Yet, avoiding situations where you may face rejection and hear "No" is a recipe for mediocre success. So today, it is time to adopt a new mindset.

If you are working your business and you are thinking about yes and when you get a “yes” you feel good and when you get a ”no” you feel bad, then you are going to feel bad a lot. Because, the truth is, there can be a lot of rejection out there. If you are feeling bad about the “no’s” you get, you might slow down, get discouraged; you might even quit altogether. And now all the learning and the time you’ve spent on your business will be for nothing.

So, the key question is, how do you start feeling good about hearing “no?” You can do it by reprogramming the way you think about it. You must think differently about the no’s that you are hearing. The truth is that when you hear “no” you are taking action in your business and that is a very good thing! Remember that we can only control our own behavior and actions – not the result. So even if you get a NO, reward yourself for the behavior. Eventually one of the NO’s will turn into a YES! In fact, when you go out of your way to increase the number of “no’s” you get, the yeses will show up at your door in greater quantities than you ever could have imagined!

So here’s an exercise to do: Starting tomorrow, every time someone tells you “no” immediately say to yourself, “Great I am one step closer to yes!” At first it’s going to feel strange and you might feel like you’re lying to yourself, but eventually you will find that hearing “no” loses some of the negative power over your emotions. And when a few of the "no's" turn into yeses, you'll also see that you have set yourself up on right path to finally achieving your goals and dreams.

Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz help people achieve their full potential by intentionally increasing their failure rate. They are the authors of "Go for No!" a short story written specifically for people who must face failure and rejection to be successful. Learn about how this powerful concept can change your life here: www.goforno.com and buy the book for just $12!

Interesting huh? The way it is for introverts, don't we already spend a lot of time in our heads? Then why not spend time with the suggested exercise?

Turning No From Bad to Good is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer

Here's what Carina said, "Extraverts need more stimulation to get aroused and therefore seek more stimulation. Introverts are viewed to be more responsive and physiologically affected by arousing stimuli than extraverts and reach their peak of excitement earlier than extraverts. Once they reach this peak they tend to back out to prevent over excitement. Introverts do better in low stress situations, extraverts in high stress situations.

In direct marketing and advertising a number between 6 and 13 contacts has been suggested to be able to generate new leads and to have a positive influence on buying decisions. Looking at the graph it becomes clear that there needs to be a differentiation between extravert and introvert customers."

The fallacy for me is interpreting that follow-up is stressful. If anything as an introvert in sales, the follow-up is not stressful. Maybe it's because of my view of it. For me, follow-up is relational. It's moving the sale further along - assuming I have a qualified prospect in all regards. It's causing me to use a few of my strengths - thinking and planning.

As a customer, and an introvert, I appreciate follow-up! It's further building a relationship. If someone tried to "sell me" at the get-go, that would be higher stress. When someone continues to stay in touch with me, it begins to reduce the decision making-stress, it develops my trust in the salesperson, and I become more curious.

So for me, Hans Jürgen Eysenck work which inspired the graph, is only good news for the introvert customer, as well as the introvert in sales. And unless my interpretation of the graph is wrong, that's my story - and I'm sticking with it.

NOTE: I tried on several browsers to comment on the author's post with no luck. It had a word verification box that remained hidden and prevented me from posting a comment. And there was no way to email the author.

BACK TO YOU: What do you think? Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Knowing that "Introverts do better in low stress situations, extraverts in high stress situations," is direct marketing with follow-up going to have a positive influence on a more introverted person or a more extroverted person? Is there really any difference at all?

Is Sales Follow-up a Stressor for Introvert Prospects? is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer

Craig Elias created Trigger Event selling which subsequently won him $1,000,000 prize in a global Billion Dollar Idea pitch competition. Tibor Shanto is called a brilliant sales tactician showing organizations how to use the right information to execute a perfect strategy. Together in Shift, they offer a system for others in sales to be in front of a qualified and motivated buyer at the right time more often.

Won Sales Analysis™, Chapter 3, section 3, is about involving the decision maker in questions that analyze the sale before the service or product is delivered. In this way you create a unique tool to be able to see more opportunities for sales more easily – in the future. For example, one of the five questions suggested to ask is "What event or events led up to this purchase?” Elias and Shanto claim the specificity to this question is crucial in helping to identify the trigger events, so they offer this advice, "If you don’t get the kind of response you’re looking for from the primary question, ask a variation of the question. For instance: - What changed to make solving this problem a priority? - What created a sense of urgency around solving this problem? - What makes the Status Quo (or: what you were using) no longer viable?" They offer the same keen observation to the other five component questions Find, Close, Improve and Classify.

