Hooray! The Prospect Said NO!

by Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz (reprinted from the Sales Gravy Newsletter www.salesgravy.com)

You walk out of the office, shoulders slumped and head hanging low. The meeting did not go the way you had hoped.

Shoving through the glass doors and exiting the building you heave a sigh, the words of your prospect still ringing in your ears, “No, we’re going to pass.”  Motivation is dwindling fast. For a moment, you think about heading back to the office and blowing off your last call of the day in favor of catching up on paperwork.

But what if it didn’t have to be this way?

Imagine getting a “no” from a prospect and then pushing through those same doors happy, excited and energized.  Imagine actually thinking to yourself, “Hooray, the client said no!”

In order to tap into the “power of no” there are 3 key strategies that you can apply today.

 1) Change your mental model of “success” and “failure.”
Most people operate with the following mental model: 

SUCCESS (Yes) << YOU>>  FAILURE (No)

They see themselves in the middle, with success on one end and failure on the other. They do everything they can to move toward success and away from failure. But, what if that model was wrong?  What if that model was reconfigured?   

YOU >>  FAILURE (No) >>  SUCCESS (Yes)

What if, rather than seeing failure as something to be avoided, it became a “stepping stone” on the path to success? Put another way: Yes is the destination, but “no” is how you get there. 

To achieve significant success in today’s world, top performers do not see success and failure – yes and no – as opposites, rather opposite sides of the same coin that depend on each other.

Success is, to a large degree, a numbers game.  As such, one of the fastest ways to increase your success is to intentionally increase your failure rate. In other words, increase the number of times you hear prospects say “no” to you.  Of course, increasing the number of times you hear “no” will eventually increase the number of times you hear “yes”.

2) Create “no-awareness” by counting your “no’s”.
Here’s a question for you: How many total “no’s” did you personally obtain yesterday?  Last week?  Last month?  Where are you for the year?  Do you know?  Well, you should!

Most people, if they actually counted the number of times they hear “no” during a typical day or week, would be shocked to see how low that number actually is.  If you don’t know your number, it’s time for you to start counting every “no” you hear, because the very act of counting your “no’s” will increase your no-awareness and that, in turn, will enhance your no-focus.

 3) No doesn’t mean never, it means not yet.
Woody Allen said that 80 percent of success is simply showing up.  While the power of showing up should not be underestimated, the reality is that showing up – in and of itself – is usually not enough.  The key to success is to show up, and then to keep showing up!  In a word: persistence.

Is this to suggest that when someone keeps telling you “no” you should stay at it forever?  No. Though Winston Churchill famously declared one should never, never, never quit… knowing when to quit is an important skill.  The problem is most people think that time has come long before it actually has!

How do you know the perfect time to quit?  Unfortunately, there is not a definitive number of “no’s” at which one should throw his/her hands up and go home – after all, every situation and every prospect is different.  So the answer always begins with an analysis as to whether the person you’re trying to sell to is a qualified buyer.  If they are unqualified (they neither want nor need what you have to offer), then you should pack it in and move on.  However, if they do need what you’ve got – even if they don’t want it yet – then pursue them for as long as it takes!   
 
So the next time you walk out of a prospect’s office having collected another “no”, remember these five key points and say, “Hooray! I just got a no!” Because when you increase your failure rate and go for “no”, the “yes” will eventually come… they always do!

Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz are the authors of “Go for No!”, a short powerful story written specifically for sales professionals in every industry who must learn to harness the power of no to be successful.  They are also the creators of the new personal development video documentary, “Yes is the Destination, No is How You Get There!”  To learn more, visit www.goforno.com or call 800-290-5028.

Alice Heiman Wins U.S. Chamber Award

“2010 Blue Ribbon Small Business Award”

And now we have the opportunity to win the Community Excellence Award…

Vote for Alice Heiman, LLC Today!

We are proud to announce that we are one of 75 small businesses to receive U.S. Chamber of Commerce 2010 Blue Ribbon Small Business Award!  Now, one of these businesses has the opportunity to win the Community Excellence Award which will be based on who receives the most votes!

As many of you know, Alice works very hard to support the non-profits and small businesses in this  community.  In January, the Sparks Chamber of Commerce awarded her with the Community Spirit Award.

If you would like to vote for Alice Heiman, LLC to receive the U.S. Chamber Community Excellence Award, click here.  While voting, you will also have the option to share a brief story about why you think we should win. (When voting, be sure to select Alice Heiman, LLC under the drop down menu labeled, “who are you voting for”.)

Thank you for voting!

This is the last one of the 8 tips on how to get more sales in 2010!

8. Energize your sales team. 

Ask them what they need to make 2010 their best year ever.  You need an A-Team.  There is no room in this economy for salespeople who are not A players.  Give them what they need, training, coaching, encouragement, recognition, leads, support, accountability.  Make sure you are or have the best sales manager on the planet.  Work together to get the whole company thinking about sales.  Reward any employee who finds a lead or brings in a sale.  Keep your team charged up, don’t let the energy wane.  Make sure you have a sales plan and that each salesperson has a plan and that they execute it.  Discuss their plans with them often.  Ask them constantly what you can do to help them close more sales and make sure you do it.  Retain your best salespeople; don’t lose them because you or your company makes their life difficult.  Appreciate them and make sure they have the tools they need to do their job effectively.  Hold them accountable, most salespeople do best when they have the tools they need to do their job, the coaching they need to move sales forward and the accountability to keep them on track and show them when they have been successful.

