Celebrate 'No'

As business owners and sales reps, we love to hear “yes.” Yes to scheduling new appointments. Yes to earning opportunities for quotes and proposals. Yes to winning new business.

We love hearing “yes.”

However, business owners and sales reps are going to hear “no” many more times than they hear "yes." So, it’s time to learn to celebrate hearing “no.”

1. Celebrate that you are working on developing your business. If you heard “no,” that means you had an opportunity. And even though you didn’t win it, the fact of the matter is that you are working to develop your business. Many people in our industry hesitate to work on developing their businesses because they fear rejection. They hide behind their desks, majoring in the minors, rather than focusing on growth. Celebrate your focus on business development.

2. Celebrate your opportunity to learn. When we hear “no,” it’s tempting to place blame on the prospect. When we blame others for our failures, we learn nothing. When you hear “no,” look in the mirror and reflect on what you could have done different or better. Consider even asking your prospect what you could have done differently to have won the opportunity. My good friend, the late Fred Deluca, founder of Subway, used to always say that he didn’t learn much from franchise prospects that joined Subway because they usually only had good things to say about the business. He said he always learned much more by talking with prospects that didn’t join Subway, and discovering their concerns and objections. Honest feedback gives you the opportunity to continuously learn and improve.

3. Celebrate that you are failing your way to success. All of the most successful people in the world have experienced many more failures than successes. Massive success will require massive failure. When you lose your fear of failure, when you lose you fear of “no,” then—and only then—you are ready to become massively successful.

Business development for most people is a roller coaster ride. Experiencing big highs when they hear “yes,” and experiencing big lows when they hear “no.” That roller coaster is exhausting and defeating. The key to creating massive success is to shift your mindset so you experience big highs whether you hear “yes” or “no.”

As the subtitle of the book "Go for No!" by Andrea Waltz and Richard Fenton says, “Yes is the Destination, No is How You Get There.”