Page 176 - 100 Great Business Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

Quick Ideas 144 to 145

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The Agony of Defeat

Let’s face it: sometimes the work and effort of prospecting

and getting new customers is tough. You hear the word “no”

again and again. You feel defeated, and everything inside of

you wants to quit and walk away. You want to accept defeat,

give up, and go home. The answer is not giving into defeat.

Instead, have a plan to rebuild your energy and spirit when you

feel defeated.

Assignment When Ed called on us,
he was always an excited,

Do you have people you wound up, and ready-to-go

can call on who will encour- salesman. Every one of our
age you? Make a plan that people enjoyed seeing him
when you feel beat up and come in, and we worked
ready to quit, you’ve got hard to sell his products.
somewhere to go, some- One afternoon, I asked him
where to renew your energy if he ever got down, discour-

and spirit. It works for Ed, aged, or defeated. His an-

and it will work for you. swer shocked me. He said

“Absolutely.” My next ques-

tion was “What do you do

when you’re in that defeated mode?” His answer was to call

on the customers who liked him, supported him, believed in

him, and encouraged him. When I asked who those are, he said

“One of them is you. When I feel defeated, I call on you and a

couple others, and they get me going again. It’s my plan to

overcome that feeling of defeat.”

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