Sam’s first pointer in sales was “don’t take ‘no’ for an answer.” Initially a red flag came up when I heard this. We have been taught over and over in this sales class that a prospect saying “no” is okay, failure is inherent in sales, don’t take it personally, learn from your failures, etc.. Hearing Sam first make this statement, my mind initially perceived it as behavior that would describe the behavior of the “pushy” salesman, but upon further listening my mindset completely flipped.
After listening to the rest of Sam’s story and her personal success with this pointer, I saw the flaws in my initial reaction. While not taking “no” for an answer could be a negative practice in some instances, this is not always the case. The difference lies in the reason behind why the salesperson is exhibiting this conduct. It is negative and comes off as “pushy” when the salesperson continues to push a product on a prospect for his or her own selfish drive to make a sale despite whether it is right or not for the prospect.
In Sam’s case, she refused to take “no” for an answer – not for selfish purposes, but the opposite – because she knew her product provided an exceptional solution to her prospect’s problem. The prospect simply didn’t see it yet, or had other roadblocks that were impeding his or her full realization of what Sam’s product could do for them. Sam wasn’t being “pushy,” she was being passionate – there is a huge difference. Many have told Sam they are investing more in “her” than her idea, and it is not surprising by her strong conviction that her idea will work, she just has to convince others to try it.
This is another great lesson of the immeasurable value in loving what you do. Not only will you be happier in life, but naturally much more successful when others see how passionate you are about it. This especially holds true in sales.
BoweryJE22
I completely agree. I initially had a similar reaction, thinking that perhaps it was “ok” to take no for an answer at times. However, it became clear that Sam would not have experienced some of the great amounts of success if she had taken no for an answer.