Highly recommended to the more logical seller is chapter 4.3, Logic versus emotion. Insights and strategies are offered to establish a salesperson as the buyer's "Emotional Favorite." "This is not the same thing as having a good discussion with a prospect. Instead, it means being the person the prospect wants to see win and wants to use as a resource. If you’ve ever had a prospect call you for help with a problem that is unrelated to what you sell, you already know what it means to be the Emotional Favorite. It means that you can position yourself as the “go-to” person and maximize the likelihood of winning future business." The authors tie in what's commonly called the "know, like and trust" factor into their model of Trigger Event selling with actionable steps therefore answering the question of how to establish know, like, trust.

From an engaging discussion of identifying the Window of Dissatisfaction through leveraging Triggering Event Referrals, you can discover how to both improve your timing and maintain the sales flow. Many old sales assumptions are brought to truth or fiction while at the same time tying them into the uniquely new Shift method. It's a unique customer-focused model that will engage listening, planning and establishing yourself as a problem-solver.

Instructional worksheets are generously provided for major insights in the book that readers are encouraged to put into action. The worksheets help you learn how to make this happen – on purpose – more often. While it really is not a crystal ball, anyone who sells can be more effective in achieving more results by acting on the ideas in this book. The guiding premise is it's about being in the right place at the right time on purpose with prospective customers.

Would you like: #1: Preview chapters of the Trigger Event Selling™ book SHiFT! #2: The Won Sales Analysis™ template with instructions and #3 A recording of the webinar “Trigger Events The Silver Bullet In Sales” ? You can get these from Craig and Tibor through my Book Review page at http://www.shiftselling.com/reviewers/patricia-weber So get your gifts now!

Crystal Ball for Selling – Book Review of Shift!: Harness The Trigger Events That Turn Prospects Into Customers is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer

- How to Steadily Turn Prospects Into Customers: Taking the Mystery Out of Follow-up Reluctance and Enjoy Your Work

- How to Teach Internet Marketing to Newbies

- How to Have a Sales Conversation That Works

- Joint Ventures: Tips for Successful Partnerships

- Accelerate Profits and Success with an Online Administrative Assistant

- Introvert Marketing Toolkit eCourse: 9 Proven Strategies to Make a BOLD Impression Online

Being one with a naturally curious nature, I've already checked several of them out, and they're top-rate! And the best part? They’re all F.R.E.E.!

Check out the reports and pick up those you’re interested in at http://www.ShamelessSelfPromotionMonthGiveaway.com .

Share this great resource with your friends before the event ends Friday, Nov. 5th.

Let These Savvy Women Help You During Shameless Self-Promotion Month is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer

1. Overusing I. Like selling, follow-up is more about the customer or the prospective customer. A follow-up with more you than I, me, and mine is a stronger type of follow-up.
2. Repeating your first or previous contact. Yawn, b-o-r-i-n-g. Have something to say or write about that is both worthwhile and different on each of your follow-up calls.
3. Not personalizing. Even if the new product or service is something you are telling everyone about, make it unique for the person you are following-up with.
4. Ending without a call to action. It's your third, seventh or ninth contact. Ask for some kind of action: is this new product something of interest that I can stay in touch with you about? What's our next step? Call for a decision of some sort.
5. Taking too long. Use your listening skills to determine the decision making criteria of your prospect. Too long for you may be too short for the prospect. Too short for the prospect may be what gets you a rap as a pest. It's not your time line of wanting that is important but the customer’s time line of need.
6. Using the clichéd, "Did you get my email?" How weak! If you sent an email it's better to say, "I'm following up on a recent email I sent because there is something important I want to ask you about." Take a previous follow-up contact to a stage of answering the unasked question your prospect might have.
7. Not having a plan or a system. Do you have a stack of business cards staring up at you? Then you don't have either a plan or a system.
8. Not taking advantage of rejection. They said no. Big deal. Hopefully you have uncovered the reason for rejection: ask for understanding the decision to help you get better. Or you might even want to ask for a lead. A referral may be possible as well.
9. Making more statements instead of asking more questions. This is kin to overusing I. Before you start down a presentation path, be a bit more curious. Let your prospect tell you the address you need to be at, what they are interested in knowing.
10. Giving up too soon. Those dang statistics tell us over and over again: 80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact. Yet, only 10% of sales people make more than three contacts. Your prospective customer wants you to know - you're losing interest in me too soon.

Both 4 and 5 are my Achilles heel. I'd like to blame it on introversion tendencies - but you and I know that is just as weak as the feebleness of the lack of action!

