By: Shari Dalton
So many people in sales are afraid of the “no”s and the “losses” in their business. Sometimes it’s because they have weekly or monthly goals they are expected to hit and it can cause stress on their work. Other times it’s because of their egos-they take the rejection personal. Either way you shake it, a good sales person nurtures the no and gets some satisfaction in the losses because it’s an opportunity to learn.
The best sales people are on a constant quest to learn new and different ways to do their job better. They aren’t in competition with co-workers or busy studying the leaderboard-they are working on ways to better themselves and that is what puts them at the top, not clawing their way over someone else to get there. If owners really want to separate the best from the rest, take your leaderboards down for a quarter and see how your team breaks out.
In Healthcare Staffing, recruiters and client managers are working with people. We are selling a service and the product is people. This leaves a huge margin for error as we can’t control the behavior of others. We can, however, choose how we respond to different situations. In every loss there is an opportunity to learn something about yourself and something about how to do your job better.
Now, you may be asking yourself “Shari, how am I supposed to do my job better if I can’t control other people’s behavior.” Let me give you an example. You place a travel nurse at a hospital and a few days before they are set to start, they call and say that they aren’t going to be able to take the assignment. That some family issue has come up. Maybe your travel nurse goes rogue and you can no longer get a hold of them.
What can you learn from this? Thinking back, did you properly qualify your candidate? Were there red flags that came up along the way that you ignored? Did you rush the process? I’d be willing to bet that somewhere in the process you skipped or rushed through a step. After all, we are human too.
Taking responsibility is so powerful. It allows you to become more and more aware of your process and how you can perfect it. You know the old adage, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. If it happens, learn from it, find the hole in your process and implement changes so that you don’t make the same mistake next time.
Not sure where you went wrong? Find a trusted mentor or co-worker to partner with and discuss these types of issues when they arise. An outsider’s opinion can be so valuable if you can take the constructive criticism.
Do not allow your ego or your leaderboard to cloud your judgement. There is a win in every loss and if you take the time to find it, you’ll be a better recruiter or client manager because of it.
