Corporate Sales Trainer Stephan Schiffman Stuck in a rut with your strategies for success? Stephan Schiffman tells you how to become a mover and a shaker.

Your fingers tremble as you dial your potential client'sphone number, your heart beats in quick-paced thuds as you wait forthe line to pick up. Brrrring, brrring, brrring. "Hello?"You shuffle your notes in front of you, reminding yourself thatyou're ready for this one, and with a deep breath, you deliveryour pitch. Then the dreaded words: "Thanks, but we're notinterested." Click. Another deal bites the dust. Or doesit?

Ask renowned corporateconsultant and author of Make It Happen Before Lunch StephanSchiffman what the most important part of business success is, andhe'll tell you it's all about getting to the next step inyour business relationships. But just how do you do that when youconstantly run into so many "no" answers? We askedSchiffman, who has worked with companies like AT&T and AetnaU.S. Healthcare, to share his tips on how to reach the next step toturn rejection into profit.

Entrepreneur.com: You speaka great deal about developing a passion, an excitement and aconfident attitude toward your business. Why is that such animportant part of business success?

Stephan Schiffman: If youdon't believe in your product, you're not going to be ableto sell it. The number-one reason small businesses fail is lack ofsales. It sounds ridiculous, but that's really what happens. Ifthe entrepreneur doesn't really have a passion for thebusiness, they're never going to be successful. They have toabsolutely, positively believe that they're the best ever, orelse they'll never ever get their product sold.

		"Myobjective is to come in every morning and say, 'What am I goingto do today that is going to get me further ahead thanyesterday?' I don't wait for something to happen; I make ithappen."

Entrepreneur.com: How do youmaintain that energy in the face of "no" answers?

Schiffman: When you createyour business plan, you have to be realistic about what yourexpectations are. Most people aren't realistic, and they reallydon't know how long it's going to take before they begin tomake real money and they don't know how many rejections,"nos" and downtime they're going to have to gothrough. The concept is to look at your projections and say toyourself, "It's going to take me a year-and-a-half [to besuccessful]. And in that year-and-a-half, 150 people are going tosay no to me, yell at me or whatever, but in spite of that, I'mgoing to make money." The problem is, nobody thinks about itthat way; they always think it's going to happen right away.When I started my business 21 years ago, I knew I'd getclobbered every day, and I knew it was going to happen for six,seven or even eight months, but I didn't give up because I knewit would turn around.

Entrepreneur.com: What aresome systems that entrepreneurs can easily incorporate into theirbusiness that will take them to the next step? Where should theybegin?

Schiffman: The biggest issueis that most people sit down, have great discussions, but neverask, "What do we do next?" They don't suggest it,they don't ask it, and so the end result is that they never getto the next step. Half of getting to the next step is simply sayingto somebody you're meeting with, "What do we do next? Howcan we work together?" People respond in kind. When you asksomebody about something, they're going to respond to that.

Entrepreneur.com: Youencourage your readers to learn to love rejection. What benefitscan entrepreneurs glean from rejections and losses?

Schiffman: I used to taperecord my calls and listen to the people who said no to me. I thendecided there had to be a better way. When I call someone, I prettymuch know what they're going to say. So I asked myself,"Why am I waiting for them to say they're notinterested?" Now I can actually say to someone, "I betyou're not interested," and they'll say "Yes,you're right." Then I say, "You know why? Because Ihaven't shown you this, this or this." All of a sudden, Ihave a different conversation.

Entrepreneur.com: What doyou see as the single most valuable strategy an entrepreneur canhave? What's the bottom line?

Schiffman: Make it happen. Ihave about 70 people who work for me, and I could be busy everysingle day with people just coming into my office. If I just sathere, inevitably, throughout the course of the day, everybody wouldcome in and do business with me. But my objective is to come inevery morning and say, "What am I going to do today that'sgoing to get me further ahead than yesterday?" I don'twait for something to happen; I make it happen.

Entrepreneur.com: Any otheradvice for business owners who want to raise the bar on their levelof success?

Schiffman: Small businessestend to skip the process. You can't take shortcuts in business.Go through the process. Live the business, 24 hours, seven days aweek. If you live the business, you're more apt to besuccessful than if you take a shortcut and try to get rich quick.That doesn't work.