It’s funny how things you heard years ago keep coming back into your brain.
My Dad used to say, “It will all work out in the end.”
It took me until I was about 13 to realize that didn’t mean I’d eventually get my way. It meant things would work themselves out. There would be an outcome. I might like it. I might not. Either way, I’d know where I stood.
Sales is a little like that.
We spend a lot of time trying to increase response rates. We want prospects to answer our emails, return our calls, respond to our LinkedIn messages, and tell us what they’re thinking.
Except there’s an interesting thing that happens when they actually do.
Sometimes we don’t like their answer.
And suddenly, in our heads, “no” starts to feel exactly the same as no response.
Except it isn’t.
No response means you don’t know. You don’t know if they’re interested. You don’t know if the timing is wrong. You don’t know if they even saw your message. You don’t know whether to keep trying, change your approach, or move on.
“No” is different. Now you know something.
Of course, knowing something and liking what you know are two completely different things.
That’s when the conversation inside our own head starts.
- They don’t really understand.
- I probably didn’t explain it well enough.
- That’s just an objection, I can overcome it.
- I need to convince them.
- Maybe if I ask another way, I’ll get a different answer.
For experienced salespeople, this can actually be dangerous. We have skills. We know how to ask another question. We know how to reposition an idea, challenge an assumption, address an objection, and keep a conversation moving.
Are you using those skills to understand their answer or change their answer?
There’s nothing wrong with digging deeper into a “no.” In fact, that may be exactly what you need to do.
No because why?
- the timing is wrong?
- there isn’t a business problem to solve?
- there’s another priority?
- they don’t see enough value?
- you’re talking with the wrong person?
Those are very different answers.
The goal isn’t to accept every “no” and immediately disappear. The goal is to become curious about the answer instead of immediately fighting against it.
Their response gives you information and information gives you choices.
You might keep pursuing the opportunity because you learned the problem is timing, not interest. You might change direction because you discovered you’ve been talking about something that isn’t important to them. Or you might decide to move on because there really isn’t an opportunity.
All three are better than sitting in “I don’t know.”
Which brings me back to my Dad, “It will all work out in the end” never meant I was going to get the answer I wanted. Sometimes the value was simply knowing the answer.
The same is true in sales.
Increase your response rate, even if it’s not the answer you want and you’ll increase your sales.
Because the more often prospects tell you what they’re actually thinking, the more often you can make a good decision about what to do next.