If you have been around the sales and business owner block for a while, you understand the mental strength necessary to cope with rejection. Sometimes becoming numb to the rejection can be both a blessing and a curse. How many times have you submitted a proposal, giving free consults and went through presentations where the person didn’t end up doing any business with you?
The first few times your company gets rejected for a gig, you probably take it to heart and then put some thought into why the prospect declined the opportunity to work with you. But then after a while you probably become a bit immune to the rejection, and that is when you don’t even bother going back to watch the game tape.
The four reasons why people don’t buy or want your help comes down to ; No Need, No Money, No Time/Urgency, No Trust. Today let’s tackle the variations of “no need” so you can make adjustments in your process to increase your chances of getting the business in the future.
Breaking down “No Need”
No need is a trickyform of rejection because there are really three layers of “no need.”
First, there could be just that- the prospect has absolutely no need for the help or solution you are trying to provide. You can’t do much here besides realize this fact early on in your sales process so you don’t waste too much time and energy. If you did march down this path a little too long, it might have been because you had your “sales blinders” on and were attempting to stuff a square peg into a round hole. This will damage your chances of doing business with the prospect in the future, when there is a real need. It will also damage your opportunity to ask for referrals to other people that might have more of an immediate need.
The second type of no need is the dormant need which can be very frustrating for both you and the prospect. After spending time with the prospect, as a qualified professional in your industry, you realize the prospect has a big need. The only problem is, the prospect just doesn’t see it. This is the, “hey get off the tracks, the train is coming” type of situation and the prospect continues to mope around on the tracks still! If this is happening often in your business you should re-evaluate the questions you are asking when you first talk to the prospect. Are you asking the right questions? Are you helping the prospects to self-discover what their needs are? If not, spend time restricting your initial conversations to help facilitate the dialogue to allow prospects to realize their needs themselves versus you point them out. This can help you avoid the dormant need rejection.
Third is the apparent need. You know the prospect has a big need in a certain area. The prospect herself sees that she has a big need in that area. But there is no action because she doesn’t feel that your solution will solve the problem. If this is the issue, re-evaluate the way you are conceptually positioning your solution. Also, relating the solution to how it has helped similar people in similar situations in the past can assist you in closing the gap in the apparent need rejection.
About
Eddy Ricci, Jr., has been labeled as “the emerging expert in developing Gen Y sales professionals” by the chairman of Publicis Kaplan Thaler and is also noted as “understanding what motivates Gen Y sales teams. He is on my radar and should be on yours” by international speaker and NY Times bestselling author, Erik Qualman. He is the founder of The Growth Game, LLC. ,a professional development company and has authored a book that holds the same title. Eddy specializes in helping professionals and firms develop sales skills, leadership approaches and implement business development activity systems. He currently works with financial planning firms in the northeast where he has arguably worked with more gen-y financial planning professionals in the country. WWW.THEGROWTHGAME.COM
