Dealing with rejection.

Hey {{first_name|team}},

Rejection is an inherent part of the sales process. Nobody likes it, but we all have to deal with it. It’s like flies in a barnyard - comes with the territory.

Before we get into this week, one quick ask, if you please. In a couple weeks - I'm running a free live training on Zoom called How to Sell with AI and Stay Human. It's one hour on where AI belongs in your sales process and where it never should, plus thirty minutes of live Q&A. Everyone who shows up live gets the step-by-step SOPs our team uses to save dozens of hours every month. Save your seat here. If you can’t make it on November 19th, that’s fine - I’ll hold a recording for you, but you still have to register.

Now, rejection. In sales, rejection is inherent. People are going to tell you no, and that's part of the job. But I've dealt with more ghosting this year than at any time in my career, I know many of you are facing the same, and I don't think that's an accident. So this week I want to walk you through some tools that help you separate fact from fiction when it comes to understanding rejection, and then we'll fight our way out of it with a play you already know. And if you think I'm above feeling it, my own tape from this month is in the Film Room below.

Start with the inherent risk of sales. Every time you ask for the business, you're giving someone the chance to tell you no, and plenty of them will take it. The trouble is that no doesn't always sound like no. Here are the six kinds I run into most:

Only the first one actually sounds like no, which means the other five require your interpretation.

Most people who ghost you just don't want to have to tell you no. They may like you, and they don't want to reject you outright, so rather than deal with their problem forthrightly, they go quiet. It feels personal, but most of the time it isn't.

I believe most business leaders in ag are pretending their businesses are in better shape than they really are. A good harvest feels great, and that feeling sedates the symptoms of their sales, marketing, or farm management issues, or the lack of buying, for a while. But it often doesn't last - unless the industry is cycling back upward from the depressed markets we have experienced the last couple of seasons.

At the same time, credit is tighter, and farm debt is at an all-time high, more than $605 billion according to USDA's latest estimates. So even when your customer knows they need to make an investment, every investment is getting scrutinized at a higher level. When people have been shopping an idea, they're likely to still like the idea of the idea. They just can't quite pencil out the money.

Rejection is inherent, and sometimes it shows up as avoidant behavior. That's not your fault. But it is your responsibility to figure out how to respond to it.

You've seen this play before in overcoming objections, and it works here too, because most of those five quiet no's are really objections nobody has said out loud yet. Your job is to get the real one on the table and then run the play:

If you want the whole play on one page, grab the A-C-A-V-E printable.

I put this exact situation to Jericho, a customer who liked the idea and then went quiet, and asked how he'd coach a seller through it. His answer was good enough that I'm handing it to you straight.

↩️ When they come back with a reason, acknowledge it, clarify it, and then answer it. Don't re-pitch. Ask what changed, because an objection means they're still in the game.

👉 Want Jericho to write these for your actual deal? Tell him about it here.

Tuesday's close, November 3: December corn finished at $4.42½/bu, down 5¾¢, a four-month low and about 12¢ under where it sat a week ago. January soybeans slipped 2¾¢ to $12.14, a two-and-a-half-month low. December Chicago wheat lost 6¾¢ to $5.99¾, and Kansas City wheat fell 9¾¢ to $6.36¼, a four-month low. Cattle gave some back, with December live cattle down $1.55 to $218.15/cwt, a six-week low, and January feeders down $4.30 to $328.375. December lean hogs bounced 42½¢ to $58.60 after hitting another contract low early in the session. These are futures, not the bid at your customer's elevator or sale barn. Source: Pro Farmer, After the Bell, November 3.

Pro Farmer chalked most of it up to technical selling and harvest hedging as the crop wraps up. That's the part to pay attention to. Harvest feels good, but once the combines are parked, your customer is looking at four-month lows, record debt, and a lender who's asking harder questions.

What it means for you this week: some of the quiet you're hearing isn't about you. It's a customer who still likes the idea and can't make the numbers work yet. Don't chase them with another brochure. Help them find out which kind of no you're actually dealing with.

This week the tape is mine, and it's fresh.

A few weeks ago I sent a proposal to a current customer. We've done business together for more than three years, our ratings on the programs we've delivered for them have been sky high, and we've done everything we know how to do on that relationship. We've tried to be, in Will Guidara's words, unreasonably hospitable. This is the time of year we'd naturally write a proposal for 2027 and work out deliverables and terms, and it was exactly what they'd asked for. All signs pointed to go.

Here's where I broke my own process. I don't usually deliver a proposal until we have the follow-up meeting on the calendar to walk through the details and pricing. But time frames got pinched, and because I know them, I sent it anyway with a suggested time to circle up. Then I didn't hear anything for a couple of weeks.

So I followed up earlier this week and told them what I'm telling everyone right now: we're making our bookings for the first half of 2027 by the end of November, so it's time to make a call. Here's more or less what came back.

“This week is rough, I'm booked, and next week I'm out for a big family event. I’ll touch base sometime after that.”

That's not straight ghosting. But it is avoidant. We both know you don't need a meeting to give someone an update on where you're at. You could record twenty seconds of voice note, drop it in an email or a text, and let your AI clean it up.

To tell you the truth, I was feeling rejected. Three years in, sky-high ratings, and I still felt it. That's the whole point of this issue. The feeling is real, but it isn't the same thing as the facts, and figuring out which kind of no I'm actually looking at is my responsibility, not theirs.

So here's what I sent back, with the names taken out:

"I understand you have a busy schedule. The team is depending on me for some answers to plan on for the coming quarter and year. I'm trying to be intentional for them, and for our great partners. Should we plan on doing any work for you all in 2027? What can I tell the crew?"

🚨 One warning before you copy and paste this. 🚨 That email only works because we have good history with this customer, and we've been running all the other plays well for a long time. Send it to someone you've only met twice and it reads like pressure. Send it to a partner, and it reads like respect. Remember, you are always training your customers how to treat you. If you're not sure which one you are with your account, go back to last week's four levels of value.

Look at what that email does. It acknowledges they're busy without making it my problem to solve. It doesn't ask for another meeting. It puts the real reason I need an answer on the table, my people and our partners, and then it asks one plain question they can answer in a line.

The result? I got an answer back within the hour. It wasn't the answer I wanted, but at least I didn't have to sit there and wonder. That's the whole point. A clean no is better than a ghost, and it frees you up to go spend your time with someone who's ready to say yes.

Three things:

And if you'd rather hear the plays in my voice, they're in the Playbook in audio.

This week's printable puts the six kinds of no, the three touches for when you're stuck in limbo, and A-C-A-V-E on one page. Download it here, print it, and keep it where you'll see it before your next call. The rest of the set is here:

If you lead a team and your pipeline has gone quiet this fall, that's worth a real conversation. Grab some time with me and tell me what you're seeing. No slide deck, just a real conversation about your people.

And if you're planning a 2027 sales meeting, dealer event, or annual conference, I'm booking speaking dates now. Send me a note and let's talk about what your people need to hear.

Go run the play. A no is just information. Go find out which one you're dealing with.

Grow your momentum,

Mark Jewell
The Momentum Company

P.S. Don't forget the free live training, How to Sell with AI and Stay Human, Thursday, November 19, at noon Central. Seats are limited so we can keep it a working session. And if you want the plays sent to your phone, text PLAYS to 984-282-1124. If there's a rep on your team who needs this, send them the signup link.