Dave Lorenzo (00:00):
What two letter word can make all the difference in your business? Here's your hint, it ain't yes. Join us for this episode of the Inside BSS Show. Hey, now Nicki G, forget the fact that yes, starts with three letters. We're talking about the word no and why it's your best friend in business. Thanks for joining me today. How are you doing?
Nicola Gelormino (00:22):
I'm great. This is my favorite part of the day. Dave, how are you?
Dave Lorenzo (00:26):
Oh, it's my favorite part of the week. I love hanging out with you, even though you make fun of me because I'm wearing the operator number one headset, which you will be wearing when we do live events. So just for context folks. That's right. If you think Nicki g has a little spring in her step today, it's because she gets to make fun of me constantly because I have a ridiculous soccer announcer slash airline pilot headset on because I'm testing it for when we do our live events. It has over the ear headphones, which happen to be a little warm and it has a wraparound microphone. I look like a spaceman, but I sound great. I feel great. And we've got a great topic for you today. Today's show is go for the No and the reason why the word no can be your best friend in business. So Nicole, when you hear the word no, how does it make you feel? And after you tell us that, I've got a follow-up question for you. So when you hear the word no, how does it make you feel? The
Nicola Gelormino (01:24):
Word no makes me feel motivated to push forward personally because I have received no a lot to get through business, and you have to be able to work through that if you're going to be successful. So I'm not offended by the word no, and frankly it's a source of motivation
Dave Lorenzo (01:43):
For me. Yeah, well that's because you're a savage. I mean, and that's the reason why we're working together. Most people when they hear no, they feel hurt. They feel angry, they feel frustrated. And here's the reason why they feel hurt. They feel angry, they feel frustrated. They think that when they hear the word no, the rejection is about them, right? So if I ask you to do something and you say no to me, and I'm trying to think about the last time you said no to me with anything, I can't, can't really remember a time, but if you said no to me, you know what that would do.
(02:20):
That would make me want to figure out another way to present it to you. Because I always have your best interests at heart, and I know that if I have your best at heart, it's just a matter of me making you see that I have your best interest at heart and that I want what's best for you. That's the way I look at it when I hear the word no, I just don't take it as a final be all, end all. I take it as a more of a not now or not under those conditions or not the way you presented it. And I think that's the way you feel about it too. But most people take the word no as final and as rejection. Now, here's my follow-up. I told you I had a follow-up. Here's my follow-up. My follow-up to you. Is this, Nicola, how does it make you feel when you say the word no?
Nicola Gelormino (03:15):
Oh man, it feels good. It feels great,
Dave Lorenzo (03:17):
Right? Doesn't the word no make you feel empowered? Doesn't the word no make you feel like you're in control? And Nicki G, we all know there's nothing you love more than being in control. So the word no makes you feel good, right?
Nicola Gelormino (03:34):
Right. It does. It makes you feel that you have the power to make decisions, and we all want to be there as business owners.
Dave Lorenzo (03:40):
So if you want to make something happen, if you're looking for financing, you're a c e O and you're seeking financing or you're looking for somebody to buy your company as a c e O or you're in sales and you want to sell something to someone, you want to make them feel empowered. So the first thing you got to do is you got to show them that it's okay. You got to give them permission to say no. If you give them permission to say no, they feel like they're in control, and I'm going to let you and the dozens of people who are listening today in on a little secret true control is giving someone else the illusion of control. Think about that for a minute. True control is giving someone else the illusion of control. If I want you to say yes to something, I want you to know the whole time that it's your decision that you have the power to decide yes or no. And then I just got to go to work and showing you number one, that I'm interested in doing what's best for you, and I'm interested in making sure that you get exactly what you want. And then all I got to do after I convince you of that is convince you that my solution will be what's best for you and my solution will get you exactly what you want. So that's why the word no is so important. Every sales process, every successful sales process starts with a no somewhere.
Nicola Gelormino (05:12):
I'm learning a lot about our business relationship here today with your approach. So I've never had the ability to say no to you. So jokes aside, you and especially with sales, you've got to be able to handle no to be successful. I used to know these numbers. So back in my first professional career working in real estate as a manager would call it, we dialed for dollars. You picked up the phone and you dialed for leads, and you knew what that percentage was. And I don't remember today, you might actually still know kind of on average what your conversion was between the number of reach outs, but we knew it was hundreds of calls converted to whatever percentage was of people who would even be some type of lead, like a potential. I guess they're the suspects. The suspects out there. There was a long list of them.
