Too often, we think that because the customer isn’t saying “No” to us, we assume they must agree or be aligned with what we are doing. But the absence of a “No,” doesn’t mean they are saying “Yes.”
Too often we read the absence of “No’s” with hopeful optimism. The fact that we continue our discussions with the customer builds our hope the deal is real, the customer likes what we are discussing, the customer is favorably disposed to what we are selling. The longer this persists, the more we believe, “We’ve got this…..,” we may even commit the opportunity to our forecast.
The reality couldn’t be further from this. The absence of No’s should spark concern. It should cause us to wonder, “Do they care? Are they at all interested? Are they committed to doing something?”
Not getting a “No,” probably means we aren’t asking the right questions. We may not be probing enough to understand what the real issues are, what they want to do and why, how they will organize themselves to make a decision, how they will make a decision.
Getting no “No’s” means we aren’t challenging the customers’ thinking enough, that we aren’t doing the things to get them really engaged in exploring alternatives and what they mean to their success.
If the customer isn’t saying “No,” we probably aren’t saying “No,” when we should. We’re afraid to get disagreement, we seek to avoid objections.
“No” is a healthy part of every conversation. No’s mean we have something to talk about to engage our customers in a meaningful way, to learn from each other, and move forward.
The absence of “No,” should raise concerns about the opportunity!
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