Along with her husband, Andrea started her own company some nineteen years ago, serving big retail organizations where they do workshops and training focused on their Go For No philosophy and strategy. Several years later, they have extended their help to people across industries and any level of the sales process specifically in dealing with rejections.
Here are the highlights of my conversation with Andrea:
Don’t take it personally.
It’s not about you, it’s about the customer’s or the prospect’s preferences and their desires. However, this can be difficult emotionally.
It is fundamentally biologically programmed that we’re wired to not get rejected so we have these reactions. But when you allow this to take control of your sales process, you end up being a mediocre and an order-taker.
Strategies in going for the no:
- No doesn’t mean never, but not yet.
No is just the beginning and start of the negotiation. If you’re calling on someone who is happy with their current supplier and they’re telling you no, that doesn’t mean it’s forever.
- Stay in touch and follow up even with people who tell you no.
Keep the follow-up. Keep the systems in place because it’s easy to lose track and not be able to have all of those no’s in the pipeline that if you get the permission to follow, then you should be following them up. Follow up the right way and a lot of those no’s can turn into yes’s, it’s just they did not yes be today.
- Don’t just reward results, reward activity.
When somebody in the office makes one call and gets a yes, everybody celebrates that person, while the person who got 20 no doesn’t get rewarded. If they’re doing it right, eventually they will end up in results.
- Set a goal for the number of no’s you’re going to hear.
Focus on getting into action and not being hung up on the yes goals. Challenge yourself into that activity and you may just be surprised with a yes.
- Figure out how to manage that no.
A lot of times, you manage that no right then and there. When you avoid hearing no, you don’t get very good at handling rejection emotionally and you won’t get very skilled at dealing with taking the next steps. When you hear it a lot, you get good at managing it.
- If it’s a qualified prospect, make sure you get permission to follow up with them.
Ask if you can check back with them in a few weeks or a couple of months and get that permission. Be sure to figure out the rejection and what the no is.
- Figure out why people tell you no and what you can do in the future to mitigate that.
Learn from the no’s you got. Over time, you will figure out what your issue is for getting those no’s. What kind of prospects are you dealing with? When you up the quantity of calls, you can start narrowing down and figuring out where your gaps are. For example, you’re not prospecting qualified leads or the quality of your presentation needs some work.
- No doesn’t mean never, just not yet.
People have to be contacted multiple times before they finally say yes. Multiple contacts are necessary so you can add value and share more information and get the person more comfortable with you so that they are eventually going to be okay with making the change.
- Talk to the right people.
You need to qualify your leads and take the time knowing who you’re talking to, your target market, and your ideal customer. Otherwise going to people who would never say yes under any circumstances is a problem.
- You have to change your mindset.
Have that mindset that you need to be able to hear the word no. Having that shift requires you to understand that this is not trying to be perfect or trying to prove yourself. When you avoid hearing the word no, you avoid opportunities for some really big deals out there.
Andrea’s Major Takeaway:
Create a no awareness and think about how often you are hearing the word no. If you could just get comfortable with it and see it’s your hangup and not theirs, then you can be more successful. Then put that into a practice and set a no goal. Lastly, have fun with it! Just focus on getting better.
Episode Resources:
Get to know more about Andrea on www.GoForNo.com
Go For No! by Andrea Waltz and Richard Fenton
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