It does not take an ivy league economist to see that many businesses and industries are seeing significant downturns. Things are more uncertain than ever and if it ever was, selling is no longer easy.
There are going to be far more no’s than ever before. The reason for those no’s – lower revenue, less desire to invest, fear to change, reduced resources, fewer people, overall uncertainty, fear… all of these reasons real and legitimate concerns. The old adage, “buyers are liars” is no longer valid because it’s where we all are.
How do we handle the onslaught of rejections sure to be a part of this new reality?
Total acceptance.
The answer is not, stop making connections or prospecting. Or, cease meetings and demos. The answer is have more. Build your pipeline. Prospect. Make the connections. And while you don’t need to expect a no, you do need to accept a no as part of the process.
Build it into the process.
Behaving as though it’s business as usual will only feel awkward. Embrace the fact that the default position for most people and businesses is to say no.
How could you adapt your old ways of selling to a position of acceptance that a no is a serious possibility? Then work from there to help people understand that there are costs in not buying.
What needs to change in your process, presentation, etc.?
And then once you build it in, you are no longer avoiding it.
One thing is for sure. If you wait until the “wave of rejection” has passed and it’s back to normal selling and easy yeses, you could be waiting a very long time.
Comments? Please let me know your thoughts. And if you liked this post, please share! – AW
Have you read Go for No! yet? Pick it up at our store here or on Amazon if you prefer. If you like audio books, you can find all of our books including Go for No! If you really want to learn how to implement Go for No in your life and business, take our online training and coaching course. Details here.
Sales Summits:
I’m involved in two terrific sales summits with a group of sales experts in which I’ll be discussing more on how to handle rejection and nos. These events are totally free and will have a fabulous line up of speakers and content:
RingDNA on June 9-10, 2020
Think Outside the Script Summer Virtual Tour happening June 23-October 6.