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"Speaker, Author, Workplace Trainer"

No Does Not Mean No


To many salespeople, the little two letter word NO can be the most devastating thing that they hear. But as we will examine here, no does not mean no.

The word no is an ingrained human behavior from childhood and is one of the first words that we as infants learned. Remember those days when you were a young child and used to throw temper tantrums and scream the word no when you didn't want to do what your parents wanted? If you forgot, just walk the aisles of any grocery store or Walmart and you will see this action in full force, especially in the toy and candy aisles. The word no is an instant reaction and a lot of times, comes out of people's mouths before they even know it.

Our subconscious mind associates the current action with something we did or something similar to this before and it was quickly determined to be a bad decision. About 90% of all no's come from this reasoning. We see this in salespeople, people asking for money, dating scenarios, a minister trying to convert someone, and many other everyday settings. But you, the savvy salesperson and persuader do not take their no as a dismissive action, you keep going as if you didn't even hear that little word. To make this easier for you, just think of the word no, as someone asking you for more information.

In the sales process the word no can really mean: Not interested, I'll think about it, I only buy from my sister-in-law, I can't afford it, Don't need it, and I guess not. In a dating scenario, the word no can really mean: I have a headache, I have a boyfriend/girlfriend, Too busy, Not interested, or Another time. All of these real reasons for saying no can have a different outcome and for each one, you need to have a different strategy. Here are the six basic reasons why people will not buy your product, your service, or you:

  1. They don't like you.
  2. They don't trust you.
  3. They don't need what you are proposing.
  4. They don't have a sense of urgency.
  5. They don't have the money now.
  6. They don't have the authority to make the decision.
The word no is an instant reaction and doesn't mean anything. People don't know why they say no. People really don't know why they do what they do and we have all seen people's actions which are in direct opposite to their words. If no does not mean no, does yes always mean yes? The answer to that is NO. You might have someone saying yes to your product or service from the start, but if they don't have the money or resources to buy it, what good is that resounding yes?

To sum this up, No means, "I need more information." Be persistent persuaders and include in your sales pitch the necessary information to overcome and lower the buying resistance to the six points above. As you can see, most people are utterly out of control; which is a good thing to those people, like the readers of this article, who are a bit more savvy and aware, and know how to harness the power of the mind and persuasion to get the rest see your point of view, buy your product/service, or go out on a date.

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