How to Say “No.”

Becoming a Better Sales Rep — Post #37

Introduction.

Many sales professionals are significantly overworked. Even more so when they’re at the beginning of their careers. Everybody wants to make a good impression in their new job. And, on top of this sales is particularly competitive and results are so easy to measure.

However, as we learned in an earlier blog post, overworking isn’t good for you. But, with all of this consistent pressure, let’s revisit first why we shouldn’t say “yes” to everything. And, let’s then take a look at a few strategies of when and how to be more confident in rejecting tasks and saying “no.”

Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash

Why It’s Okay — And Even Necessary — to Say “No” Sometimes.

Do you know the feeling when your boss asks you to do this one thing for them? It’s only gonna take a couple of hours. Or, when a lead asks you for just another piece of information or to speak with someone else at your company for the third time?

Well, sometimes it might be invaluable to say “Yes,” but sometimes you need to be confident to say “No,” and here are six reasons why:

1. You Only Have 3 to 6 Productive Hours a Day: People don’t like to hear this but various sources tell us that you only have three to six productive hours in every workday. So, you must use them for the critical tasks at hand. I know that some people might be thinking right now that this can’t be and that they work their bums off for double-digit hours every day. And, I believe you. I also urge you to re-think your approach to work. Because most of the time spent beyond six hours, will not really bring you much further. So, all of a sudden, doing something for two more hours is a huge chunk of your productive workday.
2. If It’s Too Much, Your Output Won’t Be (As) Good: This is a follow-up point to #1. Chances are that you’ll do the additional work in non-productive hours of the day. And in non-productive hours, we’re not very efficient nor very creative nor anything that leads to great work results. So, doing additional work that you actually can’t handle might actually shine a negative light on you when your results aren’t as good. Even worse, if you keep pushing it off, people might get frustrated with not getting the results.
3. You’ll Become the Person to Dump Work On: If you say “Yes” to everything, you’ll earn a reputation that people can dump tasks on you. Even worse, if you then say “No” at some point, people might get frustrated with you.
4. You’ll Deprive Yourself of Much Needed Rest: You need rest. There’s no way that you’ll work for 12 hours a day on end. Trust me. I lied to myself that I could do it. And, I liked telling people how much I worked, but when I really looked at my schedule, I didn’t get a lot of things done. I was stressed for 12 hours a day, but I wasn’t working. Your body and your mind need rest to use your 3 to 6 productive hours a day. Give your body and mind what they need; and, become a real top performer.
5. You’ll Waste Your Company’s Resources: Considering everything above, you can also view it from a different perspective. If you don’t do the critical tasks for which you were hired, you’ll let your company down. If you spent 2 to 4 hours on extra tasks or if you never rest, you won’t be able to perform at your job to the level that you’re expected to perform. So, you’d be wasting your company’s resources.
6. You’ll Lose the Respect of Your Customers: Sales deals are business transactions between equal business partners. You’re providing something your lead needs and your lead buys something of value you provide. Sure you need to be respectful, courteous, and helpful but you also need to set boundaries because you’re lead needs to be respectful, courteous, and helpful as well. It’s a mutual relationship. Don’t let yourself be exploited.

Of course, I’m not saying you should say “No” to everything somebody asks you for. Being perceived as a helpful colleague is important. If your team is drowning in work and you just go home because it’s their problem, you’ll be hated — if not fired — soon.

Also, taking on tasks that are outside of your scope might be tasks that’ll help you to get a promotion because people see that you’re taking on additional responsibilities above your pay grade.

The only thing I’m trying to say is that you should be careful about not doing too much and about being exploited.

So, knowing a few of many more reasons why it’s okay to say “No” to things, let’s take a look at how you can discover that you’re doing too much.

Photo by Josh Frenette on Unsplash

How to Tell That You Should Say “No” More!

So, what are some signs when to say no? Let’s take a look:

1. You’re Constantly Tired: If you deprive yourself of sleep for work or if you don’t do anything but work and sleep, you’ll get tired. So, if you catch yourself yawning for the first three hours of work, this might be a very good tell tail that you’re doing too much.
2. You Lose Motivation: If you lose motivation or even start hating the things you need to do, this oftentimes means that you’re off balance and working too much. Our motivation is tied to our mood, our mood to our hormones, and our hormones to sleep deprivation or lack of breaks. So, if you’re moodier than you usually are, and maybe even hate your job, chances might be that you’re putting too much on your table.
3. You Spent Way More Hours at Your Job Than Your Colleagues: Are you the first one in the office and the last one leaving? Well, let me tell you, this isn’t cool and no one will really thank you for it or look up to you. A lesson most of us only understand when it hits them the hard way is that companies don’t have feelings, people do. If your company would need to let you go, they would. They won’t care how much you put in. Yes, if you want to rise in the ranks put in more time, but don’t overdo it. Nobody will take care of you if you don’t do it.
4. You Deprioritize Your Personal Life: Have you canceled on your date the second time in a row? When was the last time you called your mum? Do your running shoes still look like you just bought them? Without a personal life, you won’t perform in your job. And, if you spent your 20s and 30s just working, you’ll wake up one day watching YouTube videos of people talking about “how they wasted their 20s.” Trust me, I went through this. No additional task is worth as much as a phone call with your mum.
5. You Get More and More Boring Work on Your Table: If this is the case, people dump their work on you, period. Do something about it, immediately.
6. You Notice Repetitive Patterns About Additional Work: Does Rebecca call you every Thursday night that there’s something she needs help with? Does Jamal need help with the same thing every single time? And could both of them always count on you? Well, if they’re not asking you for things that are in fact your responsibility, chances are that they’re dumping work on you.
7. You Feel Like You Should Say “No” But You Say “Yes” Anyway: And, finally, your gut usually tells you. And, you should trust your gut. It knows so much more than your brain.

Photo by Florian Schmetz on Unsplash

How to Say “No.”

So, know that we know why and when it’s important to say “No,” let’s get into the how!

1. Say “No” Firmly: Just say it: “No, I cannot do it.” Be friendly about it. Add a “sorry” if you feel like it. But, make sure that people understand that you can’t. Don’t leave people in a limbo or get the feeling that you might be able to do it.
2. Give an Understandable and Resonant Reason: Make sure that people understand your reasoning. This can be something like your current workload or an important project you need to finish. It can also be that you have promised your mum to drive her to the grocery store after work. You know your work environment better and you need to know what reason you give. The overall reason is always that you don’t have the time. The “why” behind it is up to you.
3. Don’t Overexplain: When you give your reasons, try to be succinct. Everything else will make you appear unconfident in your own statements. You don’t owe them more than a “No.” Everything beyond this is just you being a nice person. So, don’t feel like you owe them a long explanation.
4. Ask Questions: Find out how important the task is and why you should do it. Don’t be cocky about this. Ask kind and helpful questions. Maybe, you’ll find out that it isn’t this urgent or that the person can do it themselves.
5. Help Them Find Alternatives: Maybe you know that Jake has a few openings in his schedule and was looking for work. Maybe, the answer is that your boss needs to hire another person to take over the task. Maybe, the task isn’t all that important anyway. Be helpful in finding alternatives. But do it in the moment and don’t take on the responsibility to find an alternative. Once you’re out of the conversation, it’s their responsibility to continue with the task.
6. Give People Choices: Oftentimes all people want is choices. So, you can give them three options that will all say “No, but.” It might be “No, but I can do it next week,” or “No, but you should think of hiring someone for this,” or “No, but if you do this and that, you can actually do it yourself very very quickly.”
7. Make People Understand the Consequences of Their Ask: Oftentimes people only see the thing they need help with but they don’t see your workload. Have an open conversation and make sure that they understand that things will be delayed on another project if you help them. Make them understand this and that they will need to own the responsibility for negative consequences if you help them.
8. Tell People That They Need to Take Care of the Logistics: If one team lead needs something from you which will take away time that you promised to another one, ask them to figure it out and come back to you with a joint solution.

And, honestly, you just need to do it. Saying “No” is a practicable skill. It’s scary now, but you’ll get used to it.

So, If You Don’t Want Resonaid, Say “No” to it. But, Make Sure to Give It a Try Before You Make a Decision.

Resonaid is a tool that writes personalized messages for your sales outreach. It identifies unique and personal hooks that you can use to send out messages that are customized for every single lead. It literally takes all the work away from doing outreach. So, rather than spending 5 hours reaching out, it’ll only take you some 30 minutes.

Make sure to give it a try, if you haven’t already!

Access Resonaid via the Chrome Web Store.

Resonaid is a tool that helps sales professionals with writing personalized messages for their sales outreach.

We recently released the first version of our product as a Chrome extension in the Chrome Web Store.

As we just went live this summer, you can currently test Resonaid for free and get large discounts by being an early user.

About the Author.

Teddy Lange is a co-founder at Resonaid and is responsible for business development and customer experience. Before joining Resonaid, he’s been a Sales Rep and Junior Sales Manager, and co-founded various companies. He’s currently finishing his graduate degree in Public Policy with a focus on communication at Harvard University. Feel free to reach out to him at teddy@resonaid.co.