Helping Your Team Overcome Their Fear of Failure in Sales

Here are three examples of highly successful people and a brief summary of their “story of failure” through risk-taking. (The names have been changed to protect privacy.)

Doug had been working on an insurance account in Eastern Pennsylvania. He had a strong relationship with an inside contact and, in a very short period of time, leveraged that relationship to develop strong connections with the decision-makers who provided commercial insurance for their firm.

Doug was attempting to take the account over from one of the “BIG 3” national insurance brokers and definitely faced a fear of failure in sales. While many of his peers scoffed at his effort, he had great support from his sales manager and agency president. I worked with him as he attempted to position himself and the agency to take over the business.

He didn’t get the business. It took a lot of his time, the time of his team, and the underwriters who tried to underwrite the case. When he got the news, he was disappointed but stayed clinically detached. He didn’t get emotional, upset, or walk around feeling sorry for himself. Instead, when he got the call, he said something like, “Throw me a bone. Give me a chance to work on some aspect of your insurance needs. Give me a chance to prove we can work with you and handle your account.”

He told them he had worked hard on this account, had proven his dedication, and wanted something to show for the effort. The account gave him an opportunity to write a small portion of another aspect of their insurance needs. A year later, he wrote the entire account for more than $500,000 in revenue.

Risks taken by Doug:

1. Called on a large account

2. Competed against a much larger player in the market

3. Was not afraid to leverage a relationship

4. Made sure he was in front of decision-makers

5. Asked for business even when denied the initial opportunity

John: Turning Rejection into Opportunity

John had been working with an account on the West Coast. He had an engagement for a year, and at the end of that year, the client told him that his services were no longer needed. The company felt that the work he and his company had done over the last year had little impact on their sales and sales management results. The needle hadn’t moved on sales, and there was no compelling reason to continue the relationship.

As the president put it, “I just don’t see how continuing this relationship is going to help us. Our business is completely different. We’ve talked to our people, and the majority doesn’t believe you really understand our business.”

This was a first for John and his company, but he fought his fear of failure in sales and engaged with the president of his company to work on a strategy to maintain a relationship. He continued to stay in touch with an inside champion and would visit the former client whenever he was on the West Coast doing other work.

Changes began to take place for the company. There were leadership changes—though not at the very top where the previous decision had been made. There were new acquisitions and a feeling that they couldn’t handle it all (new hires, new offices, new leaders) without some help.

John was in the habit of consistently reaching out to his internal champion, and when he heard about the problem, he suggested coming out to talk about it. Maybe there was something they were missing. Maybe there was something he could do that was a bit different from the previous engagement.

Less than 12 months after John had been “fired” from the account because neither he nor his company “understood” the business, he was hired again by the company—and the account generated over $150,000 a year.

Risks taken by John:

1. Invested time and his own money to visit and stay in touch, even though the chance of re-engagement was remote

2. Took the risk that his new approach to one-on-one coaching could be met with the same rejection

3. Accepted the possibility that, if things didn’t work out, his reputation in the marketplace could be tarnished

4. Relied on his inside champion, which was also a risk that person took with their executives

Steve: Building Success Through Consistent Action

Steve was a senior executive and partner in a financial services firm in one of the country’s top 30 metropolitan areas. The story about Steve is short but powerful. As it was told to me, Steve made 20 phone calls a day to prospects, dealt with daily rejection, and faced his fear of failure in sales head-on.

Not just once in a while. Not just when he thought about it. Not just on Wednesdays. Every day that Steve worked—in or out of the office—he made his 20 calls. If the business of running the company kept him busy all day, he would still not go home, leave the office, or quit for the day until those calls were made.

Risks NOT taken by Steve:

1. Failing to reach the goals he set for his company and family

2. Being a poor example to his team

3. Neglecting the responsibility of helping the company meet its revenue goals

Steve was willing to overcome rejection 20 times a day. Assuming he worked 240 days a year, that’s 4,800 opportunities for failure to reach someone. Of those 4,800, he probably spoke to at least 480. In the services business Steve was in, he probably wrote about 10 clients a year—that means facing a lot of people telling you, “no.”

Steve remains today one of the most respected professionals in his market and his industry.

Are You Helping Your Salespeople Overcome Their Fear of Failure in Sales?

Are you encouraging your salespeople to take the risks that may include failure? Are you doing the same in your sales coaching role?

“It’s fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.”
— Bill Gates