Dealing with the No

Disclaimer: This post and title is not designed to irritate people. The intent is to help you dialogue at crucial moments especially when you hear 'No'. Those situations when you are exploring options and want to be heard.

Sample Situations :

a. You are at an interview. You have submitted your profile and the discussion is on. Questions are being fired - left, right and centre. You have satisfactory answers but feel you are hitting a wall. The interviewer tells you - Sorry, your current skill sets don't match our erequirements at the moment. We will get back to you. Thanks for being here.

b. You are selling a product/service. You are convinced this is the best product & pricing that you can provide. Your customer isn't buying it. He says -'No - I dont need this for now'.

c. You are on a heated debate with your family/spouse. You want to do that holiday trip to Kerala and you have had to deal with constant delays and denials. You are tired trying but would love this vacation. Your significant other says No =(

How do we deal with these, keep the conversation going and leverage on the opportunity?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here comes a technique that has worked for me... itz called the snowballing technique.

Think about a snowball. When it starts rolling from a hill it may just be a small piece of ice. As it falls, it gathers ice and the mass increases. The more it rolls - it keeps gathering mass.

The next time somebody says No. Don't take it personally. Use the opportunity and ask a question.

That's it! Ask a question. The 'No' - doesn't have to end the conversation the way it did. It could probably start a new one with your question.

Here are some examples:

a. At an Interview, You are told 'No' due to a skill-set mismatch. What question can you ask?

Try this: Can you refer me to someone, who would need my services?

b. Selling a product : They don't like what's on offer or your price.

Try this: Thank them for their time. Leave!

But, before you do ask them 'If we had an opportunity to win you as our customer, what would we have to do?'

|You may get super cool feedback!!|

c. You are told that your performance is sub-standard.

Try this: Ask the person to help you with examples of things you could immediately change that could positively impact your performance.

Moral of the story. Don't give up. Try questions to help you navigate. Before you know it... you have a snowball and a window of opportunity. So Keep the conversation on!

PS. Search your heart while you raise the question. Ahhmmnn... Intent matters. =)