Story Time: Learning to Reset When Sales—and Career—Say No

Welcome back to Selling with Sabine. I’m Sabine Taylor, your host. I’ve spent years working in sales enablement, cybersecurity, and telecom, helping large sales organizations train B2C reps to confidently sell complex products using real-world experiences and practical storytelling. If you’d like to connect or explore sales training support, you can reach me at [e-mail]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sellingwithsabine/

Transcript

In this story time episode, I share a personal career setback and the lesson it taught me about resetting when rejection feels constant. From navigating silence after filing an EEOC complaint to finding growth, promotion, and renewed confidence, this episode breaks down why “reset” is a critical skill in sales. If you’ve been feeling stuck, discouraged, or worn down by objections and no’s, this conversation offers a practical and emotional reset to help you keep moving forward.

Hi, everyone. It’s January third on a Saturday. I am Sabine Taylor, the host of Selling with Sabine, and thank you for listening. As I’ve stated in the previous two episodes this year, I am trying not to be so consumed with being perfect in terms of audio production. I am going to try to release as many episodes as I can during the holidays. So, with that said, I want to do a little story time, something a little bit personal about me. And my goal is that you would hear from it, glean from it, and use it as motivation if you are feeling a little bit in a rut or if things are not going as expected in your sales career. So, let’s get started.

I was working with a company, and I had to file an EEOC complaint. It was dealing with my pay. With that said, it made it difficult to get another job in the industry. But I kept applying to jobs, and I’d have to tell them, “Hey, you know I know you’re hiring me because I have this experience. And, by the way, I filed the EEOC complaint.” And then I heard crickets, and that was just constantly happening.

One day I saw a job posting, and I was thinking, I’ll apply, but what are the chances that they call me? It was a big tech company. I was like, I’m just going to give it a try anyway. So I gave it a try, and I think within two or three weeks, I got a callback, and I was very surprised. Then I thought, I might go through the same thing. They get excited about my candidacy, and then when I tell them I filed an EEOC complaint, I might hear crickets.

But I went on an interview, and I did tell my hiring manager what happened. I said, “Hey, you know, I filed the EEOC complaint, and I noticed that you want me to work with my former employer.” He asked for recommendations. I think my last manager said that I don’t work well in teams. He said, “So tell me about that.” And I said, “Well, I would agree. You know, I work better by myself. There’s something with me and team dynamics. It doesn’t always work out well for me. I’ve noticed that I perform well as an individual contributor. I can work with teams, but on a day-to-day basis, my personality and their personality, it’s not always meshing.”

That’s what I’ve learned about myself throughout the years in the workplace. But I told him that, and I was thinking for sure he was not going to hire me. And then he hired me, and I was like, wow.

Initially, I was thinking, what are the chances they’re going to call me? And then I got the job. I have to tell you, in that job, it wasn’t easy, but I learned the most. I had the most growth. My former employer loved me. And, unbeknownst to him, one of the HR people at my former employer had contacted me for a role. That was interesting.

I got a lot of praise from my former employer, the one I filed the EEOC complaint against, and that was surprising to me. They were boasting about me, bragging about me. I was really surprised at the turn of events.

What that taught me is that I had to do a reset. Although I had all these rejections, and it was kind of demoralizing because at that time it had been years since I’d been back in the industry where I previously worked, I kept at it. In the role I got, I was promoted. I learned so much beyond what I thought I would learn, and I really appreciated my time there.

So how does this apply to your situation? I want you to center this word: reset.

In sales, you have to do a lot of resets because there are so many objections—actually more rejections and objections, meaning customer objections, than you hear yeses. If you don’t do a reset, you might find yourself in a rut, and you might not be able to overcome the place you’re in.

When it comes to resetting, there are two components. There’s a task you have to do for the job, and that task may be that if you are having internal conversations with yourself, you are going to have to press through. If in your mind you’re saying, “This customer is just going to be like the same customer who told me no,” then you’re not going to win. You have to look at each customer as a unique opportunity because customers, although they’re in the same industry, are not a monolith. They have their own customers, operations, employees, and culture. It’s probably different from your last customer or prospect.

You’re going to have to cut the noise. The way you do that is by forging through the sales process, following the sales methodology, asking open-ended questions, listening, and responding to objections with good insights. That’s what I had to do because after being laid off and filing an EEOC complaint, it was a challenge to find the next opportunity. But I forced myself to apply, even though I kept getting rejected.

The second part of this is the social-emotional piece of resetting. You may need to go out for a walk. When you go out for a walk, a chemical called dopamine is released, and you feel renewed and refreshed. Sometimes just getting fresh air can release dopamine, and that dopamine is what makes you feel good. It’s the resetting of your emotions.

Sales requires a lot of resetting, and I want you to center that word: reset. I want you right now to pause this episode, get a pen and paper, and write it down. That way, when you hear those no-no’s, you’ll do the reset. You might step outside, stretch your legs, or do what you need to do to activate dopamine so you can move on to the next calls. That’s what resetting is all about, and in sales, it’s an absolute must for success.

I wanted to share this because I know sales is not easy. Personally, it’s an industry with a lot of churn. I’ve trained many new hires who were gone within ninety days. I understand. But that word—reset—is essential. You have to do it.