They keep going because they are convinced that the next great
opportunity is just around the corner. The more rejection they face,
the more anticipation they possess because they figure the law of
averages is now in their favor.”When I asked him about an example of this phenomenon, he shared
the following.
“We hired this kid who was sharp looking, well spoken, and un-
derstood our products and the industry—a real find, we all thought
in the interview process. After a few months, this can’t-miss talent
hadn’t sold enough to pay his per diem food bill, and I decided to
ride along with him to figure out the problem. He went through
all the selling procedures exactly as he was taught. When he sur-
veyed the holes in the customers’ inventory and presented his ideas,
he was thorough and articulate. When the customer would hesitate
and offer some rationale for not doing business with him, he would
start nodding, repeat what he’d already said, and literally check
out of the call.
“When the day was over, I asked him to review what was going
on through his mind beforehe got to each of the stops we had made
that day. He gave impressive and detailed accounts of what he
knew about each client’s business. He had done his homework.
“I asked him, ‘Did you think you’d get the sale before you
walked in the door?’
“He looked at me as if to say, ‘Do you really want to know the
truth?’
“I said, ‘Tell me what you were expecting.’
“He said, ‘I knew before I walked in there what they were
going to say. I figured I was probably wasting my time but went
through the motions anyway.’ ”Brennan knew then and there that this young man had chosen the
wrong career path. It is one thing to anticipate possible objections but an
altogether different matter to expect no results.
Brennan summarized it this way.
“I learned a lot from that ride-along. I now tell new guys that
optimism is the key to every conversation. I tell them the story of
our talented wonder-boy and how the weight of a pessimistic atti-
tude took him to the bottom. I tell them that those who carry pes-
simistic expectations are like the guy who walks in not knowing
he’s got a tomato stain on his tie. People are going to notice, and102 SELLING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE