A no is your greatest opportunity to growBy Ron VaimbergMarketing tips
The number one reason salespeople fail is because they don't
take action. The reason salespeople don't take action is because
they have a fear of rejection. Fear of rejection is summed up into
fear of one simple word--the word no.
The word no prevents more salespeople from taking
action than any other single word in the English language. The
scary thing about this fear is that thousands of salespeople will
do more to avoid the word no than they ever will do to
make money. As crazy as that sounds, this simple distinction is
what causes thousands of sales professionals with great potential
to fail.
For most sales professionals, we have all heard that the more
noes you get, the closer you get to hearing a
yes. We read it in books and we have heard it in sales
meetings. The problem with this teaching is that as true as this
may be, it does not address the specific emotional baggage that
thousands of loan officers attach to the word no. Until
you get rid of the baggage, all of the clichés and truisms
about the word no will not change a struggling
salesperson's behavior.
The key to eliminating the fear of the word no is to
change your association with the word. For example, as children,
the word no has a completely different meaning to us than
as adults.
As children, when we heard the word no from our
parents, it simply meant that we would have to find another way to
get them to say yes. For many of us, when we heard the
word no, we looked at our parents with an innocent
expression of listening, while we were in deep thought, coming up
with another way to wear our parents down to get them to say the
magic word--yes.
The largest reason why young children react differently to the
word no than adults is simply because adults and children
have different perceptions as to what the word no means.
The consequences we link to a word directly determine our behavior
in regard to it.
Children have far less negative consequences related to the word
no than adults do. As we grow older, we have more and more
experiences in life in which the word no has a negative
impact on us, resulting in an ever-increasing negative association
with the word no.
The word no can be related to a number of negative
consequences, both emotional and financial. The more such
experiences we have, the greater the negative association,
resulting in a greater fear of rejection. The end result is that we
become more likely to consciously and unconsciously position
ourselves to avoid hearing it. We can see this manifested in our
work and our lives, every day.
The cure for the fear of rejection is actually a simple one. As
you have learned, our associations are born out of our past
experiences. Although we can't change our experiences, we can
change the meaning of them.
Below is a list of success associations that you can use to
overcome your fear of rejection, regardless of what level it may
exist at:
• No means I have not given my prospect enough
reason to say yes.
• No means it is my opportunity to learn and
grow.
• No means that I have to probe further to find my
prospect's real motivation for buying.
• My ability to overcome the word no will directly
determine my ability to be more persuasive than my
competitors.
• My competitive advantage is my ability to overcome the
noes that my competitors can't.
In first reading these success associations, you might say, "It
can't be this simple." The reality is that it can be this simple.
If you choose to adopt the beliefs and make them part of who you
are, your business and your life will change virtually
overnight.
To increase your effectiveness in dealing with rejection and
transforming your association with the word no, ask
yourself the following success questions:
• What can I do better the next time to increase my
opportunity to hear the word yes?
• What did I do well in this presentation?
• What could I have done better?
• Is there something that I can add to my presentation to
make it more powerful?
No is just a two-letter word. Your transformation of
your association is just two steps away:
1. Commit five minutes per day to recite the success
associations. Make them part of who you are.
2. When you receive the word no from a prospect,
immediately begin evaluating your presentation and answer the
success questions that focus completely on the improvement of your
selling skills.
What you fear today will limit your ability to be successful.
Adopt the success associations of top producers and ask yourself
success questions, and your sales success and financial destiny
will be completely within your control.
Ron Vaimberg is president of Ron Vaimberg International Ltd.
and a trainer to the wholesale and retail mortgage industries. He
may be reached at (866) 824-6237 or e-mail
[email protected].
