Our customers are often kind in their praise and are forthcoming as to the benefits of our particular product. In simple terms this is why they are our customers in the first place, we were able to convince them of the benefits of using our product or service.

Where lots of companies and sales people fail however is in understanding why some prospects still say no after we have demonstrated the need and tried to sell them all the benefits of our product. As sales people we simply don't understand or in reality have failed to find out why.

I usually promote the fact that NOs are of little use to us as salespeople. The reason for my strongly held belief that NOs are of little relevance is that some sales people spent vast amounts of their time and energies worrying about prospects saying NO. Some prospects waste lots of our valuable time even though we know that there is never likely to be a sale at the end of the process. As people we fear rejection so as sellers we fear rejection and we try to avoid it at all costs. While this is normal human psychology, it is very damaging to sales people and sales pipelines and needs to be limited where possible.

In my opinion, there is however one exception to this rule, if we can learn something from the experience to enable us to grow as salespeople and increase our skills NOs can allow for significant learning. When I go out to meet with companies to promote my own business, where I discuss there needs and sell the benefits of formal sales training solutions, when I come back to the office and prepare a proposal for them and they decide to say NO, I believe it is proper, professional and right that I should ask them why. This is not to reopen the discussion but rather to allow me to learn from the experience and become better at what I do.

This feedback whether it is a conversation, e-mail or indeed a more formal reporting procedure can be an invaluable source of information. Some of our very best learning happens not from our successes but rather comes from our failures. It is ok to fail and God knows it's a big part of being a salesperson but what not acceptable is failing to learn from the experience.