No Does Not Always Mean No

For two classes now, we have had Evan Addams join us virtually on teams, but he has given much insight on the sales process.  At the end of the last class we had with him, he told a story about a sales meeting he and the CEO, of the company he was working for at the time, had with a potential buyer.  As the conversation continued, the guy was still on the decision of not accepting this new technology, but just because he said no in that moment, Evan and his CEO were able to dig even deeper into the guys thought.  At the end of the day, they got a yes from the guy and he was so excited about the idea that he went straight to the management office to tell them about this new plan.

Evan and his CEO at the time clearly saw that this gentlemen was set on saying no to the offer they were giving to him.  However, they felt that they would be able to dig deeper and make the pain this guy is experiencing more visible in his own eyes and get him more excited for the new idea they had.  There, obviously, is a time when every avenue for a sale has been exhausted and a no means no but most of the time coming from a different angle or putting it in a different perspective for a buyer is all that a seller needs.

Professor Sweet has been talking in class on making the pain more present in the buyer’s eyes by asking specific questions to think of how something truly could benefit.  The one example I personally liked from class is asking the question “On a scale from 1-10” but then following that question with “why didn’t you pick a lower number?”  These two questions followed by each other allow for the buyer to think of the few positives about a decision instead of only focusing on the negatives.  Even if a sale is not made, these questions get the buyer thinking of a few positives to where they will not completely shut down the thought of a product or service in the future.