I find it a curious business calling people.  Whether that be leads/prospects/customers – whatever you want to call it.  It can be a frustrating experience for the uninitiated or inexperienced.  As a society, we are conditioned to think that “no” as an answer is not what we are looking for.  And we do absolutely every little thing to avoid hearing that tiny little word.  If you don’t believe this to be true, jump in a crowded elevator and wait a second or two and say “boo” out very loud and watch how many people jump six feet off the ground!  It doesn’t take much to scare people.  You see rejection is the biggest fear that we as humans have.  And we view that word “no” as being exactly that.  And the rejection is generally perceived to be personal.  But I have some great news – it’s not.  Never was, isn’t and never will be.  People are not saying no to you – they are saying no to your offer.  And in a lot of cases, no doesn’t mean no forever.  But the most exciting thing that I have found is to treat hearing the word “no” as a game.  Everything in life has a law of averages and this is no different.  And I really like to play with this.  What I love to do is start with 10 leads.  And if you are getting started, this is a good and achievable number.  The trick is – don’t think too hard about it.  Just pick up the phone.  The second trick is to remain unemotional.  At the end of calling 10 people you will have an average.  How many people did you get hold of?  How many people were happy to consider your offer?  How many actually completed a transaction with you?  When you know those numbers from ten, you have some very powerful information in your hands.  Now you know how many people you have to call in order to complete a transaction – whether that be a sale or whatever else you are doing.  It becomes a benchmark.  And this is where the excitement starts.  You can work a marketing campaign around this information.  A time schedule.  And then you are in a position to know precisely the moment your skill level increases because your numbers will improve.  So test it out.  Go for the “no”s!!!  Don’t just go for the pushover “yes”es.  Once you know how many no’s it takes to get a yes, you will work your enterprise with confidence and success becomes merely a numbers game.  And a game you can WIN!