Three NO's that will get you to YES

“No” is not always a negative thing! Advocating the use of “no” does not mean I don’t value enthusiasm and positivity, however in a time and resource constrained world misdirected enthusiasm can lead a sales person like a moth into a flame.

“No” is about time management and weeding out the activities that will waste time and get in the way of activities that will contribute to your success.

Below are three “Nos” which can serve you well in your pursuit of getting a “yes” from a prospective customer.

Get your prospective customer to say “no”

“No I am not going to buy from you”, “No, I don’t want your product” “No I don’t have any budget”

These are all lines that many sales people dread to hear. Actually these are some of the best lines you can ever hear from a prospective customer. When your customer lays it on the line like this they are actually opening up and being honest with you. It’s not time to walk away, rather its time to delve deeper and understand what’s driving the thought process. In doing so you may discover the obstacles that when removed may change your customer’s mind.

If on delving deeper, you realise that you can’t remove the obstacles and “no” really means “no” then you have just saved yourself a lot of wasted effort and can refocus on opportunities with a chance of success.

“No” my product doesn’t do that.

You would not believe how many sales people avoid telling a prospective customer that the offering they are selling does not “do what is being asked of it”. Over the years I have seen sales people go to incredible lengths to not have to answer “no” to a feature request.

First let’s take a look at the obvious. If a particular function is a deal showstopper, is best you get that out in the open as quickly as possible and move on to the next opportunity.

Just as important, by being straight about what your product cannot do, you gain trust and respect more quickly, and not every request is a showstopper. Spelling out that your product does not meet a particular requirement may actually enhance your chances in the deal and ensure that people listen with more interest when you explain what your offering does do

Say “no” to colleague requests.

We live in fear of upsetting colleagues or being seen to be unhelpful if we don’t agree to everything every colleague requests of us. Being able to say “no” to colleagues is a simple function of good time management. I am not advocating to say no every time, actually I advocate saying yes as much as possible, however don’t be afraid to say no. Judge where your time is best spent and assess your colleague’s requests in those terms. Where your time is going to be compromised say “no” and explain why.

In essence use “no” to qualify all aspects of your working life, but stay positive, helpful and only use “no” because you want to get to yes!