SALES & MARKETING: Sometimes the Best Answer is 'No'

"No" is not a word most salespeople like nor is it a word that is used as often as it should be by entrepreneurs. I truly believe one of the biggest signs that an entrepreneur is starting to figure out what their business is all about is their ability to use the word "No." However, many of us are way too insecure to do that.

For years I could not say "No" when selling. I’ve always had a gift for selling, but in my early years as a salesperson my limited use of the word "No" cost me thousands. How? By saying "Yes" to countless jobs I should have walked away from, I lost money, wasted time, got annoyed, and did very little to help my business.

Recently, I saw how beneficial my use of the word "No" is to me. I had a chance to get a job that was more than $250,000. It seemed liked something I just couldn’t say "No" to. I mean, after all, how many people spend $250,000 on landscaping around their house? Surely, I could have figured out a way to make money on a job like that, right? Wrong. In the preliminary meetings with the client, I quickly realized that I would not be able to use my expertise and knowledge to make this a nice project. The client felt they knew more about landscaping than I did. All my ideas were brushed aside and little, if any, of my comments were taken into consideration by the prospective clients. I was very frustrated by the prospect and I had not even put one plant in the ground yet. While the salesperson in me wanted the job, and the thought of having a job like this was enticing, the business owner in me said "No." I could see that if I were to do this job, it would mean many months of frustration, and making a profit on it was going to be difficult based on the comments made by the prospect. I said, "No, thank you" to the job and walked away and was able to spend my time on better prospects.

Unfortunately, many salespeople and entrepreneurs are scared to say "No." They think when they say "No" they are somehow letting someone down, making the prospect mad. Most of all, they don’t say "No" because they don’t see the downside to bad jobs, only the good side. Often that dollar sign is hard to resist.

Here are a couple of things for you to consider the next time your gut tells you to say "No," but the salesperson in you says "Yes:"

• You are in control. You don’t have to say "Yes." Your prospect must play by your rules if they want to do business with you. If they say things you don’t agree with, decide if you can deal with the parameters that are being placed on the project. If you can’t, move on. The biggest reason I tell prospective clients "No" is because I don’t like the approach the prospect is taking, and frequently this revolves around price. After all, my company and yours should have some standards. Each job I am doing is selling the next one and it is critical that I do something that I am proud of and something that the neighbors are going to be impressed by. If a prospect wants me to do something that compromises my high standards, I say "No." Be confident; convince yourself the client needs you more than you need them.

• The object of being in business is to make money. If the job does not look like one from which you can make money, don’t take it. Whatever could go wrong, just might, and you have to improve your chances of winning by eliminating any potential disasters. While getting big jobs can be fun and profitable, getting a big job does not automatically mean you’ll make a profit on it. To know if you can make money on a job, you need to know your costs of doing business – not the costs of your competition, the costs of a contractor in another state or the costs of some big successful contractor you are researching. Every company’s costs are different and until you know them, you cannot confidently say "Yes" or "No" to any job. Hint: Spending time trying to find out what other contractors are charging is a waste of time and money until you know what your own costs are.

• Learn how to bow out gracefully. Not every job is for you. The only jobs you should take on are those where you can do what you know how to do best, have fun and make money. If it seems like any of those three things are missing from a job, strongly consider saying "No." Tell the prospect in a nice way why you don’t want to work with them and send them a "Thank You" note for their time and then move on. Remember, sometimes the best answer is "No."