(06:01):
And to get them to the prospects, there was a very small number. Let's say that percentage was something like 10% or 15%. So you just knew I got to get through all these calls, I'm going to get there, it's a numbers game, and I'm going to hear no a lot more than I'm going to hear maybe, or possibly, or tell me some more. So you've got to be able to handle that or you will be crushed. And the less that you are out there asking for business and trying to develop more business, you're going to hear no. So you cannot allow that rejection to cripple your efforts. It will. You've got to be able to process it and just know a lot of this is a numbers game, and a lot of this is just learning how to get better so that you can convert more of those nos to yeses.
Dave Lorenzo (06:46):
Think about how you and I started our time together today a couple of hours ago now. We were talking about a handful of business things and I know how busy you are over the next couple of weeks. And I said, Hey, listen, I'm going to give you permission to say no to me on this thing, but here's what I want to do, and if you're too busy, just tell me no and it's not a problem. And what happened? You said Yes,
Nicola Gelormino (07:13):
But I'm okay being pushed. But it's true. It's true to
Dave Lorenzo (07:15):
Say yes, but you understand that I am genuinely okay with you telling me, Hey, listen, I just can't do this now. And I said that to you from a place of caring where I'm like, Hey, I know how busy you are and I don't want to impose something on you that is unfair. When we sit down with a prospect, we know we have the best solution for them. We just don't understand the level of their commitment. So when I sit down with a prospect in my business, I tell them they have two choices they can make at the end of our time together. Choice number one is they can decide that we're a good fit and I have the same option by the way, I can decide that we're a good fit. And in that case, we each say yes and we move forward in a business relationship.
(08:14):
If either one of us doesn't think we're a good fit, then the one person can say no to the other person. I can say no to them or they can say no to me. And I ask the prospect, I say to them, are you okay telling me no? If you think we're not a good fit? And immediately the prospect is like, of course, I'd be happy to tell you no. Right? The one thing you can't do is you can't say maybe or you can't say you want to think it over. If you want to think it over, it's got to be a no. Are you okay with that? And that makes the prospect sit up in their chair and they go, okay, alright, so I got to listen now and I got to pay attention and I got to really make a decision here. So the answer could be yes, or it could be no, and I'm okay if it's no, I'm a big boy.
(09:00):
I hear no all the time. But you can't say, maybe you can't say, I want to think it over. Are you okay with that? And now, keep in mind that I've been invited in. This is after I've already qualified them. I know they could be a potential client. I know there's the opportunity for us to potentially work together so they're fully qualified and it's just either a yes or a no that we're going to get at the end of our time together. And when it's a 50 50 chance, I feel pretty good about my odds. I'm, I'm pretty good in that environment. So that's the deal right there, getting them to understand that they can say yes or they can say no. Now with cold outreach, I expect no, I expect no from people who are uninitiated, the non Dave Lorenzos of the world, you should expect no 90% of the time when you first start or if you're selling a new business or a new product or a new service, 90% no is the right success rate. In fact, you and I, we were doing a seminar yesterday and I shared people who are brand new, 99% rejection rate, and everybody in the room kind of sat up and they're like 99% rejection rate. Well, yeah, when you first start or if it's something that's brand new, of course, and you learn no, you learn something from that and you either tailor the way you present the information, or if it's a brand new product or a brand new service, you change the product or service to make it more compelling.
Nicola Gelormino (10:25):
I thought those numbers were really eyeopening for a lot of people. So as someone who was in the room when you were providing those remarks, it wasn't just the first number, it was, and you can share them here, it was what was the conversion after? I think it was used one month, four months, six months in a year. And the response was still, for those people who are not very familiar with those numbers, it was still a lot of surprise because they expect it to be a lot higher.
Dave Lorenzo (10:53):
So to a cold audience with a brand new product or a brand new service, the numbers that I shared were based on work that I've done with my clients where I got good information, good data, initial outreach. So in my business, we'll take my business initial outreach. If it's a brand new service that I'm providing and I'm in front of an audience of a hundred people, I'll get one person. We'll say yes right off the bat, out of a room full of a hundred people, they'll come running up to me after the presentation and they'll sign up in three months after follow up for three months with me sending educational emails where I'm not selling anything, an additional 3%. So take the numbers up to 4% will come off the list and do business with me because they built up the trust, they built up the familiarity, they finally see the value, whatever.
(11:45):
It's then after six months, six months of weekly follow-up with educational information, continuing to build the trust, we get to a place where maybe 7%, 7% of folks will come off the list and will do business with me. So that original audience of 100 people, if all of them go onto the list, one person right away, then four people after three months, and then six months, seven people right out of an audience of a hundred, then we get to, let's say five years down the road of emailing that audience every week, communicating with them, delivering educational information. Every week you get to about 28%. So if you round it up 30%, this is with uninitiated, people who've had no exposure to me before and I'm selling the same service over and over and over again, 30%. So 30 out of that a hundred people five years later after follow up.
