I imagine that all of us (including the top sales guys) have had to face up to the dreaded ‘NO’ in a sales meeting. For some, the answer is to say “never mind I will get the next one that is just one NO closer to a YES” and they move on and book their next appointment. The challenge is that by going into the next sales meeting and doing more of the same and expecting a different result is Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity.
What would be a better approach?
To treat the NO as feedback or indeed feed forward, learn from it so that at the next sales meeting you take those learnings and turn them into opportunities to get to YES more often.
A great place to start looking for some feed forward is from the person who said ‘NO.’ This can be a toughie because our ego tells us we don’t want to go back to the place of our past failures. You need to get over that because, at the end of the day, the only person who truly knows why they said ‘NO’ is the person who said ‘NO.’
To help you along, you might like to take this or a similar approach:
“Ian, I know that you have decided to place your order with ABC Company. First of all, I would like to thank you for the opportunity of meeting with you and for allowing me to present our product. I fully appreciate your decision and hope that everything goes as well as you expect it to with ABC. I do hope that you will consider doing business with me in the future and just so that I can help you better when that time does arrive, do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions, so that I can understand how you made your decision.”
The fact that they have accepted your call, and that you asked nicely, would suggest that they are more than likely to agree to answer a couple of questions such as:
- Did I provide you with enough information within during our meeting for you to make an informed decision?
- Do you feel that I communicated in a clear and concise way?
- What added information did my competitor give you that helped you choose them?
- Did my competition present their offer in a way that was more appealing and if so how?
- What specific benefits do you see with going with my competitor?
- What could I have done better in my presentation?
“I would really appreciate your honest opinion and candour. I consider myself to be a professional so there is no need to worry about hurting my ego. The information you give me will make sure that in future I am better equipped to help you and all my other clients.”
The key thing now is to let go of the ego; some of what they tell you may hurt, but remember it is feed forward and by taking great notes and applying what you learn you are definitely a NO closer to a YES.
We will be continuing with this sales thread over the next month or so but if you really want to ramp up the sales in your business join us at our ‘Double Your Sales in 2015’ workshop on Friday 21st November.
Thoughts:
“If we learn from losing, we become winners in the end”…Anon
“Success is the culmination of failures, mistakes, false starts, confusion, and the determination to keep going anyway”…Nick Gleeson
“If we are smart, we make a lot of mistakes”…Raman Frey
“Too often, sales reps simply regurgitate their presentations and expect to land the sale. It doesn’t work”…Harvey Mackay
“You don’t close a sale; you open a relationship if you want to build a long-term, successful enterprise”…Patricia Fripp
Kevin Gallagher
Business Performance Coach
Our next Workshop 'Double Your Sales in 2015' is on Friday 21st November 2014
To Book Simply go to http://www.eventbrite.com/e/double-your-sales-in-2015-tickets-13756053727
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"I don't much care where..." said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go’
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