When to Accept "No" as an Answer

In outbound business development, when do you take a “no” for an answer?

If you are an outbound business development rep, your job is to reach out to new companies and logos that your company is currently not doing business with yet. The prospects you have identified are probably not expecting your cold call, email or LinkedIn message. A a result, response rates on your activities are low - between 2 and 10%. Which means you will get rejected A LOT.

But should you just take the first “no” as the final answer?

You should not. Here are three scenarios in which a “no” does not mean you need to drop this account:

• Timing: The prospect is currently in a meeting (he or she shouldn’t have picked up the phone) or busy or on the run. Try to ask politely for when is a better time to speak.
• Decision Power: The prospect is not the right contact in the organisation as he or she is not responsible for your topic of interest. Ask nicely for who would be the right person to speak to.
• Need: The company already has a solution in place and currently has no (conscious) need for yours. However, your job is to find out whether the current solution is a really a dream solution that fulfils everybody’s needs. Chances are, it's not. That may open the door for you.

Now, you may wonder: When is a “no” truly a “no”? The answer is: I don’t know. I cannot tell you the one rule that will guide you correctly in every case. In fact, it always depends on the business culture in your market, your own communication style, your priorities, target incentives etc.

However, I DO recognise a “no” for myself when I see one. Let me allow you to share the following outbound story below:

This prospect is the Head of Sales for an SME company based in Switzerland. The first time I called him, he picked up the phone and as I started to introduce myself he interrupted me with: “You’re trying to sell something to me, right?” Caught by surprise, I stuttered something in my defence, but he had already hung up. A few weeks later, I called him again, with the exact same response.

I decided that for this gentleman, cold calling would not do - I needed a well-crafted basho (email). So I sent him a nice email about my intention to help his company along the digital transformation journey, including a well-fitted customer reference with one of his competitors. Et voilà: he suggested a time to call him the next week.

Confident that I was about to source a potential opportunity, I called the prospect again and received the following answer:

"Dear Mr Krause, sorry for my delay in taking your call and thank you for your continued efforts in reaching out to me. I saw your email and I have to say that it was well written and also the customer reference of X was very relevant to me. I wish I had more sales reps as persistent as you. You have my full attention!"

Off to a good start, I thought. So I delivered my elevator pitch.

"Thank you Mr Krause. I do understand better now what your company is doing. However, I have to decline your business. We are already well equipped and well on our way in the digital transformation" (no need.) "Further, I cannot make these decisions by myself since we are part of the ABC group with headquarters based in Poland (decision power outside my sales territory). I hope you understand."

At the end of this call, I hung up with a satisfying feeling that I did everything I could have done to win this customer, and that the stars just weren't aligned. This prospect acknowledged my work and gave me the clearest "no" he could in order to save me further efforts in the future.

Your take-way: Do not accept rejection without justification. Your prospects are pressed on time, which is why they are trying to get you off their backs with a one-lined email response. Don't let them. If your work is genuine and persistent, most prospects will give you the time you deserve and explain themselves.

However, once they do -and it is still a "no" - it is time for you to tip your hat and move on to the next.