Keeping Sales Moving Forward

Selling can be a tough profession. Keeping sales moving forward can feel like you’re slogging through mud.

Even though every living human being is selling himself or herself every day that they interact with others, you have chosen to sell in order to house and feed yourself and your loved ones. You face rejection on a daily basis, and the level of success you achieve is really all about the no’s.

You may very well hear something like this on an average day:

“Well, Jim, that new equipment you showed me sure is nice, but unfortunately I’m just going to have to say, ‘no.’”

“We appreciate all the information you’ve shared with us, Mary, but we’re not going to do this right now.”

How you respond when you hear things like that is what makes the difference between eating peanut butter sandwiches at home and being served your meal at a nice restaurant.

So, how do you respond when you hear the word “no?” Does your gut react by wrenching a bit? Do your shoulders sink in defeat? Does it show in your eyes that you’ve given up and are mentally moving on? If so, you’re probably only earning an average income, if that.

[wcm_restrict]It’s important that you realize what you’ve really done when you give up after the first no. Because you did your homework, qualified the buyer, and gave a great presentation, you’ve prepared that buyer to make a purchase – from the next salesperson who comes along. You see, they wouldn’t have wasted their time meeting with you if they didn’t have a need or at least an interest in owning the benefits of your product. Hopefully, this won’t come as a surprise to you but your main job is not presenting offers. Yes, giving presentations is usually the most fun part of selling. However, you are paid for closing sales – not for giving presentations.

That means your potential for real success is based on what you do and say after you hear “no” from your buyer. That’s when you should mentally clap your hands together and say, “Now, we’re getting somewhere!” That’s because it’s a perfectly normal reaction to a close for buyers to hesitate, to second-guess themselves, to step back or to flat out say “no.” If it’s normal for buyer to react that way to your request for their business or their money, shouldn’t it be normal for you to be ready for them? Because that’s a buyer’s normal reaction, the top sales pros practice and rehearse their own responses to the no’s. They prepare to do and say what’s necessary to keep the sale moving forward.

The first “no” can create an awkward moment. Here you’ve been so nice in learning about their needs, showing your product and explaining how it’ll help them. Then, they say “no” and they can feel bad about it. So the first thing you must do is to get them past that awkward moment. This is called re-establishing rapport. It can be as simple as saying, “I see.” Or, “I understand.” They get the message that they haven’t offended you. (After all, people are generally pretty polite.)

Average salespeople might say those words, but their next action is to pack up and leave. As a sales pro, you want your next action to be that you move back into asking questions – just like you did after you first established rapport. You won’t, of course, ask the same questions, but you’ll dig deeper into the motive behind the no.

Perhaps you forgot to mention something important. Maybe they thought of something else more important to them that they need the money for. If they’re qualified and, based on your interaction with them, you believe your product is truly good for them, you’ve missed something. Your real job of selling is to get to the root of what’s holding them back. Then, you’ll present your solutions again or in a different way, going a second time for the close.

It can take four, five, or six times of asking for their business before some people give it to you. So, you can’t give up after hearing the first “no.” That’s when the real selling begins. It’s your job to keep the sale moving forward until there’s simply nothing else to cover.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember]

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About the Authors

Tom Hopkins is the founder and president of the renowned sales training service Tom Hopkins International. He is a member of the National Speakers Bureau and is the author of the national bestseller How to Master the Art of Selling. Today, more than 35,000 corporations and millions of professional salespeople throughout the world utilize his professional sales training materials.

Ben Katt is a multi-million dollar producer in corporate sales, and has a long track record when it comes to ‘sealing the deal.’ He has been instrumental in turning around several top companies and their sales records.