In sales, it is assumed that we always want to get to yes. To an extent, that is true but there is a problem. Sometimes, simply getting to yes does not have the best interest of the customer in mind. Salespeople will do anything they can to get the customer to say yes. Eventually, the customer gives in and agrees just to get you away from them. This is not the goal of sales. That customer most likely will not buy from you again and probably has a negative perception of you and your company.
The true goal of sales is to find out if the customer is the right fit and willing to partner with you. Not all people are going to be the best fit which is why “yes” is not always the best answer. There are always other prospects out there that may be better anyway. It is better to get one prospect that is the perfect match than to get two who you just forced to eventually say yes. It is sort of like the quality over quantity idea. Sure, a salesperson can go out and get tons of sales by using conventional sales tactics, but how many of those prospects are going to stay with your company.
BoweryJE22
This was an eye-opening concept. It takes a lot of the pressure off of scrambling for a “yes” and instead building a quality business relationship.
These points were very interesting. In sales, I always thought the whole point of a sales conversation was to get a yes out of the customer, and as a salesperson, you didn’t care what happened as long as you got that yes. Going for no is an important concept that more salespeople need to learn, because just like you said, there are plenty of prospects out there that will give you better quality, rather than quantity.
Love this. Finding fit I think is one of my biggest takeaways from this class is finding fit. Shoving a square peg into a round hole will never make anyone happy, turn into any referrals, or even allow you to keep a customer. Great advice!