Press

We know that the typical motorcycle salesperson has to ask for the sale seven times to hear a customer say yes. What if there was a salesperson who had to ask for the sale 50 times to hear his first yes?

Meet Jose Jiminez, who for the past year has manned a Southwest Airlines cart in the Ontario, Calif., airport, encouraging travelers to signup for a Southwest Airlines Visa card. Jiminez is not only a salesperson, but is one who can't let rejection get in the way of having a good day. Every day he interacts with several hundred travelers to find eight or 10 willing to signup for a new Visa card. Fourty-nine travelers out of 50 reject his pitch.

Jiminez has clearly learned how to cope with all that rejection, and a powersports salesperson can learn three points from him:

1. It's a numbers game. If you accept going in that it will take multiple “asks” to hear a yes, it makes the rejection less personal and simply part of what's required to get a yes. Jiminez said, “You can't get disappointed when one person says no, because the next person may be the one who says yes.”

2. Stay upbeat and friendly. It shouldn't be the rest of the world's problem if you are personally having a bad day. Your prospects don't need to suffer too. Switch gears when you get to work. As Jiminez points out, upbeat and friendly is part of the job.

3. Don't pre-judge. Ask everyone for the sale. “The person who seems sure to say no will often surprise you and turn out to be the one who will say yes,” Jiminez said. The only way to find out is to ask.

Pass these tips along to your sales team to put rejection into the proper context, and when you are next in the Ontario airport flying on Southwest, stop by and say hello to Jose Jiminez.