Two Letters: N & O. One Word: No. A full sentence “No, thank you.”
As salespeople, we get told “no” a LOT! Sometimes politely with “thank you” attached. Sometimes not so politely with other words attached that I shall not write.
Salespeople are humans and humans do not like to be told no. It is rejection. It is failure. When a sales prospect tells us they will not buy from us, we need to be resilient. We need to have a strong ego. Hearing “no” can cause us to question the value of the product or even our own self-worth. We need to understand that a “no” is not about us personally. It might not even be about the product itself. There can be timing issues, or some other uncontrollable aspect on the customer’s side.
Salespeople need to see “no” as the necessary step to the next big “YES”. Parenting is a lot like being in sales. We sell our children on cleaning their room, doing their homework and eating their vegetables. Salespeople, like parents, keep trying to sell the product over and over because we know that in the end there will be a small purchase, a nibble. And that small bite will lead to a larger purchase over the life of the customer. This long-term consumption makes everyone happy.
Being told no can be heartbreaking if heard after a marriage proposal. In a sales situation we do not have as much invested as we do in our personal relationships. However, there is an argument to be made that we should indeed take our business relationships to the next level and make our prospects and customers our friends. There is a delicate balance to strike between empathy and focus. Over-focus on the sale and look like a jerk. Over-empathize and look like a pushover and time waster. Finding that balance to make a human connection while providing good value can actually elevate our prospects/customers to friends, deepening the relationship. It is much easier to do business with someone whose success actually interests us, rather than simply completing a transaction with a stranger.
Relationships between reps and manufacturers benefit from this elevation, too. Becoming friends improves communication. When there are business difficulties, you want as much communication as you can get. Greater communication in quality, quantity and timing solidifies the relationship. Becoming the emotional favourite can provide leverage when you are not the biggest business partner.
Eight out of ten customers do not buy until after the fifth call. However, 90% of salespeople QUIT after the fourth call (Jeffrey, 2008).It puzzles me that more than half of the salespeople cited in the study quit after the second call. Persistence is key! That is why ads are repeated everywhere you turn. The salesperson who follows up wins!
Whenever I talk to a customer and they do not buy, I ask them if it is okay if I follow up at a future date. If they say yes, then I follow up. It builds credibility to ask for the next follow up. That credibility is compounded when follow up actually happens. One customer told me, “I am glad you didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.” I pressed him by saying “You never said ‘no’, you said ‘not now.’” Every time I talked to him I asked if I could follow up in six months and he always agreed. And when he finally committed, he was grateful for the benefits the purchase brought him.
Salespeople must be optimistic because they are told “no” far more frequently than they are told “yes.” Optimism carries us forward to the next sales call. If our pipeline is full with prospects at various stages of qualification, we will hear “yes” intermingled with “no, not now”. The yeses go into the win column, the not nows continue in the progression of phone calls, moving ever forward to the yes. At least that is what our optimism tells us.
Another way to see “no” is as a portal through which change and opportunity can enter our lives. This change and opportunity can be mundane or transformational. Perhaps we were turned down for a job (or a marriage proposal) that we really wanted only to find a much better fit with the next opportunity. Then we can look back at what was before all the no’s and bask in the joy of the much better yes.
Karen L. Jefferson CPMR CSP has worked with reps, manufacturers and distributors in many industries. Have you ever head a transformational NO? Did you think that no was a good thing at the time? How did it turn out to be one of the best answers you ever got? You can share your experience at www.KarenJefferson.US.
Image credits: N from glitzengirl.blogspot.com O from tacer.biz
