Credibility Starts with “No”
I once worked in telesales where the psychology of the “one-call close” is that you never say “No.” I worked hard on every call to get the customer into a series of “Yes” statements so that the natural final answer to the closing question was “Yes.” Guess what? It works for transactional sales…kinda. But it doesn’t work for large account selling.
The top sales people are not afraid of saying “no” to requests and challenges from prospects and clients. But the best sales people go further. They don’t allow a client’s requests to set the pace of the deal, for doing so may limit the sales person’s power in the deal. If the client is setting the pace, the sales person is not in the best position to tell a client what he or she can’t do, won’t do or what is not in the client’s best interest to do.
Now, just to be clear, I am not talking about combative selling or a “Dr. No” approach that I have sometimes seen. I am talking about the need to frame a value proposition clearly and with contrast so that it highlights what you bring to the table and what you do not.
There are lots of flavors of “no.” I would like to hear some of yours.
I have no problem saying “no” when it is appropriate. Frankly, I think customer’s appreciate hearing that. When somebody tells me “yes” to everything, I personally feel that they are often doing so just in order to get me to “buy”. Hearing “no” from a sales person is refreshing and speaks to their honesty and sincerity. Just say “no”
Thanks for letting me weigh in!
Craig
1I agree with Craig. No one really appreciates a “yes-man”. They bring little credibility to the project. Conversely, it’s very easy to say no without saying “no”, such as “I’ve run across this in another situation, and we dealt with it in this way with huge success”. It softens the blow and brings the prospect “into the know”.
2Tom – We are living by the mantra you taught me “disqualify 98% of your leads.” It was pretty difficult to say no at first. Now we work only with clients that are in our sweet spot and we’ve developed products for those who don’t fit our business model.
3“disqualify 98% of your leads”
4So so very true!
In the would of consultation sales the YES man does not work.
When you start dealing with large roll-out’s that involve lots of peoples time you need to make sure you tell then what you can achieve and what your product can’t achieve. This will involve saying NO even when you feel that doing so might slow down or kill the deal. At the end of the day it will save you from a HUGE headache.
Great feedback everybody! The big “ah-ha” for a group today was the idea of creating the opportunity to say ‘no’ rather than just having the courage to do so.
5This is great stuff – love the comments. Let me add another piece:
Those that contact you and are tire-kickers cannot afford you. Even if they can afford you, I suggest starting with the bar awfully high.
One consultant I’ve worked with started with an insanely high bar — an hourly rate that didn’t kick in until after 15 minutes. We spent an hour on the phone, and the 45 minutes I paid for proved to me that this approach makes sense — if you price yourself as expensive, and you add tremendous value, you’ll get the kinds of clients you deserve. Good ones.
6I don’t like the word ‘sales-pitch’. I’ve always sought to make the client’s business more effective, productive and successful with measurable ROI. Along the way, I have developed friendships with clients, who have come to know I have their best interest at heart. Money is a byproduct of that.
I have said ‘NO’ (garaciously of course) and walked away from business. When the client said ‘No’ I saw this as an opportunity to uncover a need. “You really don’t start ‘selling’ until you get objections” a mentor once told me.
I believe in ethical selling. Never lie or sugarcoat the facts. Sell with integrity! Find the client in yourself! My 2 cents…
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