Taking "No" for An Answer

If you are like most of us, you have been told many times in your career, not to take "No" for an answer. We have been told this by self-promoting enthusiastic sales coaches who have probably not sold anything other than their own sales training programs.

"Persistence" they told us, was the key to success in sales. Just keep "pushing" they insisted. Push until you either "wear them down" your prospect finally says "Yes" just to get you out of their office or they have you escorted from the premises.

So let me ask: How's that been working for you?

Not so good, right?

Well, putting the REAL VALUE of PERSISTENCE aside for the moment - not accepting "No," is an outdated and hackneyed notion. It is rude, it is disrespectful and is no way to build a good relationship with a potential client.

"No," is in fact the second best answer we can get to the closing question: "Will you buy this from me?"

Why is this? Because by telling you "No" the prospect lets you know where they are in their decision making process. It also lets you know where you stand with respect to what you have not done - as yet - to satisfy their questions or concerns. It is the next best answer to "yes" because if gives you a chance to discover "why" they are not ready to place an order with you at that time.

"No" is far better answer than "Let me think about it and I'll get back to you" or "We are not ready just now." Discovering where you stand in the Customer's Purchasing process provides us with an opportunity to discover "what" else they need from us if they are to decide to commit to our proposal.

Please do not misunderstand, accepting "No" does not mean we surrender or throw our hands up and give up. Just the opposite. A colleague of ours - a consummate sales pro - often says: "Real salesmanship begins when the customer says "No!"

So lets' learn to accept "No," as the gift it is.

Next time: we take a look at the importance of persistence.