Selling Lesson Number Four: When Selling Begins

The most important, make that pivotal-life-changing-lesson I ever learned about selling came months after I had gotten over fear of cold calling, managing follow-up, and could work comfortably without a script. It came during a conversation with my boss, following a demo I had given to a prospect:

Boss: "So, how'd the demo go?"

Me: "The demo went fine, but they said 'No'."

Boss: "Kelly, selling does not begin until they say 'No.' Until then, you're just taking orders."

Talk about an Aha! moment. Up until then, what I thought was selling had been easy. I had been lucky. People liked me, like the product, and, apparently, were ready to buy. Yep, looks like I was really good at taking orders.

My boss and I discussed various strategies to employ for follow-up, not with just that one prospect but with anyone who turned me down or was not ready to make a decision. I learned that how and when to follow up are key to converting a "No" into a "Yes."

Realizing that things like the potential customer's buying cycle, their fiscal year, and their cycle of need for the type of services we provided were critical to planning when the next level of contact should take place. By understanding the impact of these factors, I could begin to build a targeted communication strategy that met the prospect's level of interest and gave me a better chance at making the sale.

My boss taught me this lesson during what can easily be seen as the appropriate "teaching moment." Had he tried to teach me this earlier in my training, the wisdom would have fallen on deaf ears. Now, whenever someone says "No" to me, I don't turn away or think that somehow I failed, instead I think "Let the selling begin!"

Comments

[monica]

Outstanding Kelly. I forwarded to my sales staff.
Thank you!

[Z. Kelly Queijo]

Thanks, Monica! My former boss summed it all up nicely in a note to me: "Objections are opportunities."

Good luck to you and your sales staff!
-Kelly