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Inspiration

The long-term view of rejection

hat do you do when you invest in research- Ray Makela, CEO and managing director at the Sales
ing and pursuing a merchant but end up Readiness Group, said it is critically important to continue
losing the account to a competitor? Do you to treat lost accounts as if they are potential customers. "So
W argue with the merchant who rejected you? we've spent time investing in the relationship, learning
Disparage the competition? Take your lumps and move about their organization, understanding what's important
on? Consider it a learning experience and aim to do better to them and what their problems are," he said. "Well, let's
with the next lead? Hold onto the lost prospect for pos- continue to use that. Let's go back to them and add value.
sible future follow-up? Maybe we can offer them some additional advice, some
insights, a whitepaper, invite them to a webinar, or some
I expect you, as readers of The Green Sheet, know it's not other value-added service that we have to continue to
productive to argue with a merchant who says no to your engage."
offering or try to make the merchant feel uncertain by
saying derogatory things about the provider the merchant Then, after you've added value and deepened rapport, the
selected. And if you've had success in sales, you do move merchant will be more receptive to your asking about how
on after learning from the loss, striving to do better next things are going with your competitor. Green said that if
time. But if you didn't answer yes to the last question a merchant gives the competitve service provider rave
posed above, you could be losing out on a significant reviews, reply with something like, "Well, that's great." He
amount of business. advised not to disparage the competition.

Merchants will often appreciate a merchant level However, he added that if the merchant should hint at
salesperson (MLS) who sincerely wants to gain knowledge dissatisfaction, "probe for more details. Don't assume an
by asking questions about why a merchant selected a 'I told you so' attitude; rather, become the problem solver.
different provider. Uncovering weaknesses in you and Empathize with the merchant while you discover exactly
your company that you weren't aware of is an end in itself, what it is that the competition is failing to do. Allow the
but it can also mark the beginning of a new relationship merchant to save face after making a bad choice."
with the merchant whom you might typically consider to
be a lost cause. Then find out if the merchant is open to talking about
services you offer and how you can be helpful. Of course,
Track the ones that got away some merchants will never do business with you for a

In Good Selling! SM: The Basics, Paul H. Green advises MLSs variety of reasons, but don't assume this is true of every
to keep a file of the ones that got away. "Keep detailed merchant who rejects you on the first go-round. Evaluate,
notes on what they liked about the service, and why they wait, ask questions and add value. Then see whether
went with the competition," Green wrote. "Then set a you've turned a no into a yes.
follow-up date for several months in the future."

Kate Gillespie, President and CEO
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