t get a “yes” later. Again, that "no" just statistically improved the quality of the lead (as long as you don't give up after the first contact!)

Evaluate. Learn. And grow.

Here are some basic questions to ask yourself:

  • Did I listen more than I talked?
  • Did I have a concrete and realistic goal?
  • Did I do enough research beforehand?
  • What could have worked better?
  • What can I take from this moving forward?

Set longer term goals

Personal goals can help you reframe rejection, stay focused, and persevere through the challenges you face. Perhaps you want to buy a new house or donate money to charity - keep this in mind and realize that every call you make gets you closer to that goal.

Understand your sales ratio

On average, it takes about 30 calls to get an appointment with a prospective client. Ask around and figure out the ratio for your industry. Then, when you get 30 “no’s” in a row, you know it’s just part of the process, and a “yes” is right around the corner.

“Rejection” only has power over you if you allow it to. But when you can reframe it, you can avoid slumps, cold call more confidently, and make more sales.

A dialer can really help too.

Using a dialer and CRM like PhoneBurner can do wonders for confidence.

For starters, it prevents finger fatigue. Your physical comfort does make a difference, and gradually creeps into your morale. A dialer also helps you avoid the mental fatigue of having to leave the same voicemail over and over.

The less time it takes you to reach your next live answer - the easier it is to stay positive.

Your ability to send automated emails, and to automatically move prospects into new folders also helps you with the reframing discussed above.

Your "no answer" is no longer a failure. It's an opportunity. They just received an email that they a) might respond to b) could increase the chance they answer or are interested on the next call.

Your "not interested" is not a failed attempt, but rather, an opportunity to re-categorize them into a subgroup where your success percentage is higher. Remember, 80% of sales are made after the fifth attempt.

What do you do to stay positive? What's your best advice for dealing with cold call rejection? Tweet us or comment below and let us know!

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