Tom Hopkins and Ben Katt say, “no” doesn’t always mean “no.” Through their work, they’ve found 8 different reasons why a prospect might tell you “no” when they really mean something else. Learn these 8 reasons, and what you can do about them, and you’ll be on your way to making more sales than you ever thought possible.
8 reasons prospects say no when they really don’t mean it
Here are the 8 reasons a prospect might say no to you:
1)They have lingering questions. It might mean that the prospect hasn’t had all of their concerns addressed yet.
2)You haven’t explained the benefits adequately. If your prospect is qualified and you are sure that your product will fill their needs, you probably haven’t explained the benefits properly.
3)You might need to do additional discovery work. A confused mind says no. So, you need to dig deeper to find out what they might be confused about.
4)You didn’t qualify them correctly. It’s possible that you didn’t do an adequate job in the qualification process. You might need to go back and make sure you are presenting the right product and benefits for that particular buyer.
5)There are unrevealed objections. It’s possible they haven’t told you everything that relates to whether or not they will buy from you. Your job here is to further uncover those objections.
6)The prospect might be trying to slow down the sales process. Instead of “no”, they might actually mean “no, not right now.”
7)The prospect might object to a particular feature. So when they say “no”, the really mean “no, not that size”, or “no, not that colour.”
8)The prospect might actually mean “no, not you.” Well, that’s unpleasant, isn’t it? Sometimes it means they are not sold on you as the salesperson, who is their future contact at your company.
Turning No Into Yes
Hopkins and Klatt lay out a 4 step process that you need to go through to close a sale.
Step #1: Reestablish Rapport
You’ve asked your prospect to make the decision to buy from you, and they’ve turned you down. Your rapport has been disrupted. So, before you go ahead and start diving in with probing questions again, it’s critical that you get your rapport back. The good news is that it only takes a fraction of the time you spent establishing rapport in the first place to get it back. For example, you might say something like, “I understand your hesitation, Mr. Smith. Perhaps I misunderstood that aspect of your situation.” What you are communicating here is that it’s ok that your prospect didn’t buy from you right away.
Step #2: Identifying Questions
it’s time to figure out where you haven’t quite understood their needs. You need to identify what questions your prospect still has lingering in their minds. To do this you need to listen to them, restate their questions and concerns, and find agreement with them.
Step #3: Presenting Answers
You are not presenting your entire product and service line-up. You are presenting small bite-sized pieces that address only your prospect’s concerns. You should only provide as much information as you need in order to help the prospect make a decision. Make sure to confirm that you have given the prospect the information they need in order to make a decision.
Step #4: Ask for the Sale (again)
Now you are at the moment of truth again. You’ve re-established rapport, identified their objections, presented reasons to satisfy their concerns, and it’s time to ask for the sale. You need to ask clearly and directly for the specific action you want your prospect to take.