There are circumstances in life where no means no!  Thankfully for us, on the sales floor is not one of those situations.  If we want to become the best at what we do we must train ourselves to not take a perceived rejection personally, put our wounded ego aside, and more importantly figure out exactly what our customer is asking us for.

Your customer has gone to the trouble of getting themselves to your establishment and seeking you out. Trust me; they came in because they WANT to buy! If what you are offering fits their needs, they’ll take it. So why did they say no?  Occasionally, no means not today, but more often it means that the customer doesn’t have enough information or the right information.  We are around our products and services all the time and it is easy to forget that customers frequently do not have the same depth of understanding about them that we do. We’ve come to take our knowledge for granted.  This can be especially true when working with technology.

When a customer tells you ‘no’, they’ll be ready to go on the defensive.  It is imperative that you diffuse them by acknowledging the ‘no’ and saying the magic word ‘OK’ – and mean it. This customer has given you a gift; A chance to educate them.  Now all you need to do is match the customer’s needs to the benefits you have to offer, so grab your shovel and start digging. ASK your customer what it is they are looking for in a product or service then systematically match each of your client’s objections with an honest and relevant benefit that you have to offer.  Keep the mood light and conversational but don’t stop until all of the customers doubts have been wiped off of their mental blackboard.  Hmm… Funny how now it looks like a good match after all.