Chasing for the NO

In your business are you actively chasing for the NO from your sales prospects? I know this seems counter intuitive but believe me this really is an efficient use of your time. Let’s consider the fact that only three per cent of your market are actively looking to buy right now. Then you need to understand if your prospect is one of the 97 per cent who are not looking to make an imminent purchase.

However, just because a prospect is not looking to buy immediately, understanding why, will allow you to reposition them in your pipeline and enable you to help them buy your product when the time is right. This latter point is known as buyer enablement and is now a crucial part of any sales process in the modern world when buyers are spoilt for choice and are overloaded with information.

Even when you are engaging with prospects that are looking to buy now, you still need to search for the NO that might stop them from purchasing from you.

This is when it is vital to have a defined and measurable sales process so that you can ensure that you have a full understanding of the clients’ needs and priorities and that they (the prospect) are fully aware what the benefits to them will be of purchasing your solution.

You do not need a sophisticated and expensive CRM system to record the relevant information but you must have these key facts to hand so that you can evaluate the likelihood of the sale concluding. This not only makes your sales forecasting more accurate but it can also identify where the sales process is failing and allow you to either redesign the whole process or coach individual sales people to overcome these barriers.

All the above concerns your current prospects but as an aside I always advise my clients to review their previous won and lost sales as there is so much great information stored up in your history.

Reviewing what went well is a great way of sharpening your sales strategy and process but invariably the biggest learning curve is achieved by reviewing your lost sales – the ultimate NO!

So, there you have it, to be efficient and successful in sales – chase for the NO.