Effective Prospecting: Handling the “No’s”
Salespeople literally let the word “No” paralyze them. They live in dreaded fear of someone saying “No.” This tiny two letter word is what keeps most salespeople from ever becoming successful.
Not only does the fear of hearing “No” stop far too many salespeople from prospecting for new business or closing sales, it also stops them from going back to those people who have said “No” in the past. They’re so scared the prospect is going to remember them and get mad at them for being a pest. So instead of going back, they do nothing. But that is not the reality of the situation.
First of all, “No” today only means “No” today. It does not mean “No” tomorrow, the next day, the next week, month or year. How do you know you didn’t catch that person on a bad day? Maybe he just lost his best customer? Or, you walked in right after the boss chewed him out. It could be there’s a problem at home. All we know is that we know nothing.
Second, I know we all want to believe that we’re the most memorable people in the world, but believe me, we’re not.
Your prospects have better things to do than remember every salesperson who has solicited them. They don’t have a Rogue’s Gallery of pictures on their wall with a caption that states, “Beware of these salespeople. We’ve already said ‘No’ to them.”
Just to prove this point I want to relay a story I heard today. It was told to me by a woman named Christine. Christine is a successful agent, advisor and financial professional for a large financial services company. She works mostly in the education market. Most of her clients are teachers and other school system employees. Almost every day, you can find Christine in a school building looking for new business and servicing her existing clients.
One day, at the beginning of her career, she went to a school she had never been to before. She needed to get information from the principal’s secretary, and then permission to solicit in that school. It turned out the woman she thought was the secretary was only covering for the secretary, and not knowing the answers to the questions, excused herself and went to get the principal.
Upon seeing Christine, the principal asked what she thought she was doing there; she had no right to be there, he didn’t want her there, and in no uncertain terms, told her to leave the building. Christine apologized profusely and offered him a bag of Tootsie Rolls, which she always carried with her as thank-you gifts for the school secretaries.
The principal looked at her and said, “I like Snickers.” Christine left and went to her car dejected, but she didn’t give up. She did not let the “No” stop her, and that was one hell of a “No.”
She went back two days later armed with a bag of Snickers. She walked into the principal’s office, asked if she might be able to see him and found out he did have some time to spare.
When he came out of the office, Christine handed him the bag of Snickers. He looked at her and said, “How did you know I liked Snickers?” TWO DAYS LATER HE HAD NO IDEA WHO SHE WAS!
Christine has not only done business in that school, but now has the principal as a client. Christine did not let fear stop her and she was smart enough and persistent enough to know that “No” today only means “No” today.