Most People Don’t Fail. They Avoid.
“I can accept failure. I can’t accept not trying.” We’ve all heard that. In sales, this is very real because the job requires you to try. You need to reach out, follow up, ask questions, and close.
Sometimes you get a no, sometimes you get silence, and sometimes it just doesn’t work. That’s normal.
What’s harder to see is the other version. The one where you don’t try at all. You don’t make the call, or follow up again, and you don’t ask the question because you’re not sure how it’ll land.
So nothing happens.
There’s no rejection, but there’s no opportunity either, and that’s the trap.
It feels safer, but it’s how you get stuck. I’ve been there too.
It’s all about hesitation, overthinking, and then I’ll do it tomorrow, only tomorrow never comes.
It’s usually not about strategy; it’s typically about avoiding the “no.”
When I see this happening, and trust me, it can take me a minute, I think of the no as information and clarity and a way to move forward. If I keep avoiding it, I won’t accomplish any of that. Instead, I just stay stuck.
So I do something simple. I just try. I send the email, make the call, and I ask the question.
It doesn’t work every time, but something is better than wondering.
