They said no. Now what?

Ever found yourself thinking someone is going to renew with you, but when the day comes, they don’t?

Or someone new kept saying they want to work with you, but when it came time to pay, they changed their mind?

OUCH.

That’s a hard pill to swallow, especially if you were counting on it, and you were blindsided.

It can send your emotions reeling, create financial hardship, or sometimes, it does both.

Now what?

Here are 3 tips to recover from hearing “no”.

1) Don’t take it personally.

Losing customers is a normal part of the business cycle and it’s not you, it’s them. People have a variety of reasons why they cancel.

Smart strategy: A wise move here is to set up an exit interview and ask them about their experience with you, and why they are cancelling. This will be powerfully helpful as you move forward.

2) Get the gold

There will be some people who have “outgrown” where they are and are ready for the next step. If you can’t provide it for them, that may be why they are moving on.

Doing an exit interview will give you information gold as to other things your ideal clients would like to learn from you that you don’t currently offer.

Read this part carefully:

Clients may be leaving you to go learn the next step from someone else – even though YOU can help them with the next step

Remember, YOU know that you do “x”, but THEY don’t know you do “x”, because you never communicated it to them. This is why your brand messaging is so important. Make sure people know what “else” you can help them with, ahead of time.

3) Pivot, don’t panic.

It’s time to kick the emotions to the curb and get objective. Don’t let how you feel about this hold you back or convince you to throw in the towel.

Smart Strategy: There is a saying in sales, “the money is in the follow up”. Do you have leads that you haven’t followed up with in awhile? Now is the time.

• Reach out to them,
• Find out if they are still struggling with the problem that you can solve for them
• Ask if they are still interested in getting help, then tell them about your offer (if you don’t have one, prepare one in advance that is super targeted to fix one problem they’re having)

(Struggle with selling? You‘ll love this article).

The great thing is, for those who say yes, this can be a stepping stone that leads to them continuing to work with you.

Seize the opportunity here to learn how to pivot and keep your momentum going.

But above all else

Keep your eyes on the Lord through every trying circumstance and meditate on His promise to you, that is, ” in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”. (Romans 8:28).