What feeble follow-up attempts have you experienced on either side of buying and selling?

I'm offering a free 25 page excerpt from How to Steadily Turn Prospects Into Customers: Taking the Mystery Out of Follow-up Reluctance and Enjoy Your Work. Learn easily and quickly how to go from collecting business cards to a 30% to 100% increase in sales and, if you like, experience it without going to ONE more networking event.

Top ten feeble follow-up attempts to fathom is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer

1. Find out in advance how many people the facilitator expects that you will meet at the event. You want to bring more cards than that if you are one to sometimes say, "Oh I forgot my business cards." In making that first impression, it matter as much about what you think about yourself but what others might believe.

2. Have business cards handy without the need to fumble to exchange them.

3. Upon receiving someone else's card, pause to look at it, say their name aloud while you look at them. When you get ready to move on to your next round, do the same before you leave each other. Now, you are one step closer to tyng this person to the discussion you had.

4. Have a pad or a networking journal along with a pen or pencil for notes in conversations that you want to keep top of mind.

With speed networking being as popular for finding contacts and referrals as speed dating is for finding that certain someone, you will look your best being prepared. Many think it starts with the business card. If you are an introvert you're going to love the preparedness. If you are an extrovert, you'll likely have all the business cards you need!

What other ways have you let your business card help you?

Speed Networking: Help Your Business Card Help You is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer

It doesn’t matter what is the size of your business and how much money you have invested in it you can’t afford to ignore the importance of standing out from the rest of your competitors for making it successful. In the current market scenario where competition increases every moment and marketing costs are going high, your business won’t be able to survive for a longer period of time if you are doing the same thing which thousands of your competitors are doing.

Time and again, I see that most of the business owners act more introverted when it comes to stand out from the others. Why? There are two main reasons behind this –

1. Laziness because it is always easy to follow someone instead of trying something else. For the most part introverts prefer creativity instead of following others so the laziness might come from something else.

2. Fear of failure in implementing new ideas because of which most of the people prefer to stick with traditional methods. Introvert tendencies can often keep us stuck in the idea creation phase and then that keeps them stuck.

I know. You must be thinking of how to make your business look unique. But before that I want to clear some myths. Presenting your business in a unique way is not rocket science and don’t need a huge marketing budget (at least according to me). Also, you should not expect overnight results because it takes time to get noticed depending on the amount of your efforts.

What follows next are the few effective tips which can help you to make your business look unique so that your business can easily stand out from the rest of crowd.

Use personalized approach - Don’t treat your customers only as medium to earn money. Customers are also human beings (At least, most of them). Like all other human beings they also like to get flattered. They become happy when they know that they are being heard or when somebody gives importance to their opinions. Always use personalized approach for your customers. Send them greeting cards on their birthdays, ask for their feedback, send them discount coupons on festivals even when they didn’t asked about them so that they don’t forget you whenever they need to buy anything.

Help when they need – Your customers won’t remember what products you sell and at what prices, the only thing they would remember is the experience they get. Make your experience as pleasant as possible by providing them with the information and things they need whenever possible. Nor does it improve your relationships with them but will also establish you as the expert in your niche.

Accept your faults – Nobody is perfect but what irritates a customer the most is when a business owner doesn’t accept his/her fault and start giving lame excuses. If you have done a mistake or don’t have skills to perform job successfully then accept it upfront.

Make yourself accessible - Provide as many channels of communication as possible to your customers to contact you. Join all the popular social media sites, forums and everything else where your customers spend most of their time. The more ways you will provide to your customers to contact you, the easier it will be for your customers to find you and the more they will buy from you.

Try to do things differently – Whether it is something big like designing a whole website, designing your office, implementing marketing strategy or small but important actions like packaging, shipping or just billing. You need to do things differently to stand out from the others and to get the attention you deserve. Unique visual appearance influence the consumer decisions most of the times. Doing everything in a different style will give you a winning edge against your competitors.

Rajkumar Jonnalla is working for Fortepromo Promotional Products that help companies to promote their brand in market.

How to Stand Out from Your Competitors Even if You Tend to be More Introverted is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer

People don't network effectively because their thinking about it is wrong. They only start to network when they need something: a job, a customer, an employee or a connection to help them. Networking is something that is part of life. My husband and I have neighbors who love parties. They have some kind of gathering at their home at least once a month. Oh yeah; if you guessed they are both extroverts you are spot on. In this atmosphere of their guests eating with them, drinking with them and watching football games with them, they are networking. Need proof? Three or four neighbors now use their product in their home or business. This effective networking has little to do with the fact the people are extroverts or introverts. It has to know with their understanding that networking is a way of living.

