Selling Your Expertise

CHAPTER 4Realistically Optimistic

Chapter 4: Realistically Optimistic

As a rainmaker, you will get rejected.

Whether that rejection comes in the form of someone choosing your competitor, not responding to your outreach, or asking you to take them off your mailing list, you will hear more “no's” than “yeses.” And the rejections won't stop, no matter how seasoned you become or how big your book of business. The difference between those who become rainmakers and those who don't, though, is the fortitude to keep swimming through the sea of rejections. People with staying power keep striving toward success because they remain hopeful, or said in another way, they are optimistic. Optimism gets us out of bed and helps us endure the grind. When we're knocked down, optimism forces us back up. And in the end, we're rewarded for our efforts. As Nat Friedman, CEO of the multi-billion-dollar IT services company GitHub, says, “Pessimists sound smart. Optimists make money.”¹

Now, optimism alone is not enough. In Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals, motivation researcher Heidi Grant Halvorson states, “Thinking positively about your chances of success is important but believing you'll easily succeed is dangerous and not helpful.”² To help you succeed, you'll want to give yourself positive reasons for why success is possible, while also planning ahead for the inevitable obstacles to come (and in sales, there will be no shortage of them).³ Realistic optimism comes from maintaining hope that you ...