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When owning or operating a business, it’s inevitable that sometimes,
people will not buy your product or service. This might occur early in the
contact cycle, or it might occur later, after you’ve expended some amount
of time, money, and effort. While this never feels good, here are 10 ways
you can minimize its impact on you and your business.
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1) Maintain a
very high level of regular self care.
This means that you make a commitment to your health and needs for sleep,
exercise, good nutrition, and relaxation. It means that you have adequate
reserves of time, money, and resources so that you have more than you need
in all these areas. If you don’t, today, have “more than you need”
getting to this level should be one of your first priorities. There is
little worse than “needing” a client to buy so you can meet your monthly
rent payment. Take strong action to increase your reserves.
2) Find a
different spot to stand in.
This means that you find a way to shift your perspective on the process.
Some will take rejection and use it as an excuse to never try again. Others
will find a way to use the experience and make it in something bigger, more
generative, and more powerful. Which approach is more likely to foster
success?
3) Consider
that the solution might be “not this way - try another”. This
means that this event might, actually, give you a guidepost of how to move
forward on your next attempt. If you can, find out why the prospect did not
buy your product or service. A simple follow-up call can show you ways to
improve your selling process for next time.
4) Remind
yourself that it’s not personal.
This means, don’t make the person’s decision as reflective of your
talents, or your abilities. Some people are not right for you or your
company, and some people are. When someone has said “No” be glad. They
wouldn’t have been happy with what you offered, and may have cost more (in
time, effort, special requests) in the long run. It’s easier to do this,
by the way, when you don’t “need” the sale - see tip #1.
5) Decrease the
time you spend with people who don’t respect you, your product, or your
service. This means,
instead, spend more resources cultivating people who value what you offer.
Generate an “ideal prospect” profile and stick with this. Your bottom
line will reflect the difference.
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6) Keep moving
on. Very often, we take a
“no” and we think about it…re-live it… plan what we’ll say next
time…in short, we live the event hundreds of times when, in fact, it was
just, really, a few minutes in our life. The best antidote to this is to
take the next action, and the next, and the next. Keep moving forward and
don’t dwell on the past.
7) Broaden your
definition of success. The
number one reason people feel bad when someone says, “no” is because
they feel a strong attachment to the outcome. Instead of looking at
outcomes, or being attached to how things turn out, perhaps you can look at
success as getting out there in the first place. How would it be if you went
for effort rather than outcome, even sometimes?
8) Start a
success journal - immediately.
For every No you’ve ever experienced, you probably could list tens (if not
hundreds) of situations in which people said “Yes!” to who you are or
what you offer. When you feel upset or down about one particular situation,
aim to list at least 100 things you’ve succeeded in already.
9) Shift your
focus from what happened. Distract
yourself by thinking of all the good and fun things you want to attain or
achieve. Whatever you think about gets bigger in your life, so make sure you’re
thinking good thoughts. Take each experience as an isolated occurrence, not
the absolute, ultimate truth.
10) Commit to
routinely attracting more customers than you need.
“No, thanks” is much easier to handle economically - when you have a
steady flow of qualified prospects streaming in. If you aren’t in this
position, be sure to revisit your marketing plan and recommit to daily
marketing actions. It’s easy to get away from this when business picks up,
and harder to generate momentum when business goes down.
Taken together, these strategies will help you overcome “No, Thanks.”while
building a more successful business.
-- Dr. Rachna D. Jain is a sales and marketing coach and Director of
Operations for SalesCoachTraining.com. To learn more or to contact Dr. Jain
directly, please visit http://www.SalesandMarketingCoach.com
and sign up for her free email newsletter, "Sales & Marketing
Secrets"
April 15, 2003
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