is made of Teflon when it comes to being rejected. I’m going to have to get
out before I drive myself crazy.”
You can learn many interesting lessons from watching children make
their first selling steps, be it selling lemonade at a stand, selling pizzas door-
to-door for the hockey team, or selling boxes of Girl Scout cookies. I have
made notes on the personality types of my older children and their natural
responses to selling. Here is what I’ve seen.
- Nate (high T personality—easygoing, sensitive nature).He made one ef-
fort to sell assertively and never returned. He could not stand the
embarrassment of hearing no. He did start a successful lawn service
by placing fliers in mailboxes and waiting for customers to call him. - Nic (high M personality—outgoing, energetic, uses charm to advantage).He
led his entire school in a booster club campaign selling wearable ac-
cessories. When I questioned him on his strategy, he said he started
with the police officer that led the DARE campaign who initially said,
“No,” to which Nic responded, “Well, I know you want to promote
school spirit.” The officer bought. He then went to trendsetters and
leaders in the student population and sold to them, etc. As a parent,
I know all too well his penchant for refusing to take no for an answer. - Sophia (high E personality—thinks out of the box, not afraid of being un-
usual).She painted rocks and sold them door-to-door for $1 each.
She holds periodic lemonade/garage sales with a kid emphasis. She
promoted a $1.50 car wash throughout the neighborhood. She likes
to develop unusual concepts like “lost pet recovery service.” - Alec (high Apersonality—at age seven, Alec has absolutely no interest in sell-
ing, but is happy to share in the proceeds). He is possible future sales man-
agement material.
I am convinced that any personality type can be successful in a sales ca-
reer, as I have seen each type flourish and prosper. No doubt, however, two
types (Enterprisers and Motivators) display natural resiliency toward the re-
jection inherent in sales. You must find an approach synchronous with your
personality.
THE NUMBERS GAME
I have made this observation about the most resilient sales profession-
als in every industry: they understand the ratio of rejection inherent in
their industry, and they create emotional separation from those rejections
by treating the business as a numbers game.
142 SELLING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE