Rejection is Redirection

Author: Chris A., Business owner (England, UK)

“I’m sorry, we’ve decided to go with a different agency. We feel they were a better fit for us.”

Those words hit me like a sledgehammer. I respectfully acknowledged the Managing Director’s decision and wished him all the best with his marketing campaign, but in reality I was gutted.

And it’s weird, because deep down I knew they weren’t the best fit for us.

As a marketing agency, we specialize in helping businesses within the construction and interiors sector, and this particular business we pitched to was slightly outside of those realms. But still had some interest within the construction sector.

I knew working with these guys would have been a challenge, so being rejected by them shouldn’t have been so much of an issue. But it was.

Being rejected just brought out so many negative feelings and the imposter syndrome monster reared its ugly head. ‘Are we not good enough as an agency?’ ‘Maybe I’m not cut out to run a business.’ ‘People just don’t think I’m good enough.’

It took me a few days to dust myself down. I try and work on my mindset every day whether it’s meditation, expressing gratitude, exercise or reading books. So I was trying to work out why it was affecting me so much. I read Jia Jiang’s Rejection Proof earlier this year and his first rejection challenge called out to me, where Jia ran away from the security guard without asking why the guard said no.

After a few days I emailed the business we pitched our services to and who rejected us, thanking them for their time and asking them what their reasons were.

I felt like I needed closure and a reason why the company said ‘no’ to us and our marketing services. Was it because they didn’t like me or didn’t think I was good enough, like my overactive, negative mind had decided?

No.

The guy’s answer was fairly short and sweet. He told me the other agency they saw had a better experience in their direct line of business, and felt they could achieve more, or in his words ‘move the needle’ for them.

Brilliant!

Now I had closure, all of Jia’s book and advice on how to deal with rejection came flooding back.

Being rejected in this instance was nothing to do with us or our ability as an agency, or indeed my ability as a business owner. It was all about the other business and their decision to use another agency.

It just wasn’t meant to be. And in fact it was a positive thing that they chose the other agency who was a better fit. Who knows, they could have turned out to be a difficult client due to the difficult fit between our business and theirs.

I’m learning to embrace rejection more now, and dare I say, actually enjoy being rejected now. We’ve learned as a business it’s so important to work with the right people, and not work with the wrong people.

Rejection is redirection.