As the noes mount up, morale can deteriorate, making it harder and harder to pick up the phone for the next call. Such rejection is especially hard to take for a pessimist, who interprets it as meaning, “I’m a failure at this; I’ll never make a sale”—an interpretation that is sure to trigger apathy and defeatism, if not depression. Optimists, on the other hand, tell themselves, “I’m using the wrong approach,” or “That last person was just in a bad mood.”
