As a salesperson, when do you ever accept 'no' as an answer?

A lot depends where in the selling process you get the "No."

If you're getting "No's" early in the sales process that generally means that you've failed to grab the prospect's attention and/or interest and they want you to move along and leave them alone. In this case, take a close look at what you're saying and doing to engage the prospect. Better still, have a sales coach assess what your doing and fine-tune your approach.

If you're getting the "No" late in the sale, and you've done a good job of qualifying the prospect and presenting your solution, then the prospect has most likely digested your information and come to the conclusion that he/she doesn't need whatever you're selling.

To blindly follow the old conventional sales wisdom that it takes 8 No's before you get a yes is to set yourself up as being a pest.

Sometimes "No" simply means "No," and it's time to graciously move on.

Lauren,

The key is to understand what exactly they are saying "No" to and why? If you can understand each of those, you have a chance to turn the "No" into a "Yes".

No, come for a reason. When you know the reason it becomes an objection.

The objection, "I've got no money", "I like your competitor", "I don't like your product ", we've all heard a million of these and most of us have learnt how to retort to try and overcome the objection with answers like “We are worth the money”, “we are better than the competitor”, or our product is great because….”. However most of us have learnt wrong. To explore this we need to go back to the core of what an objection is from the client's point of view.
 

Fundamentally any of the objections above can be interpreted as "I do not see enough value in your product for me". This is a judgement, a statement of their belief. In Robert Caldini’s book “Influence” he outlines commitment and consistency as being a core influence within human nature. Once people have stated a judgement or statement, a commitment, then most will do everything in their power to appear consistent with their decision. Therefore if someone decides they don't like what you have to offer for whatever reason then they are likely to look for ways to prove that their decision is the correct one. Backing down feels wrong and people can be quite stubborn in avoiding this feeling.

Pair this with Eric Berne’s theory of transactional analysis and we start to see a very good reason why most retorts don't work. Bernes outlines three states in which people communicate, the parent, adult and the child. The parent is where we need to focus when considering what is wrong with objection handling. The parent is that part of you which is demanding, direct and authoritative. The parent does not take criticism and will often tell you what to do. The parent does not listen. To put it bluntly the parent makes judgements and statements, the parent makes objections. Now imagine that in a parent state a client objects to your product and they hear back the normal retorts, “We are worth the money”, “we are better than the competitor”, or our product is great because….”, the direct interpretation of this by the client is " you are wrong, your judgement is wrong!". To a parent this criticism will normally be enough for them to dig their heels in deep, and it becomes exceptionally difficult to bring them back around, unless you drop the price, although this only works because to them it means "I was right that this wasn't valuable enough before".

Consider the adult state however, who asks questions and explores to fully understand the objection and it's root. Asking questions such as "what are you looking to get back from marketing?", opens up a different conversation which allows the client to really explore their thinking with you, your job needs to be to coach them to the same conclusion that you have come to not tell them. People, especially in the parent state do not like being told what to do, they like to choose and you can help them do that. At this point when you ask them to make their decision again it is a different decision they will be making, commitment and consistency have become irrelevant because the question is different. The question now is " I can see the value in this opportunity should I go ahead?"

There are only two reasons a buyer does not agree to move forward,

1. An objection remains unanswered. As Raoul posted above
2. A condition exist such as the company cannot afford what you offer.

If a customer cannot pay then not moving forward is in both companies best interest.
As Kimberly stated most sale people do not listen and as a result walk away from the call not understanding why they did not get the customer to move forward.

As the saying goes there are no lousy prospects just lousy sale people.

Does NO mean the same potential client? If I say NO, its best to show me something that I might have missed, or you become a pest. A pest is ignored.....if I don't need it, I don't need it. Drop the glossies off at the desk and move on. I've takes those glossies and read them and said, hey....wow......I need this....and called back.

I will always accept "no" from an invalid customer. Not matter how much the boss wants me to get rid of all those size 6 shoes I can't sell them to size 7 customers.

The question is not so much getting yes or no answers to your selling questions it's are you helping? Before I ever sit down with any customer I need to do some research. What does this company do and what is my potential customer's responsibilities within the organization? What benefits do I bring to the table? Can I save the company money? Can I increase efficiency? The more benefits my products and services provide the more economical it becomes. Could I have sold the idea of an assembly line to Henry Ford?

Features and rhetoric equal no; benefits equal yes.

