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Inspiration

The sales door: close over your fear of rejection and increasing your failure rate
can greatly accelerate your movement toward ultimate
it or leave it open? success.

"It is our belief that courage is the single most important
virtue on which everything else in life, all your results, are
here are times when it becomes obvious a par- built," they wrote on their website, www.goforno.com. "And
ticular merchant isn't going to sign, and the sale we know that when people build their courage, anything
will not close on the appointed day, if ever. At is possible. … Courage must be developed … crafted, if
T this point a merchant level salesperson has a you will … from the inside-out. But there is good news:
decision to make: walk away and close the door or walk All the courage you could ever want or need to achieve
away but leave the door open. The question is how does virtually any goal or dream you have is already inside
one decide? you, like a muscle waiting to be used."

In Good Selling! SM: The Basics, Paul H. Green encourages Often that means closing the door and moving on. But that
leaving the door open as a general rule if a deal doesn't doesn't mean you can't open it and welcome a conversation
close. "If you find out that the person you've pitched if a formerly hesitatant prospect comes knocking.
doesn't have signature authority, or is unable to make
a commitment now, don't close the door on future
opportunities," he wrote. "Set a specific date for a follow-
up call. Get the name of the decision maker. Send a thank
you and follow-up material, and calendar your meeting or
follow-up call."
Kate Gillespie, President and CEO
But then, there are situations in which rules of thumb
do not apply. In "Avoid 'always be closing' and other old
traps," The Green Sheet, Aug. 9, 2010, Jeff Fortney warned
against spending too much time on "maybes" and getting HIGH RISK.
your hopes up when merchants ask you to leave literature
behind and come back another time, but are unwilling to HUGE REWARD.
set a date for a follow-up meeting.

"When you return, you find merchants are either busy or
out," he wrote. "You go back again, and this time they are
in but haven't looked at what you left, or are still busy. …
Simply put, these situations often destroy a sales effort.
And worse, they provide false hope to the salesperson
of closing the deal. The majority of these merchants are
not likely to sign with you no matter how many calls you
make. In fact, the lost time spent chasing them could have
been spent chasing merchants who were true prospects."
No is good
He encouraged agents to not be afraid to let a merchant
know it's OK to say no. "Emphasize that you don't want
to be that pest who makes them want to hide when they Take the leap over to more accounts and better residuals.
see you come to the door," he added. "You can smile as National Bank Services is the leading provider of high-risk payment
you explain. But if they refuse to give you a fixed time for processing solutions for Agents, ISO’s and their valued merchants.
further discussion, don't leave anything behind. It is better
to make another cold call."

Indeed, Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz have built
Courage Crafters Inc. based on the philosophy set forth CONTACT THE HIGH-RISK EXPERTS TO GET STARTED TODAY
in their co-authored book, Go for No! Yes is the Destination, 818-540-2806 www.nationalbankservices.com
No is How You Get There. The book focuses on how getting

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