Sales Intelligentsia

Sales Basics: Saying No

Even a very negative experience can have a strong positive impact on your business knowledge and confidence. With success comes the valued ability to say no to business that you have a bad feeling about. Even the hungry newcomer needs to learn and exercise this important confidence-builder. Turning down work often enhances your desirability in the eyes of others because of a quirk of human nature that makes us want what we can’t have. Once you’ve decided not to take on a project, trust your feelings and don’t give in to offers of higher payment or improved control. The underlying reason for not taking the job still exists. Be polite but firm and express the hope that at some future time you can work together on a different kind of project.

The Appointment: Ending The Meeting and Following Up

Try to be the one who ends the meeting. Say that you’ve got all the information you need and that you’ll either get back to them or that you can handle the work (if that’s the case). Quickly review what you’ve learned with the customer and ask them if you’ve covered everything. Arrange the next meeting, if necessary or a start date for delivering the proposal or starting the work and thank them for their time.
By taking control at the end you make life a lot easier for them. They don’t have to kick you out or cut you off. And it shows that both you and they have busy lives and that you respect that.

Review and Follow-up

After the appointment it is very important to schedule a review period with yourself. Think about what was accomplished or what was not and try to identify what worked and what didn’t. Make notes in your customer file and use them later. If you missed a question or need a little more information simply call them and ask for it. Say: ‘I was going over my notes and I realized that I still wasn’t clear on….’
Always follow-up with a personal note thanking them for their time. If you’re doing business together tell them you look forward to working together. If you’re not, tell them you hope to in the future. These follow up notes generate future business, turn negative meetings around and generate referrals. They are vital. And your competition probably never sends them.

The Appointment: Proposals/Estimates/Quotes

Often, after an initial meeting you’ll be asked to provide a proposal, quote or estimate to take the sales process to the next step. If this is the case you must determine exactly what the proposal or quote should contain. Many companies have standard formats they want vendors to use and you must follow them. A non-standard presentation may mean automatic rejection by various corporate bureaucrats.
Make sure you use the appointment to gather as much information as possible for the proposal you’ll be preparing so you can address the specific problems your customer is most concerned about. Again, by carefully going through the qualifying process you’ll be able to address every hot button issue in your proposal. This kind of specific problem-solving approach often helps you get past the lowball quotes and inexperienced but cheap competition.