Too many salespeople fail to ask for the order.

One sales representative invested ten months working with the prospect closely on their project. And yet, when the time came to consummate the order, she froze. Another sales consultant spent two hours in his retail store finding the perfect solution for her shopper. Yet when the time came to close the sale, he got verbal diarrhea as a byproduct of his anxiety. Scenarios like these are repeated daily by salespeople all over the world.

Sales people know they're supposed to ask for the prospect's business. They've been taught to close the sale in sales training seminars, they've read about it in sales books, and they've heard sales trainers preach the concept repeatedly. Yet, many still fail to ask the prospect to buy. How can this be?

Many salespeople fear rejection, even though rejection is an everyday fact of their profession. A day rarely goes by where I, as a salesperson and business owner, do not experience rejection in some way. Yet, I intellectually understand that I must continue to keep setting myself up for rejection. I need to keep going to bat, in a sense, so I can have another opportunity for sales success.

In most sales positions, failure is experienced more often than rejection, even by the top salespeople in the organization. Yet, live with some degree of fear of rejection on a daily basis.

I say, "Go ahead and reject me!" I want as many "at bats" as I can fit into my day. I can certainly work on my batting average (closing average), but I've got to get to the plate to be able to take a swing (I hate sports analogies in business, but this one just seems to fit).

As sales managers, we need to coach our teams about this concept continually. We need to find new ways to explore it with our team. We need to design training excercises and coaching and ride-alongs and observations that will shed light on the importance of asking for businesss. Be repetitive. Be creative. Keep at it. Our people must improve their abilities at closing the deal.

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Skip Anderson is the founder of Selling to Consumers, a sales training and consulting company whose clients are companies and individuals that sell to consumers (in-home selling, retail, services) to maximize sales performance. Get the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips newsletter.