Ironically, while reading my RSS articles, I came across this post and thought it was very timely!

http://www.hirecentrix.com/sell-more-by-saying-less.html?utm_source=feedburne...

In my opinion it is when you genuinely don't feel your opportunity will help them..

Also another point, if you ate asking the same question each time then because of the human nature to stay consistent to a commitment they are likely to dig their heals in and keep saying no.... Ask them a different question, ie, tweak the proposition, this makes it easier for the stubborness to fade and for them to be allowed to day yes..

No is an acceptable client response to your proposal or sales pitch especially if it is a conditional no, such as “No, but if your drop the price”. This may mean a less than optimal deal for you and therefore NO is good. The follow up to any NO should be questions to clarify the real meaning behind the NO and if they are valid then accept that NO.

All down to persistence.

Text Books show you've got to get 8 knock-backs, before you get a yes!!

It Depends Who Dies First...!!!

With all due respect Emily, when I meet with salespeople, I would like to know specifically how their product or service translates into helping my organization. How would marketing strategies or consumer research work? I don't care about that. I, the customer, want to know how it will improve my work world. This shouldn't be taken as a "canned" approach. Where is the customization and, again, the LISTENING to the potential customer's needs?

I've worked for organizations with sales offices and the most successful sales people were the ones who did the least amount of talking and more listening. Let go of the jargon and the dog and pony show unless it's a pain point.

I don't EVER accept NO as an answer.....I can always take the reason they say no and turn it into a yes or decide that it doesn't even apply to them. It might not be an immediate yes but persistence pays off! What a sales person needs to find out is, DOES IT APPLY to who they are calling? Are you as a Sales rep. listening to your customer? Do you know what they're needs are, and can you meet them? Ask your self those questions on every call and you'll save time by weeding out the calls that don't need what you are selling! So many sales reps fail to do the proper research before cold calling which will result in an immediate NO half of the time. If you don't know what your talking about how can the customer?

FYI Persistence DOES pay off if you use it the right way ;-)

Thank you! I sent that to all of my customer relation reps and got some good reviews as I'd hoped!

There is a thin line between being persistent and being a pest. Know where that line is because people rarely buy from pests.

Seldom, but it does happen.

Most recent example was a prospect in Canada who told me she would not consider my company because “you don’t have the right chromosome.” Better to hear that “no” sooner than later.

And a few years back, I was wooing a San Diego company whose VPM came right out and stated that the “no” was because they were going Chapter 11 the following week, liquidating, and that he was retiring to Costa Rica. Adiós.

I think people often confuse persistence with being a pest....MY version of being persistent is if some one tells me no before i ever tell them about our service then i know i failed to keep they're interest. So i will call back a few months later with a better cold calling script to keep him interested long enough to make a fair decision. I say don't give up, but don't call them 7 times a week either! Just be careful about how often you contact them.

Persistence can be a fantastic trait (makes me think of the Calvin Coolidge quote: 'Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. ....'). It's helped me complete marathons, see complex sales through to the end and weather life's trials.

Misplaced persistence in the world of sales can be fatal. It can quickly alienate customers (thank you Kimberly for your valuable reminders to all sales people) and cause reps to pour tons of corporate resources into deals that they had a very low probability of winning in the first place.

Many have written about the importance of a selling and qualifying process that helps you weed out the pretenders from the contenders kindly and efficiently. I can't tell you how many large B2B deals I have seen reps chase because they refused to let the deal die (because of persistence and many other reasons) and in the process wasted valuable corporate resources, not to mention their own time and opportunity cost.

That's when you differentiate between being persistent and being a pest.

I like that idea!

On public sector construction projects, the scope of work is often precisely defined and the challenge is to estimate the cost of your construction plan, apply a reasonable profit, and submit a proposal.

When I hear my "price was higher than the low bidder" and I know I can't profitably do the work for the low bidders price, ..... that's a NO I accept every time.

I see many good responses to the question. The one point that I think is missing is that one needs to fill their funnel and qualify the opportunity well at each stage in the buying/selling process. Is this candidate in my target market? Does this prospect have a problem that I can solve? Do they want to solve the problem? Do they want to solve it now? Can they fund it? Do they see our solution as the best choice?

Not qualifying well... and doing your best to appropriately influence their perception... results in poor use of your resources.

The other element that enters the equation is: do you have enough good opportunities in your funnel. If what you think is a potential buyer is persistently saying they are not interested, you are well advised to put your efforts into developing your funnel.

