The Positive Power of Saying No
My main interest is in marketing and for many people the point of marketing is sales. Many business owners struggle with sales and fear a prospect saying no. I’m convinced a prospect saying no has positive power.
Of course, a prospect saying “Yes” delights most business owners. After all this is the objective of their marketing and possibly months of careful work building trust with their prospect.
So, it is obviously a disappointment when the prospect says “No” – or is it? Actually there are not two but four options and we should be aware of all of them. Here they are in order of positive outcome. The three first all have positive aspects, less so the fourth.
When Yes Means Yes – The Genuine Yes
You cannot be certain from the outset that the yes is a genuine yes. You cannot be sure until you receive your first cheque or indeed until you have completed the contract.
Things can go wrong and the responsibility for that rests primarily with you. The client is genuinely interested and so you need to arrange another meeting where you can discuss the details of your contract and arrange payment if everything is satisfactory. This is a crucial time in your relationship with your client and if it goes wrong the fault is most likely with you.
However, we all learn from mistakes and if you do lose clients at this stage, you need to review what you did and work out where you’ve gone wrong. The main thing to remember is keep communication open and arrange another meeting soon to cement the relationship.
When No Means Yes – No for Now
Your prospect says “No” but wants to maintain the relationship. Sometimes they’ll tell you it is no for now and maybe there will be a deal some time in the future. Other times you intuit they want to keep the relationship going. What you need to do is agree some future meetings.
You could do this by inviting them to join your referral networking group, for example. Alternatively, you could arrange to meet again and catch up at a later date, maybe 6 months later.
The key to this prospect may be they need to build trust with you. It seems many businesses find they need between 4 and 10 one-to-one meetings to change that “No” into a “Yes”. The thing is to cultivate the relationship, maximise the opportunities to get to know like and trust each other.
When No Means No – The Genuine No
You will have a good idea when the “No” is final. And actually this is a good place to be. If you do not have any common ground (and it can be you who says “No” to the prospect) it is better to be honest about it.
It is not a good idea to allow this “No” to be tacit. You can ask if they know anyone who might be interested in your business. This allows them to say “No” but also, if they do want to support you, they have an opportunity to find you a referral.
It is always worth having some reserve ideas for those who say no. Perhaps they would sign up to your email list? The point would be to remind them of you and so they can make referrals at a later date.
Just because the person in front of me is not a prospect, it does not mean they don’t know others who might be.
So, an honest “No” can have positive power. It doesn’t mean you have to lose touch. The main problem is finding constructive ways of keeping in touch with perhaps many such contacts.
When Yes Means No – The Silence
This is the worst possible outcome. This Yes raises your hopes but then your prospect goes silent. Sometimes this happens part way through a contract. Usually though it is soon after this first “Yes”.
Reasons? Perhaps the prospect changed their mind but sometimes it happens because the prospect doesn’t know how to say “No”. They say “Yes” to get out of the room.
Unfortunately, you may spend several hours preparing paperwork, planning how to handle this client and then find it is all for nothing. When I started I had several such prospects and some of them lasted for weeks.
The key is to follow-up immediately the prospect says “Yes”. You don’t know if they mean it or if they mean it now and will have second thoughts later. So, here are my suggestions:
- the key is to arrange another meeting sometime soon. If they are genuine they’ll be keen to get started and so be ready to have some detailed proposals as soon as possible
- send details in advance of the meetings, primarily of your proposal. At the meeting they can raise their concerns. This may be the best time to discuss prices. Start high and watch out for reasons to offer reductions
- tell them what to do if they have doubts – ask them to contact you or tell you at the meeting. Say you hope they will stay in touch even if they change their minds. Hopefully they will agree that if on reflection they’re not sure they will want to keep contact in case they become sure in the future.
Keep communication going while you’re waiting for your first payment. Sometimes there are management committees and the like to negotiate and these all allow time for doubts to set in. I’m more inclined to be firmer about these issues than I was, given the amount of preparation a new client requires and that you are not reimbursed for the work you do until the first payment.
Conclusion
Notice how saying “No” is actually no bad thing. It does not imply a termination in your relationship. Sometimes it is a “not yet” and sometimes you may have an ally who can pass business your way. Remember in a one-to-one, you may also be saying “No” to their offer. The issue is not selling services to one another so much as finding working relationships that are mutually beneficial.
Do you have examples of good practice for fielding these four types of response?