I have a long history in sales. During part of my career I trained new sales people. One of the most shocking discoveries new sales people make is that sometimes the prospect says no. I would prepare them for this before they hit the street but they left the office, invincible, no prospect would say no to them. In fact one new hire whom I had a lot of faith in, I thought he could become a good salesperson, left the office at 9:00 AM after a week of sales training and product preparation. He was full of enthusiasm and I could tell he was expecting to make a lot of sales today. I cautioned him, I told him on the first visit your goal is introduce yourself and your company. Put the customers at ease, tell them you are not there to sell, you only want to introduce yourself. I knew that he would be thrown out if he tried to sell on the first visit.
By the time I came back from lunch that day, the new salesman's sales kit was parked outside the office door. This message was scrawled on a piece of scratch paper in pencil and hastily taped to the sales kit, "I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE." I called the new salesman and asked what the problem was. "THEY ALL SAID NO!" I could not convince the new salesman to come back. He was totally unprepared. He simply did not believe that sometimes, they say no.
Today as I was doing follow ups with the NPOs that I have made presentations to, one of them let me know that they had come to the conclusion that MPM is not for them. They feel that they have too small of a constituency to make it work and that the concept its' self is just not a good fit for their organization. I have to admit, I felt a little like my new salesman, I was not expecting them to say no. It goes to show, no matter how seasoned you are, we all need to be aware, sometimes, they do say no.
bzm: Thanks for your welcome.
Tom
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Hi there, Tom.
Well, though you may not have been expecting a "No" from your NPO, I want to remind you that their "No" simply may mean, "Not now", Tom. It is good. You now can move on in supporting them in any capacity they deem appropriate, and you will each be nourished. Your relationship will strengthen, and as Jean said on the Monday Night Family Chat last night, one never knows how your connection will bring good down the road.
Secondly, I want to tell you that you've done a great job and celebrate your "no" as a completion of this cycle with them.
I'm so glad you told the story of your salesperson and how you cautioned them to the reality they would experience. It's good for all of us to read, for each of us will receive many a "No, not now".
And, Tom, I know that you're not even considering throwing in the towel and saying, "I can't do this anymore!" You're not that kind of guy and you have many others you will be able to help, who will be ready to say, "Yes, Tom. We'd love to partner with you and Together We Can Change The World. Thank you for being so diligent and professional in your communications with us. We value you and we see how much our alliance can help further our mission. Let's get started!"
Sleep well ;-).
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