The whole point of using a funnel analogy is that, as you move forward in the sales cycle, the number of candidates get fewer and fewer. Obviously, some buyers say no and others don't say no, but will not buy, will not buy now or will not buy from you. Naturally, in a competitive environment, many opportunities in your funnel are in other people's funnels. My point about qualifying is that you need to choose the best ones to pursue. Likewise, your potential buyers are selecting the best solution candidates to pursue.

If you find you have to chase too few opportunities in which you do not have a good chance to win, you need to fill your funnel with new candidates. By doing a better job of qualifying, you will be working with prospects who do want your product or services, thus you are less likely to waste your time annoying someone who has no intention of buying from you.

Before I accept a no, I try to find out what is causing them to say no. Is there some sticking point that I need to go over with them to turn the no to a yes.

Since I am not a high pressure sales person if I have done my due diligence and still get a NO then I accept that knowing I will stay in touch with the prospect. Perhaps my timing was wrong and the no today maybe a yes tomorrow.

A silent customer is worse than a responsive one. At least let him say NO.

As a sales person I would like to listen to as many Nos from my target customer. All the things he mentions for No gives me a point to convince him even more. Let him say no, at-least he gives a feedback and prepare on it and go back stronger, either to him or to a new target..

Keep learning...keep growing!!

I came away from a reading of comments thinking: doesn't the answer to the question depend upon what the "no" is saying? Like so many of us who have spent a lifetime associated with sales, marketing, and service: I do have a story where I was able to turn that initial "no! I'm sorry we won't do business with your company" into $3MM in 90 days and another $3MM yet another 90 days later.
What do we hear in the "no"?

Differentiating from avoidance by giving various delaying objections like "I;m really not interested at this time" or "I think I'll pass at this time"is a lot different then a customer saying an absolute No! Word and tone inflection, qualifying their answer might be critical pieces in the process. I've said no two or three times to my kids and their persistence has gotten me to change my mind.

Gosh, dad, Why! and when,I don't have a real good reason behind my " No" finally get's me to give in and allow them to do or go to the activity they want.

I've gotten people to buy after a few adamant "no's"in a sales situation. My body language was very non-threatening, my humor and tone friendly. If you've an energy connection with the individual and have earned some trust with the person you can "sometimes" ride the edge. I wouldn't say never push a "no" but tune up your hearing aid and be more playful about how you do it.

I was cold calling in a commercial office building area once and as I walked in the potential prospect's door, he said, whatever your selling we don't want it." I grabbed my head with my hands fell to the floor on my knees and bellowed "why don't you want it. He stopped backed up and said what is it and we began a dialogue.

Other times I would hear "are you a salesman and I would respond " the way things are going today I would have to say "no" or "based on conversations I've had with my boss earlier today, I'm not to sure. Someones "no" or "not interested" is not personal!

My point is humor works no matter how rudely someone interacts with you.

Even if you said smiling as you back up a little, I bet you could be a real ass****, if you wanted to be. I've only been beaten up badly twice on that one! :-)! joke!

NO...(not right now)
NO...(I have too many other things/deadlines/problems to concentrate/decide on this right now)

So give the client a few days and follow-up, follow-up, follow-up in a professional, non-pestering manner.

Eventually they will buy from you, or they will give you a definite NO.

I take "no" as an answer when I realize that the prospect dislikes me on a personal level. I can tell by the way they answer questions or approach conversations with me. It is best to walk away from that situation.

As a consumer I hope that salespeople take "no" for an answer, or at least "not now". Pushy salespeople get absolutely nowhere with me. I'd much prefer someone to establish a relationship with me, provide me with information or advice, etc. I'll be much more open in the future to dealing with someone who has my genuine interests as a concern rather than their own self interest (commission) as a primary concern. And as consumers... we generally can see straight through the non-genuine and insincere.

I have found that my sales approach has shifted as of late. My compassion for my client allows me to be heard in new ways. My goal is to keep my clients for a long time therefore “no” is always temporary!

Obviously, every industry is different. Not only do I accept a No from prospects, I have said No to them. This is especially true of prospects who contact my radio station looking for information; thinking they can afford something they clearly cannot. I'd rather tell them no than have them try to invest so little that it has no chance of working.