Your company can have its best year ever by following the 8 tips we’ve posted over the last few weeks.  Don’t try to do all this alone, ask for help.  If you don’t have a team, create one.  There are tons of resources in this community to help you grow your business.  You can start by calling your chamber of commerce, the small business development center at UNR, NCET or SCORE.  Most of their resources are free.  You can also hire a great business coach or consultant or join a group of business people who work together to grow their businesses like TAB or Vistage.  So, no excuses.  Will your company grow in 2010?  I would be happy to help direct you to the proper resources; you can reach me at info@aliceheiman.com.

This is the 7th of 8 tips on how to get more sales in 2010.

7. Innovate.

What else can you offer your customers that they need?  Is it a complimentary product or service?  Is it information, support?  Survey your customers and find out what they wish your product could do or what service they wish you would provide?  Brainstorm with your customers and your team and come up with something new.  Change the way you do things, rearrange your departments, innovate your customer service.  Can you add live chat to help support your customers?  Do you need to write more white papers on how they can use your products?  Can you come up with a new twist on an old product, turn it into and ebook, a video, a webinar?  How about starting customer interest groups so your customers can communicate with one another and learn together and possibly innovate.  Build a customer community so your customers can get to know each other and possibly do business together.  Just imagine all the things you could possibly do.  Most of it doesn’t cost a lot of money.  Take some time to innovate.  Plan it into your schedule.

This is the 6th of 8 things you can do to get more sales in 2010.

6. Use social media to your advantage.

Learn about social media and how it could benefit your company.  Figure out which social media attracts your ideal prospects.  You need a social media plan that fits into your marketing plan.  It won’t be long before every marketing plan will include social media as one of the media like radio, TV, print.  How can social media compliment what you are already doing for marketing, how can it enhance it?  Can you do it yourself or do you need to find someone on your team who will do it?  Do you need to hire a specialist or outsource it?  There are some great people out there in our community who can help, I would be happy to direct you to a few.  Don’t dismiss social media.  It is here to stay and it may be just what your company needs to establish relationships, deepen relationships and generate leads.  Figure out how to share your expertise and become part of the conversation.

I found another great sales blog you will find valuable www.salestrainingadvice.com.

This is the 5th of 8 things you can do to get more sales in 2010.

5. Get focused and plan. 

Plan like you have never planned before.  You can’t let things just happen in 2010, you need to make them happen.  Business as usual will not get you the results you need.  Sit down with your team, your friends, a coach, SCORE, SBA, SBDC or by yourself and plan.  Think about what you want to accomplish in 2010.  Write out those goals and the action steps needed to achieve them.  Figure out what resources you are going to need.  Figure out what you need to do each day, each week, each month to reach those goals.  Plan your growth, plan your marketing, plan new product launches, plan your social media, plan events, make a networking plan.  Just sit down and plan.  Then keep the plan handy so you can review it.  Block time on your calendar each week to do the things needed to reach your goals.  Review your plan monthly and celebrate success and make the needed changes to stay on course or deliberately change course.

This is the 4th of 8 things you can do to get more sales in 2010.

4. Market, Market, Market. 

Did I say market?  Why would anyone stop marketing in this economy?  I don’t get it.  You need more business not less and it takes a lot more work to get the number of customers you need.  This is not the time to cut the marketing budget.  You need to market to your existing customers as well as your prospects and you need to keep growing your prospect list.  Make a plan.  If you don’t have a marketing plan it is time to make one.  If you don’t know how, seek help immediately.  Look on line, read a book, outsource, ask a friend, work with a marketing coach.  You need a written plan and someone at your company designated to execute it or outsource the execution.  I hear so many of my clients say, “We have never had to market ourselves, we had enough business.”  This is so scary to me.  Think about this, if they had that much business coming in without marketing, think of how wildly successful they could have been with that plus some marketing.  Well, as we are all keenly aware, the business has stopped rolling in.  Now you have to go out and make it start rolling again.  You can’t do that without a marketing plan that generates leads.  What are you going to do each day, week, month to keep the leads rolling in?  You don’t need a gigantic budget to have a good marketing plan.  You can use social media, email, the phone, direct mail and events to stay in front of your customers with valuable information.  And if you have the budget for it, radio and TV are a steal these days.

This is the 3rd of 8 things you can do to get more sales in 2010.

3.  Stay in touch with your customers. 

Really!  Take your customer lists and clean them up.  Make sure all of your information is current.  Go back at least 3 years.  As I have said many times before, ‘there is a goldmine in your existing customer database.’  Remember that the easiest business you will ever get is more business from your existing customers.  Make sure you have lots of valid reasons to be in touch with them frequently, customer service being number one.  When was the last time you called all of your customers to find out their level of satisfaction with their purchases?  When was the last time you called to thank them for their business?  When was the last time you asked them for a referral, sent them a tip, a newsletter and article with useful information?   When was the last time you clipped an article about a customer and mailed it to them?  Are you connected with all of your customers on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or the social media of their choice?  Stay in touch, be proactive.  Don’t wait for your customers to call you to tell you there is a problem. Call them to make sure everything is great.

This is the 2nd of 8 things you can do to get more sales in 2010.

2. Partner. 

Now more than ever, find companies you can partner with.  These can be companies who do the same thing (maybe even a competitor) or companies that do complimentary things or have basic services that your clients need.  If you do the same thing, is it possible to sub some work out to each other when one of you gets too busy or refer a client who needs the service but is just not a good fit personally?  With complimentary services, share lists of customers and see who you have in common.  Work together to bring added value to those customers.  Look at your lists together and think about who could use the others service and then strategize on a way to introduce that service and bring your partner in.  You can share leads and make introductions informally or you can write an agreement that allows for commissions.  Make a list of companies you know that you could partner with and schedule meetings to explore the possibilities.