Not fearing a “No”

One of the Sandler Rules, which is rule 43 says “You don’t learn how to win by getting a ‘yes’ – you learn how to win by getting a no”. I thought that this rule was interesting because it would make sense to win by getting more yeses than no’s, but Sandler made a good point about how a no leads you to more yeses. Changing our focus from viewing a no as a negative to viewing it as a positive helps us to understand that more prospects will say no instead of a yes. Getting a no also makes a salesperson’s life easier because it separates the clear no answers from the eventual yes answers. A customer can end up leading a salesperson on and on about maybe buying their product or service but getting a straight no saves both parties from wasting their time and efforts. Sandler also talked about how you can set yourself up for a win by getting more no’s because you can feel good about getting negative results. It was interesting to hear this different thinking because getting a no is normally negative and not positive. Switching our thinking helps us to see that a no isn’t a bad thing but actually a good thing because you’ll find the right prospects who will say yes. In class we also talked about how we shouldn’t be afraid of a no and not being afraid of introducing negative questions. This helps with selling because sometimes you want to go for a no since most yeses are often a lie. Getting a hard no is better than getting a fake yes because some prospects will only say yes to not hurt your feelings. Getting a no helps to find the right yeses and from the fake yeses quicker and helps you evaluate where the prospect stands.