Why Sales People Hate Prospecting

The average sales person will say they hate prospecting. Not all of them, just the average ones.

And believe me, it’s bad enough they say that because they are missing out on the opportunity to be great.

Instead of understanding that prospecting is the hard work involved in being a successful sales professional, they view it as a necessary evil.

And you’re likely to find that they give a variety of excuses for why they shouldn’t prospect. Excuses that they are able to rationalize in their head as sound.

But as something who has been in the sales profession for over a decade, I know an excuse to avoid prospecting when I see one.

• Not enough time
• No one is buying
• The economy
• It doesn’t work
• They don’t need it
• etc.

The thing is that these are all EXCUSES!

A real sales pro would never give a reason to not prospect. They know that prospecting is essential to their job.

So why does the average sales person hate prospecting? Because it often results in a substantial amount of rejection and failure.

And it seems that our society has made rejection and failure something to be avoided.

Don’t Avoid Failure, Embrace It

I think you should embrace rejection and failure. Because every time you run into these two nemesis you have a great opportunity to grow as a sales person and professional.

Let me give you an example from my personal life.

When I was in high school I was rejected from joining the basketball team because I wasn’t good enough (quite true) which led me to find marital arts. A sport at which I excelled in. This was in part from natural ability but more specifically because of the hard work and determination I put towards it.

Had I not been rejected from the basketball team, I may have been a “bench warmer” and never been able to highlight myself as an exceptional athlete. And not to say I didn’t have the capacity to be great in basketball. I simply didn’t have the passion that I had for martial arts.

But I’m sure I would have gotten a lot of Participation Awards though. And that too would have been a problem.

Nowadays it’s hard for children to develop the back bone to take rejection and failure. Which I believe is a detriment to society.

I don’t have any children yet so keep that in mind as I share this opinion. I very well may change my view in this regard when I do, but it’s unlikely.

It is my personal opinion that children should NOT get “participation awards”. Especially if they come in last place for something. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for building a kids self esteem, but not at the expense of his character later in life.

If you don’t agree with me, that’s completely fine, and please let me know in the comments below. But I think last place should be viewed as a failure and used as an opportunity for growth.

By giving a child an award for getting last place or any place besides 1st, 2nd, & 3rd you are telling them it’s OK to be content with failure. And I think that is completely wrong.

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with failure itself. When I have children of my own I want them to fail…a lot.

And I know it’s going to happen whether I want it to or not. So instead of trying to protect my kids from it I am going to arm them with the gumption to use it to their advantage.

I am going to strive to teach them that hard work is what pays off. And if they were to ever become a sales person, prospecting is part of that hard work.

The ability for a person to do this has been seen numerous times before in history recent and past.

Lincoln was rejected or lost the race of a political position countless times before being President.

Thomas Edison failed how many times before the light bulb was invented?

Michael Jordan was rejected from his high school basketball team.

Don’t believe me? Maybe you’ll believe Michael.

So how again does this relate to why sales people hate prospecting? Because they don’t accept failure as a natural part of sales. And I’m here to tell you that it is. It’s OK. And you should embrace it for what it is. An opportunity for growth.

Just remember…

Every NO you get, is one call closer to a YES! ~ Tweet This!

There Is Another Reason Actually

So that I am not making this post a rant about kids getting participation awards I’ll throw in another reason that a sales person hates prospecting.

“I don’t have enough time” … sound familiar?

If you don’t have enough time to prospect then you are doing something wrong or not managing your time effectively.

Do you not have time to eat every day? Usually you get to a point where you make time or you multitask.

Prospecting is like food for your sales funnel. And prospecting methods are like utensils. If you starve it, it will never be full…. 🙂

This is why it’s important to put prospecting on the calender. Because unless you’re already disciplined, you won’t make the time. Something else will come up that is “more important”.

What other excus….reasons have you heard for why sales professionals hate prospecting? Let me know by commenting below.

~ Johnny Bravo

Image courtesy of David Castillo / FreeDigitalPhotos.net