As entrepreneurs, we spend so much time and effort on our marketing, trying to attract ideal clients, and then finally having a conversation with prospects (hopefully!) about our products and services.

You literally pour your heart and soul into the conversation:  showing them just how much your product or service can help solve their problem (and possibly change their life!).  You’re excited about the possibility of having them as a client (or that they purchase your product).

Then you get that dreaded word:  NO

Yup — the prospect says NO to your service or product.

I know all too well firsthand how disappointing it is to hear that “no.”  The feeling of rejection, hurt, and sometimes even anger (“how could they not want to work with me!)”.

But there’s so much you can learn from it.

You see, I recently decided to reach out to the people who said NO to me, and asked them for candid and HONEST feedback.  That’s right, honest.    I wanted to find out why they “rejected” working with me.

The reason?

I’m always looking to improve my services and learn what I can do better.  And you should too.

Sure, many times the reason someone says NO has more to do with them than with us (they’re not our ideal client, they’re not ready, they don’t see the real value in it, etc).

But I’ve also come to see that I can LEARN from that  ”no.”


 And I feel it’s always important to get feedback — it’s really one of the best ways to see where changes or improvement could be made.

So though at first it seemed a little odd contacting the people who rejected me — but in doing so I learned a LOT.

I challenge YOU to go back to at least three people who have “rejected” your products or the opportunity to buy from you.  (And if you’re not getting at least three NO’s, then you’re not in enough selling conversations!).

Contact those three people and ask them for their honest feedback.

Now this is NOT about trying to get these people to say yes or buy from you.  There’s NO hidden agenda or other motive — it’s ONLY to ask them for candid feedback.  You don’t want them to be “nice” — you really want to find out what’s behind the NO.

Email is fine for this — you don’t have to pick up the phone (and I find it’s easier for people to be candid in email than on the phone).

(If you want a template of what to say — just email me and I’ll send it over to you!)

When you get their response — here are a few questions to ask yourself:

1)  What can I learn from this?

2)  What can I change?

3)  How does this help me “see” thing better from a prospects perspective?

So go back to those “NO’s” and find out what really behind it.   I’m sure you’ll pick up some gems!