38: How to respond to "no"

Ever hear a no from a prospect and wished you had a better way to continue the conversation. Chris FOSS gives us some ideas and never split the difference.

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welcome to the bite size sales podcast where we believe that sales is the most important team and a B2B company, that the sales team deserves great sales skills training but usually doesn't get it and that taking bite-size steps each day to get better at your craft is the best way to improve results. I am your host, Andrew Monahan , and I'm using my experiences in B2B sales to bring you simple, actionable ideas every day to help you get better.

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welcome to episode 38 of the bite size sales podcast. I'm recording this in early December, 2019 and it's the second of five episodes in a row. All the run negotiation, I felt like this was an appropriate time of year for all of us. I'll be in a month coming up soon for many of us as quarter end and year end as well. So great time to get some focus around sharpening the saw around negotiation. So getting a no happens all the time in selling. Um, I heard someone, I think it was a Sam Jacob say, you know, the difference between a great and an average salesperson is someone who gets six Noah's versus eight nos , right? It just the , the margins are fine, but we do hear no a lot in selling. And in fact, it's what separates those , uh, from, so those that get into sales to give a try, right? They think they want to get to sales. They like the idea of the, I don't know what the , the glory behind it, whatever it might be, and they get into, try it at, but perhaps they're not fully committed is the getting the know , which often separates the wheat from the chaff. And some people end up leaving the profession and try something completely different just because of the rejections then knows that they get, and I know early in my career I was told that the selling starts when you get that first. No , unfortunately I was told it in a way that didn't really ring true for me. Um, what they said to me was, you know, you get the no , and then, then you have to kind of go in a selling mode and convince them that this is something that needs to buy . You know, and really you're a great salesperson if you convince them after the first no, and it never sat well with me. I said right. It felt the weird that you're forcing a um , upon someone and not really thinking about what they need and things like that. Right. So what I wish had happened was someone had told me this in the manner that Chris Voss does in his book never split the difference. And you know, I like never split the difference because it took a skill which is negotiation from something that was very, all the literature and all the books that were done about negotiation was very clinical. It was all factual based and ROI and hard stuff like that. And what Chris Voss has brought to it is actually a lot of negotiation is much more psychological. It's much more emotional intelligence rather than IQ that comes into it. And all his experiences as an ex FBI hostage negotiator come into play in the business role as he does that. So let me read a little bit from the book and tell you , you know one bit I'm, I'm thinking about here. So politely saying no to your opponent calmly hearing no and just letting the other conside know that they're welcome to say no has a positive impact on any negotiation. In fact, your invitation for the other side to say no has an amazing power to bring down barriers and allow for beneficial communication. This means you have to train yourself to hear no as something other than rejection and respond accordingly. When someone tells you no, you need to rethink the word in one of its alternative and much more real meanings such as I have not yet. I , I'm not yet ready to agree. You're making me feel uncomfortable. I do not understand. I don't think I can afford it. I want something else. I need more information or I want to talk it over with someone else. Then after pausing asks solution-based questions or simply label their effect, such as what? What about this doesn't work for you? What would you need to make it work? It seems like there's something here that bothers you. People have a need to say no. So don't just hope to hear it at some point. Get them to say it early and that's read straight from the book. Never split the difference by Chris Voss . And the reason for the no is important here. Um, it's important that you recognize it gives you a chance to ask more questions, which is what he was highlighting, right? They're calibrated questions to get deeper into the reasons behind the know so they can understand it. And the temptation is to , to jump in with with, you know, but, but what about this? And what about that? And what he's saying is you don't do that, right? You can't take a step back. You recognize that no is not actually no . As it's something else like it, there's some sort of uncertainty and then you ask questions, understand what the uncertainty is. And it's kinda like, I think of it like people who say that all sales people are driven by money and that's it. Right? I always call bullshit on that. Um, you know what I've found is that salespeople are attracted towards the money, but there's something deeper in there, right? So you get behind the money and into what it means for people. Whether it means early retirement, whether it means a way to keep, whether it means that they can afford things or you know , do things with their family, wherever it might be. Right. There's more to it than just the money. Same thing here, right? The, no , there's more to it than that. So what does it actually mean? So the action for you is to use this in your negotiations you've got going on right now or, or going to come up before the end of the month here and use them in the new habit formula sequence and it goes like this. So when I hear no, instead of either accepting it or jumping in and sharp persuade someone that shouldn't be no, just sit back and ask what about this doesn't work for you? Or a question like that that uncovers the real reason behind that. No.

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The episode is sponsored by unstoppable dot du . Most sales teams are not trained effectively the skills and mindset they deserve, and these are the most important people in the company. It's no wonder that only about 50% of reps make quarter every year. Unstoppable is a service that helps sellers and leaders get great at the skills and mindset they need without taking time out of the field. It exists because if the sales team has the right skills and mindset, they thrive, they are confident and the performance

much better. Find out more and even get a free sales book@bitesizesales.com

now to wrap up as Dan preroll skin, VP of sales at a stealth startup may or may not have one said training without implementation is just entertainment and prepare entertainment when Monaghan does it. So make sure you take action on what you learn and keep getting better every day. This world does not need more sales BS, so don't create anymore . Be great at the fundamentals. Be honest, be real. Be yourself. Just do not BS . And finally, I'm setting off as the great Joe Sexton would by saying, gone to sell

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