Time is money, so a legitimate No is almost as good as a Yes, because it allows you to move on and spend your time and creative energy on prospects who can and will say Yes. What's worse than a No is when you are strung along by a client who has neither the intentions or the means to say Yes. The more you do your research up front, the less this will occur, but any salesperson who says he has never spent time on an unqualified prospect is fooling himself.

I'll also accept a No from a world-class jerk. Life is too short to work with jerks because there are too many quality prospects who can benefit from public radio partnerships.

Sales is chemistry. I have succeeeded at it for decades because I am fortunate to sell a product I believe in, so I look the person in the eye, tell the truth about what a radio campaign has done for others and can do for them. They will get it or they won't. Just as not everybody wants to be my friend (and vice versa), not everybody is going to be my client.

I think, in the sales or any kind of interaction with individuals, mutual acceptance resides in complementing the view-point of potential customers in favor of or against the product.This may expand the interaction duration for better listening not to reflect but to understand the customer needs. In this process ‘no’ at any point of sales will at-least help identify the forward path for remedy after product launch or proper segmenting for the niche-market. The ‘no’ from potential customer in a way is a positive feed back.

I accept "No" all the time - It means their listening. I always want to know what they are saying NO too....if you expect me to be definitive in my proposal, the same courtesy should be given in your response.

Accept no when there is no problem you can solve for the prospect. It's about asking enough questions and listening to the answers.

I think a lot depends on what you are selling. If you are selling eye wear, popular gadgets, or cleaners, that is one thing entirely. With lots of options to choose from and a more common need, reaching out to prospective customers is more important and cold-calling more likely to be successful. Selling a highly specific niche product is another thing entirely. In these cases it is more about enabling your prospective customers to find you.

I am personally a believer in letting prospects come to me, making a "no" answer much less likely in the first place and the sales process much easier generally. This of course requires a greater investment of resources in marketing and/or lead generation, but at the end of the day this question is more about effectively utilizing resources than it is about a "yes" or a "no" (i.e. should we waste our time calling back and/or changing people's minds?).

NO is the beginning of a good conversation. I never call you unless I have a good offer. And if you are still on the phone you may as well go get a coffee. It may take some time.

I've just finished a course on High Probability Sales, which has a diametrically opposed approach to sales: eliminate as early as possible those who aren't "high probability" prospects.

We were trained to accept no as answer when the prospect has no existing desire, no need, or can't afford the product. Why waste time trying to convince someone when you could be talking to someone who wanted it, needed it, and could afford it?

I recommend the book and the course: www.highprobsell.com . You will be surprised and if you are currently a salesperson, highly skeptical, but the logic is unassailable: by eliminating all those who aren't currently interested, need it, and can pay for it, you get to the ones who say, "where have you been?" far more quickly.

It is also completely non-manipulative and far more honest and satisfying. No closing questions, no objections to overcome, no frustration. Look into it with an open mind and see what you think.

"lousy" is Not a nice word!

If I am 100% sure I am talking to the final decision maker and 100% sure this person understands what I am offering, my rule of thumb is to take 3 NOs and respond to them and usually on the 4th NO I will walk away for at least 6 months.

But the correct answer is "It Depends". If you are not the boss and working for someone, it depends what the company or boss expects.

I have worked where the leads came at a premium and when I told my boss the customer got angry and asked me to leave, the boss smiled from ear to ear and said he was so happy to hear me say that because he was worried I was not pushing hard enough and said getting kicked out of a house once a week was acceptable.

I have worked at a place where we were warned not to push; after one complaint you were warned and second complaint you were terminated.

Personally I never heard of taking 8 NOs - as some earlier posts have mentioned. My persistence paid off and I won a sales award calling into law firms when I did not stop after 3 attempts. I found it took 6 contacts with the law firm office manager to stop making lame excuses and let me past; and once past, reverted to taking my 3 NOs policy and outsold 45 other people that quarter.

I think the hardest lesson for many sales people to learn is when to walk away and realize there are many fish in the ocean to fry versus getting married to a lead.

The problem today is not getting a NO, I love a solid Yes or No. The problem is too many people are afraid to tell you No and say Maybe and keep you hanging on. In Sales this is damaging; but even more so for job hunters - I have received the run around from so many HR people and interviewers.

According to me a person is not a salesperson who accept no because salesperson major ability/job is to convert NO into YES, Delay may be possible.

Secondly, sales person training start with answer NO. NO is basic tool for sales person success or failures.