This is a Guest Post from Julian Blee, of Fat Cat Ideas.

I would like to take a look at the urban myth concerning the word ‘no’. I wrote this article because it is a very common misconception that it is OK to put off dealing with a ‘no’ until the end of a pitch or presentation. This is crazy and hopefully at the end of this article you to will agree with me.

The word ‘no’ is there to be loved, enjoyed and embraced. I know that is going to sit uncomfortably with many people reading this newsletter because it is the bête noire of many sales people. No’s seem to send the fear of God running through the veins of many new and also experienced sales people.

One of the biggest and most regular issues that I come across on a daily basis as a sales trainer is the fear of NO. I understand completely how this particular word can wreck havoc with sales presentations, destroy commission targets and just generally ruin your day. I used to hate No’s. I used to do what most people do when they hear a NO and that was to ignore it, speed up, or even worse become defensive. All of these reactions are wrong and let me explain why.

*I would like to point out that hitting you head with a spanner is actually not more fun that getting a no from a potential prospect.

The easiest way for me to do this is to look at why we are so scared of hearing a No. I suppose that the obvious one for me to take into account is that if we get a No from our prospects it means that they won’t buy from us. If that happens we get a little bit more deflated, and if that happens our jobs get harder and then we end up blowing so many deals because we get progressively worse with each call. This hits us mentally and fiscally and it hurts.

The above diagram is based on the renowned theory of ‘Hitting Your Head With a Spanner.’ (I know that you know that I made that up.)

Joking aside it shows that if we get a No, our immediate response is to get defensive. This is a very common reaction from someone who is new into sales. (It also happens with so called experienced individuals too.) Greeting a No with negativity will not assist in turning that No into a Yes. This will result in frustration. If you sell with a frustrated head on your shoulders you will receive more No’s. This will drag you to Negativity. Once that happens, you have to stop and re-calibrate your outlook to positivity or just forget it for the day.

Don’t mis-quote me here, because I am not advocating going home every time you get a No. But I do know that if you fire into your lead box with a negative pitch, you may as well just throw them all in the bin; it will save you time, effort and your employer a phone bill. I will talk about re-calibrating back to a positive outlook in a later newsletter. Right now I want to stop you getting negative by showing you how to deal with No’s.

Before I show you a simple way to work with No’s you must change your mind set. You have to learn to like No’s. In fact you have to actually learn to love them, really love them. Once you learn to love No’s you will be pleased when you hear one. Trust me on this one, I haven’t taken leave of my senses.

A No means one of two things:

1. I really don’t want your service/product/wingwang.
2. You have not told me enough in order for me to give you a yes. You need to give me more benefits, or fact find more to ascertain exactly what I need from you.

Either one of these are good news. If it is 1, then this is good news because the last thing you want in your pipeline is a ton of prospects that really have no interest in your product. This is called a false economy.

If it’s a two, and 9 times out of 10, (depending on your fact finding skills) it is a two, then you need to deal with the No in a positive and upbeat fashion. And this is where loving your No’s comes into play.

The flowchart below describes a simplistic and structured way to deal with a no. There are lots of different methods and styles to help you work a no into a yes. However, this method is like a well tailored dark blue suit. It will work in almost every situation.

It goes a little like this:

1. When you receive a No, embrace it. Don’t get negative. This is an opportunity showing its self to you. This wonderful No is telling you that he’s there and that he’s the hurdle between you and the deal. So don’t get scared or frustrated, give him a hug.
2. Ask what it is exactly that is stopping the client from buying your product today.
3. When your prospect tells you what the problem is repeat it back to them. This will show the client that you have heard what they have said and are simply confirming that the information you have is correct. It will also give you time to think.
4. If the client says yes, then you now have your objection; the barrier between you and the sale.
5. You MUST now isolate the objection; “Is this the only thing stopping you from buying from me today.”
6. If the client says Yes, you need to effectively overcome the objection and move smoothly into the close.

There are of course lots of other things that your prospect could say in order to throw you off course. But I cannot cover those in a 1,000 word article.

The crux of the above is that you have to learn to love the No, and deal with it as soon as it arrives. It is an objection that is in the clients mind, stopping him from listening to your presentation. Put yourself in your prospect shoes, would you listen to a sales pitch that you have already said No to?

The No is the thing stopping you from closing the deal. And because of this reason alone you need to be friendly with it in order to understand it. Once you understand it, you then have a shooting chance of overcoming it.

You need to be able to establish if the No means that your prospect doesn’t know enough about your product, or in fact they really do not want it. Practice the basics and you will learn to be able to distinguish between the two.

I have sold to people that really didn’t want my product, but I sold it to them anyway. That’s not ethical way to sell and it doesn’t leave you with a great conscience. (That was a long time ago on part of my learning curve; I certainly don’t do that anymore.) It also destroys any chance of longevity or relationship that you may have been able to build up.

I have also lost lots of deals because I didn’t realise that my prospect did in fact want or need my product, but I was just selling badly. Good telesales skills take time to develop. You will fall over along the way, but just dust yourself down and get back on with the job in hand. Stay focused, sell ethically, be professional and you can reach your wildest dreams.

Julian Blee has been in the sales business for 20 years and is currently the ‘fattest cat’ at Fat Cat Ideas, a company that offers sales orientated SME’s a range of no nonsense, jargon free, sales training, marketing and copy writing services.

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