How to Turn "No" Into a Sales Opportunity

If you had a client that had $8,000 dollars worth of advertising in your publication suddenly decline to renew, would you scramble to find replacement revenue?

Or would you see an opportunity to win the client back?

That's a challenge I faced in one sales group.

The client in question was one our largest advertisers in a section devoted to Court Reporters and its absence would leave a very large gap to fill. So, I decided to view this as an opportunity to see just how we could win them back.

I met with the in-house sales manager and the supervisor of my department, and started the first important part of the process: information gathering. How long had the client been in our directory? What areas were important to focus on? Did they give a reason for not renewing, and if so, what?

I found out the reason the client gave for not renewing was that "We have more business than we can handle" and that she said she felt that "Most of our business comes from word of mouth". After talking over the various reasons for not renewing, and the approaches I could take, I did a little more research on the company by reviewing their web site (and a little judicious use of Google).

Armed with plenty of information, and a plan of approach, I called the company. From the first ring, I positioned myself as someone just looking to help. "Hi; this is Shawn Struck, from the Court reporter Directory, and I'm hoping you can help me. I'd like to make an appointment to speak with Jane Doe. Is she in?"

"This is Ms. Doe," she replied. Jackpot! "How can I help you?," she asked.

"Well, Jane, you've been an advertiser with us for several years. This year, you said you're not going to renew. I just wanted to find out why."

As expected she said, "Well, we're already getting plenty of business. And quite frankly, most of it seems to be word of mouth."

The first thing I said was, "Great! That's excellent news! You know, why, right?"

Now I had her interest. "Why is that?," she said.

I replied, "That means that your current advertising efforts are working. Your efforts are doing their job-- making sure your prospects contact you!"

"Well, I don't know," she said. "I've been in business for over 20 years. My clients are mostly referrals from other sources. I want to focus my efforts there, not spend money on display advertising."

I said, "You're absolutely right. Word of mouth and positive referrals are worth their weight in gold. You're an expert in court reporting; your 20 plus years of experience speak for itself. And I'm an expert in advertising-- in my experience in legal marketing, lawyers are trained in concept of precedent. If something has been done before, then it's the right thing to do. The psychology of the attorney buying decision is simple: If someone who looks like me or who has a firm that is structured like mine has been successful with something, then it's something I should look at, too. And from what I've seen, lawyers believe that if you've been advertising someplace and then suddenly you stop, you must be going out of business or having difficulties that make you dangerous to work with. I don't want you to inadvertently do that to yourself-- especially since you told me that word-of-mouth is so important to you."

And then, I did what is the hardest thing for me to do as a salesperson: I shut up.

After a few beats of silence, she said, "How much is it again?", and signed up for another year.

Remember: with a little research and focus, you can turn "no" into an opportunity.