No matter how long you’ve worked in sales, rejection stings. Clients and prospects will sometimes say “no” to your meeting requests, your offers and your ideas. Getting turned down repeatedly can lead to a bad case of self-doubt. However, allowing this self-doubt to prevent you from moving forward is an act of self-sabotage, notes Bruna Martinuzzi, president and founder of Clarion Enterprises, Ltd.

Rather than focus on your losses, it’s better to put your energy into finding your next opportunities. You can do this by dealing with self-doubt in more constructive ways. Need some strategies to overcoming self-doubt? Keep reading this this issue of Promotional Consultant Today, where we highlight Martinuzzi’s top tips.

1. Eliminate excuses. When you’re lacking confidence in your abilities, it’s easy to rationalize why you shouldn’t do what you need to do. But when you stop and think about it, do you have legitimate reasons or are you just making excuses? Martinuzzi points out that excuses are mental barriers that hold us back.

2. Look at your close circle. Who you surround yourself with matters. Whether you know it or not, the people you habitually spend time with can have a major impact on you. Who’s in your circle? Do they drain your energy, or do you genuinely enjoy being around them? Look closely at the people you’re around all day and distance yourself from toxic people.

3. Boost your self-awareness. To overcome self-doubt, it’s important to stay self-aware. For example, if you know you get nervous about delivering presentations, you may feel self-doubt creep in. Hire a coach to help you or get the training you need, recommends Martinuzzi.

4. Be kind to yourself. You won’t win them all, so don’t expect to secure every meeting request or close every deal. Martinuzzi says it’s important to practice self-compassion, which can lessen anxiety and lead to greater life satisfaction.

5. Don’t worry about others’ opinions. Constructive feedback is helpful, but if you continuously need validation from others, you may be reducing your self-confidence. Trust in your training and your experience and do what you feel is right.

6. Keep your plans to yourself. When you have your sights set on something, don’t tell everyone about it. Psychology studies have shown that when you tell someone your goal and they acknowledge it, you are less likely to put in the work required to accomplish the goal. The gratification you get from the social acknowledgement tricks your brain into thinking you have already achieved the goal.

7. Trust your gut. When self-doubt starts to rear up, remind yourself who you are and what matters to you. Knowing yourself and living your values is one of the best antidotes to self-doubt, Martinuzzi says.

8. Get started. Self-doubt is like quicksand—once it gets ahold of you, it can pull you down and keep you stuck. The way to overcome this is to go and do what you set out to do. Take the next step. Don’t let your fear of failure or criticism prevent you from getting your ideas out into the world.

It’s normal to begin to doubt your sales abilities if you’ve experienced a string of rejections. You can bounce back faster by implementing the ideas above.

Compiled by Audrey Sellers

Source: Bruna Martinuzzi is president and founder of Clarion Enterprises, Ltd.