What Does “No” Mean?

It has been said that in business, you have to kiss a lot of frogs to get to a potential buyer.  The more frogs that say no, the closer you are to “yes”.

Unfortunately, we as nurses are programmed that if someone says “no” to us, we tend to take it personally.  But “no” just means “not now”.  “No” is nothing personal. How many times do you say no and it’s nothing personal?

Let’s look at it this way.  If you are a store owner with people coming to your store and they browse and don’t buy, do you get mad at that person?

Of course not.  Because the store owner knows that the next person who comes in or the person after that will be a “yes”.

So, does “no” really mean “no”?

If you’re talking to a potential client, is he really saying “no, I am never going to be interested”, or is he just saying, “not now”?  There is an important distinction because if they say, “not now”, ask if you can check back with them later.  This is a great follow-up.

Most of the sales are made anywhere after the 5th through the 8th contact.  Therefore, if you are not following up with the “no’s” to turn them into “yeses”, you’re wasting a golden opportunity.

I suggest you get permission to check back with the person to see if their circumstances or their desires have changed, and do they really need help with the problem that you can solve for them?