Team Alpha 375

A YES is Best, but a NO Can Be Good, Too! by: Don “The Idea Guy” Snyder When you’re in sales, the word you most want to hear uttered by a prospect is “YES”, and (as much as you may be loath to admit it) the second best answer is a “NO” (not a MAYBE, like you might be thinking). We all want to have every customer to listen intently to our pitch and rip the pen from our hands because they can’t sign the contract fast enough. (Wake-up from that dream, sleepyhead.) It's more likely you'll get a polite pat on the head and a smile they use to send you on your way with a “let me think about it and get back to you” response. And you don't mind that answer! It allows you to return to your sales manager and report that you made a presentation to the prospect and they "really, really, really liked what you put together for them and it’s merely a matter of time before they get the budget approved and the contract sign on the dotted line." In the meantime, you mark it for follow-up week after week because they just need one more thing approved before they can move forward. The road to hell (or at least the road to a missed car payment or a late cable bill, due to a missed sales goal) is paved with “maybes” and “let me think about its”. YES allows you to move forward with the project and close a sale. NO allows you to move on and pitch the idea to another prospect. MAYBE makes you sit in limbo waiting for responses from prospects you didn't qualify and decision-makers you failed to get in front of. Each day that goes by without a YES makes that very answer seem less and less likely, while exponentially increasing your anxiety and anticipation. Here's how to get a YES or NO answer (and avoid a MAYBE, baby!) 1. Don’t present to someone without the power/authority to provide you with that final answer. And don't bother to create a proposal before asking HOW the final decision will be made (not WHO will make the final decision, but HOW will the final decision be made). This answer will let you know if the person you’re speaking with is the first or last step in the decision-making process. If there is a committee or a higher-level manager making the final choice, you need to be in the room during the final presentation to answer any last-minute questions. Nobody can sell your product or service like you can. 2. Use testimonials to overcome objections. People delay a decision because they are afraid of making a mistake. Use testimonials from clients who wanted to delay making a decision and decided to purchase anyway (or testimonials from customers who delayed their decision and lived to regret it). “Man, I wish we’d made the decision to upgrade to the new system sooner — it cost us money in wasted time and productivity every day we delayed signing the contract.” Assure the prospect of your warranties, guarantees, and service contracts. Make sure they know that you’re not going to leave them hanging out to dry if there’s a problem with the purchase. 3. Avoid stalls on a final YES/NO by educating your prospect – and avoid confusion about some component of the proposal. Ask questions at regular intervals during your presentation to make certain everything is crystal clear to the client and you're both on the same page. (How does that sound to you? Does everything make sense? Do you have any questions about our service plan?) Let them know at the beginning of the presentation that you're looking for a specific answer at the end. 4. Create a sense of urgency. Ensure that the client realizes a benefit for making a decision by a certain date (or experiences a loss by delaying past the deadline). Frequently, the client will give you the deadline for having your product or system in place. Work backward from the activation date and determine the timeframe needed to ship, install, and train. Use this date to establish a firm deadline for getting the approval to proceed. 5. Let the prospect know it's okay to say NO. Some people just don’t want to hurt your feelings by saying NO and feel they’re being kinder by assuring you they are fully considering your offer (before they go ahead and say NO anyway). If you’re getting that vibe from your prospect, let them know that if the solution you’re currently proposing just doesn’t seem like a match, you’re happy to revisit the opportunity to work together again in the future, when their needs and your offer are in better alignment. Hey, no one wants to hear NO, but it’s so much better in the long run (for both you and the client) to agree on a decision one way or the other -- rather than doing the dance of indecision and the maybe mambo.