Why sales pros love custard pie

By Mark Blezard

Rejection in sales can be tough. Even worse when you are selling your own concept during start-up phase. A plain old 'No' hurts, so when a prospect sprinkles this rejection with a little rudeness – it really stings.

So how do you learn to love the old 'custard pie'? Simple, measure them. This will give you two things. Firstly, a clear indication of how many 'No's' you need to average a 'Yes.' And secondly, you now have a target to improve upon. This is how professional sales executives measure their performance.

You don't need to record complex detail surrounding each rejection. Start with a simple count. For example, if it takes an average of 10 dials to engage with a prospect, and you convert one in five pitches to a sale, what do you have? Your formular; dial the phone 50 times, speak to approximately 5 people, and a sale is coming.

Now the 49th custard pie is starting to taste sweet!