“You sound busy so I’ll let you go.”

I have a pet peeve about this phrase. Quite frankly, it’s a cop-out. You always wonder what is the person really saying here? Is it:

I really want to go but I’ll make it sound like you really want to go.
I don’t have much more to say so I’ll cut this short.
I fear rejection so I’ll just make it easy on everyone here.

Let’s talk about the people who fear rejection . If they are in sales, this may be the wrong profession. If that could be you, here are some characteristics:

They lack assertiveness and avoid speaking up and sharing their opinion
They lack influence
They lack courage and avoid confrontation
They demonstrate passive/aggressive behavior and may be dishonest
They may play games and keep their personal feelings hidden
They may be angry and had a traumatic experience of rejection in the past
They are confused and don’t know how to best move forward
They lack the social skills and may not suffer from social isolation
They may be obsessed by acting in a certain “prescribed” manner that they are rigid and inflexible
They are not honest with themselves so they lack trust in anything else

When a person operates out of a fear of rejection, they end up pushing prospects, friends and family away. When they push them away, they create the rejection and the cycle continues.

If you can relate to some of these characteristics, here are steps to overcome fear of rejection:

1. Dig deep to understand what is driving the behavior or feelings
2. Work at building your self-esteem and confidence
3. Let people in and allow yourself to ask for help
4. Tell the truth, stop telling stories and lies
5. Create healthy alternative behaviors and include more questions