Selling and Rejection

The early days of entrepreneurship are 80% sales and 20% everything else. Maybe you have a great mind, maybe a great idea, strategy and work ethic. But it crumbles quickly if there are no sales. But selling is hard.

If you wanted to be an entrepreneur so you could get away from your terrible boss, you find that you have traded the one in for 100 just like him but worse. They are customers and potential customers. They will scorn you, reject you, slam the door in your face, listen to you talk about the thing you created with your love and passion for solving THEIR problem and then they will tell you no.

They will tell you there is no more budget left, no space on their shelves, the timing isn't right, come back in a few months then maybe, they will meet with you, take up your time, select their order and then never follow through with payment and drop contact, or they will place the order and you will manufacture and then they will change their mind and demand a refund.

I am beginning to think it is not enough to be strong, dedicated, a good listener, and honest with a great product. You have to be super-human. You have to have bullet proof skin and breathe under water.

Today my biggest wholesale account ever, her first order already in production, decided to cancel her order and get a full refund. In one fell swoop, after her bad breakfast cereal or an article in the paper, she got inspired to write me a 2 line email that could possible kill my entire enterprise.

And the saddest part is that I know when she sees the product she will love it and when she puts it in her store, it will make her money.

So I am getting into my car now, to spend $15 more dollars on gas to drive to her store and listen to whatever she says and duck as best I can if she throws things, and when she's done blowing out at me, try to get her to reconsider.