One of the tips in the article that does make sense for introverts, once they let go of some of the ways they "see" networking - be other focused in networking; the number one article's tip. Being focused on the other person first, kicks in an introverts natural skills and strengths of listening and asking questions. In a recent networking conversation with someone I just met, I received an email following the event. "I noticed that you very skillfully had me talk about myself and my business, but you didn't talk about yourself and what you do. You're obviously very good at helping introverts succeed." Most people are interested in talking about themselves. But as introverts, particularly on a first meeting, self-disclosing is not on our agenda. The best thing is, it doesn't need to be. Be yourself.

Another useful tip in the article, networking is like dating. I often a similar analogy and it's worth repeating. Even extroverts will find benefit. On a first date you wouldn't ask someone to marry you would you? Not usually. So why on earth on first meeting someone in networking would you ask them to "buy" what you are selling by droning on and on about you are yourself, your company, your product? I'm sorry; I don't even know you. I think introverts know the goal of networking darn well: to get to the stage in the relationship to where you earnthe right to have that conversation. Again my fellow introverts, be yourself.

What's the one thing that helps introverts do better in networking? Introverts are better at networking when they are themselves. Be yourself. Networking isn't just about showing up. It isn't even just about having polite conversations when you do show up. It's about moving that meeting with someone to a meaningful conversation - about what they want and about what you want. To get to that point, you have to have a relationship. And relationships are something that introverts are quite adept with building. My introverts friends, be yourself.

As an INTJ, in sales and marketing for 30 years, if my business doesn't come from referrals (a form of networking) it comes from networking. Networking can work for everyone. It's about what beliefs are guiding you through the process: if you believe you can't connect, you won't; if you believe you only need to connect with three people, you will. And if you think that networking doesn't work because you are an introvert or you are shy, then, read this again: Networking can work for everyone.

Introverts Can Do Better in Networking With This One Thing is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer

First the links to the Go-Giver book authored by Bob Burg and John David Mann:

You can read the first chapter of the book for free. Then go beyond that with one of two more actions:

Download The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success from the Go-Giver website. It could be just what you need to help you and your business results!

Finally, read the complete book which you can buy through Amazon or possibly find at your library:

Second the links to my blog posts on the Five Laws:

Go-Giving overview as an Other-Focused approach: Introverts and Extroverts Find Business Success with Other-Focus

Law #1: Go-Giver Law of Value: Price is Not Value

Law #2: The Law of Compensation: Go-Giver Metrics to Encourage Introverts

Law #3: The Law of Influence: Introverts Find Success in Networking with a Go-Giver Focus

Law #4: The Law of Authenticity: Introverts, you, as Go-Giver, are the most valuable gift you have to offer.

Law #5: Practice the Go-Giver Law of Receptivity to Be A Better Giver

What a pleasure to both read this book and then have the honor to interview Bob Burg, one of the co-authors.

Stay tuned as the fun has just begun.

Go-Giver Thanksgiving: With Gratitude is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer

As business people, how do we know when we have served people well? Writing about all Go-Giver laws from The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann, has been driving the lessons home for me.

Read law number 2 one more time:

Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.

As business people, how do we know when we have served people well? One metric is customers or clients many times tell us in a testimonial. Another metric is people willing, often on their own and also with us asking, refer us to others. Still another measure is the personal satisfaction we have because we feel good about the delivery. I love the feeling when my clients say how delighted they were with the speed of the results they got in working with me. When you over deliver and under promise these metrics are often in play without a need for you to act further.

But serve poorly and an entire other dynamic starts: customer dissatisfaction spreads like a wildfire.

So, you serve people well? That’s part one of the law.

Also notice that part two of the law talks about how many people you serve. Basically, you’ll be compensated for your efforts. You can choose to hold yourself back from delivering your message to more people or put yourself out there to cast a wider net to make your contribution. Introverts have strengths to bring to the business field no matter what profession or industry. So don't hold yourself back because you too are entitled to the Law of Compensation.

You can read the first chapter of the book for free. Then go beyond that with one of two actions:

One, read the complete book which you can buy through Amazon or possibly find at your library:

And then, two download The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success from the Go-Giver website. It could be just what you need to help you and your business results!

The Law of Compensation to me, as an introvert, encourages me to take the nudging of my mastermind and my own coach to step up my game. How about you? What do you think about this law of compensation? I'd love to hear from you.

The Law of Compensation: Go-Giver Metrics to Encourage Introverts is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer