Learn the Ancient Art of Saying “NO”

It's a subtle nuance, but business works better when we do this.

Long, long ago in a land far, far away, salespeople would hear the most amazing thing come out of the person’s mouth they were presenting their product or service to.

In this far-off land in a far-off time, the person listening to the presentation would open their mouth at some point and would express themselves with the most wonderful music to a salesperson’s ears.

No, I’m not interested.

For a salesperson, this music was played quite often, and it was a beautiful sound.

All that simple little NO told the salesperson that day was that the product/service wasn’t needed at that particular place, the potential client was already buying it someplace else, or the salesperson’s presentation skills stunk.

NO was something that salespeople expected but did not dread. Half the battle was getting in front of people in the first place.

Salespeople today are frustrated because people no longer seem to have the guts nor the confidence to just say no.

Salespeople today mainly hear, “It looks interesting.” “Let me think about it.” “Your company/product/service looks like a good fit. We’ll run the numbers.”

More likely, salespeople don’t hear anything at all.

Like it or not, even with all the hot stuff you can find on the internet, ALL businesses still need salespeople.

We don’t call them salespeople anymore. It’s as if being in sales has become offensive and we wouldn’t want to offend anybody. We give salespeople titles like “account manager”, “community liaison director”, “marketing manager” and countless others.

No matter what you call these strange creatures who deem to make a living talking to other people, they are selling.

And every business needs somebody that is selling, or that business is going to die a slow death.

This is why people who are purchasing need to relearn the ancient art of saying “NO”.

Why “NO” Is More Valuable to the Consumer

Time is a very precious commodity. Therefore, everybody needs to learn to use this commodity wisely.

When you string a salesperson along, you are wasting your precious time, and just as importantly, that salesperson’s precious time.

Since nobody needs to be wasting time when a salesperson is in front of you and you already know that you’re either not interested or their product or service isn’t a good fit for you and your organization, do everybody a favor.

Say politely, “Thank you for your time, but right now I’m a no.”

This enables the salesperson to ask a couple of very pointed questions if they are skilled and if not, the meeting is over and everybody gets on with what they were doing.

A straight NO is the best word you can possibly use and it seems like most people have unlearned this very basic polite way of ending a meeting.

Instead, salespeople are given every opportunity to make a solid presentation only to be met with, “Sounds interesting” or “Let me think about this.”

Sounds interesting is definitely not a no and it is not a yes. Basically, when you do this, you are wasting both your time and the salesperson’s time.

Unless you work for the federal government, time is a precious commodity and you can’t afford to waste it any more than the salesperson can.

I love the “let me think about this”.

One time, I got this response and I had been having one of those days, so I decided to ask a question that definitely got this person’s attention.

“Are you a quick thinker or are you the type of person that needs to let an idea ruminate for a couple of days before making a decision?”

This was met with a blank stare, to which I more than happily explained.

“I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to explain what my organization can do to help your organization meet your goals of conserving energy by using energy-efficient lighting. However, you and I both know that you are not going to spend even another minute thinking about this proposal once I walk out that door.”

“Therefore, if saving over 30% of your current electrical usage on lighting is not of benefit to you, please just say that you like paying the power company massive amounts of money every month and a Return on Investment of fewer than five years doesn’t interest you.”

And then I stood up and walked out.

The funny thing about that story is that six months later, that person had been let go, and the assistant who had been in the meeting was promoted.

This person was so impressed that finally a salesperson stood up to their boss that they called me and we worked out a deal that the company not only invested in their exterior lighting but also began changing out their indoor lighting to more efficient and longer lasting lighting.

The person I initially met with could have saved their job possibly simply by saying “NO” and allowing me to move on to the next possible client.

NO is such a powerful word and we must relearn the ancient art of being able to say no.

Efficiency Is Not a Dirty Word

In case it is not glaringly obvious by now, I am really into efficiency.

Whether it is using energy-efficient lighting that saves you money in both maintenance and electrical costs or running ultra-marathons efficiently, efficiency is not something we should shy away from.

Efficiency is something that in today’s culture we can all learn more about.

Inc.com has a really good article by Kevin Daum on 8 Things Really Efficient People Do that provides a great place to start being more efficient.

Daum’s third tip on using appropriate communication is where learning to say “no” falls in.

I learned the importance of “no” from somebody I made a sales call on who never bought from me.

I had been assigned a new territory by my company where they had no presence or brand familiarity at all. Thus, I spent a lot of time cold calling just to get my foot in the door.

One of my cold calls produced the name of the decision maker who would be the one purchasing my company’s products. On the phone, he told me that he had three other suppliers that were doing everything he needed them to do, but he would be willing to at least listen.

I began the meeting my usual way by asking questions about his organization to see if I could find any point where my company could add value to his company. It became painfully clear that the suppliers he already had were very good at servicing this account.

After about five minutes, I stopped asking business questions and I asked the question I really wanted to know.

“It seems that your company has done a really good job of explaining to your suppliers what your company needs from them and they seem to be doing a really great job of taking care of you. Why did you agree to meet with me?”

This incredible person simply said, “Because you’re working hard and you needed to hear no because most people won’t ever bother to tell you that and you’re going to be a really good salesperson because I told you no today.”

Efficiency is not only about time, it is about the habits that you form that make other people around you better.

That potential client had become very efficient at explaining what his company needed and he built efficiency into every relationship he built while he was with that company and I am sure in whatever else he did.

The better you become at being efficient, the better you make everybody who surrounds you.

Give It a Try This Week and Tell Somebody NO

The ancient art of saying NO doesn’t have to be ancient. This little two-letter word may just be one of the most efficient business communications words we all learn to use better.

Try it the next time you get one of those annoying spam calls.

When the person on the other end of the line launches into their scripted sales pitch, just interrupt them politely and begin the use of this very freeing word.

“Excuse me. Thank you for calling me today. However, I am a firm no on what you are selling. Have a great day!”

Then calmly hang up the phone and continue to be your efficient self.