Say it Isn’t So: How to Overcome the “No”!

Yeah, it happens to everyone, even though no one wants to talk about it. You work with a new prospect for months, think you might be close to a deal. Then at the last minute, the client turns you down flat.

How do you handle the rejection when a new prospect (or even an existing client) cancels business with you?

More importantly, how well you handle rejection can be the difference between a fairly happy former customer and a pissed off one that never wants to work with your magazine again.

Don’t ever let this happen to you! If you think about your current advertisers and sponsors, probably at some point the majority of them had to cancel some business or change their schedule. How you handle this reality is incredibly important for the long-term relationship you want to establish with your clients.

Here are some of my tips for overcoming rejection:

1. Listen carefully: When someone wants to cancel or says no, your instinct might be to jump in with solutions. Instead, hear them out.
2. Don’t take it personally: The client could be experiencing management or ownership changes within their organization, for example.
3. Push a little: Try to find out more about the why. The real reason they may be canceling may not be what they originally told you.
4. Stay calm, cool and collected:  If there is a contract, remind them of the terms and how much money they will lose. Point out the special issue or extra distribution they’ll be missing out on.
5. Delay it: Perhaps you can just delay the program for a couple of months until they resolve whatever is the problem. They could be canceling because they need a different payment schedule, or they are waiting on product development.
6. Re-sell the ad program:  Yes we all hate it because sometimes it feels like we’re re-selling advertising we already sold. But often just reminding the client why they went into the magazine in the first place really works.
7. When there’s no turning back: If they really do have to cancel, be just as nice as you were when they originally signed up. (I hate seeing ad salespeople start out all super nice but as soon as a deal goes south, they turn into SOBs.)
8. Be in it for the long run: Always mention the possibility of future opportunities. Plan for when they’re going to come back, and do it in a positive and upbeat way.

Finally, rejection is part of the job in sales. The more you face it head-on, the easier it will be to handle. Think of that rejection as one small bump-in-the-road to reaching your long-term sales goals.

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More about Carl: Carl Landau is Grand Poobah of Niche Media. In his past life, Carl launched 5 successful niche magazines. He is a media/event guru, SF Giants fan, podcast host and part-time blogger. His 15 minutes of fame took place in the mid-eighties when he launched his famous, “Buy an Ad, Get a Cat” ad campaign. He has long since patched things up with the SPCA.