(12:49):
So what does that mean, right? If you only got in front of a hundred people, that was your entire outreach for your entire business. You only got in front of a hundred people during the course of a year, you're probably going to sign up maybe seven. I think after 12 months it goes up to like 12%, 15%. So you're only going to sign up 15 people. So what does that tell you? It tells you two things. You got to make your offer more compelling. If you doubled that, think about how it changes your life if you double that, two people from in the room, eight people after three months, 14 people after six months, 30 people after a year, 60 people after five years. Now you're talking on an entirely different ballgame if you make a better offer. But there's another part of the equation.
(13:40):
What if you got in front of a hundred people every month? Now you're changing the dynamics completely. You get in front of a hundred people every month. You're talking about what, eight people after three months coming off the list. But because you're getting in front of a hundred people a month, that number increases exponentially the more you do. What if you change the size of the audience and it goes from a hundred people to 200 people? What if you get in front of two of those audiences every week? There are so many ways to work on the equation that the no is irrelevant because you increase the size of the pie, the size of the pie is limitless.
Nicola Gelormino (14:23):
Yeah. So I thank you for sharing the numbers because this is really what I wanted to dig into with you, Dave. It's first of all, lemme take a step back. If you don't know what your numbers are, how many people you are reaching out to, how many people you are pitching, and what your conversion rate is, you need to go do that right after you're done listening to this episode, because you have to know that to understand how effective you are today, what you need to change to make yourself more effective, and how you can expand that group in the way that they was describing so that you can increase the conversion rate for yourself. So number one, know your numbers. Two, definitely change your approach. So what's working for you? And if your numbers aren't that great and you've been doing this for a few months now, then you've got to change something.
(15:07):
That means there's something wrong. You've got to readjust what you're doing and see how that works. You continue to track it. That's how you're going to know that you are on the right track to developing a better approach to increasing your conversion rate. But this all goes back to our main point, which is you have to appreciate that you're going to receive notes. And a lot of this is a long game. So this could take years to get to the highest grade. I mean, you described a five-year period to get there. Working in a professional services space, I've seen it take up to 10 years to get a really excellent client. I'm talking middle market company or a company, even large market companies. Those relationships can take you up to 10 years to get into one of these big companies. And when you get in, that'll be a client forever. But if you're only working on one or you're working on two, it's going to be a long time before you're making a lot of good money. So you better have a plan in place where you're increasing those numbers as to how many companies you're trying to focus on to develop relationships with to get there. Because a lot of us is a long game, especially with good clients.
Dave Lorenzo (16:10):
Yeah, the real eyeopening thing, I think yesterday from being in the front of the room, I mean you were in the room with the audience, but being in the front of the room when I saw everybody's eyes literally get huge, was when I said to them, Hey, let's take it back to a networking group. Let's take it back to Provisor. And I said, all of you are envious of what Nicola and I have done in building. And those of you who are out there who are not in Provisor, this is not going to have as much impact on you. But Nicole and I built the largest group in this networking organization by double what the average is. The average group in Provisors is like 25 people, and we've got 56 people in our group, and everybody's envious of us because we were able to do this.
(16:54):
And quite frankly, there's such children because it's a freaking networking group. We're not getting any money from this. But anyway, I digress. So I'm standing in front of a room full of these people yesterday and I said, everybody comes up to Nicola and me and they ask, Hey, listen, how did you guys get 56 people to join your group? It's amazing. You know how we did it? It was really freaking simple. We asked 350 people to join the group. That's how we got 50. So we got a ton of nos. We got so many nos. And most of you would stop after the first three. You'd be like,
(17:28):
Oh my goodness, teacher new to me. I'm never going to
(17:31):
Ask anybody else. But what do we do? We just persevered. We pushed through that. That's the story of
Nicola Gelormino (17:36):
Business. My favorite, no, I have to jump in. My favorite, no. And it was early. It was out of the gate. I'm asking people I knew personally to join this organization. I was asked if it was a multilevel marketing scheme. That's it. I said, yes, I would be calling you as a fellow professional who knows you to get you in on a multi-level marketing scheme. Like, come on. But that goes to
Dave Lorenzo (17:58):
Show you, we got Amway, we got Amway products, we got Tupperware, we got steak knives, we got whatever you want. Whatever you want. We got a fund that mirrors the SS and P 500 join us today.
Nicola Gelormino (18:11):
But that's is feedback from somebody I know and I liked. I had to respond to it in a professional way. Look, takes, no, you've got to be able to handle it. We could have stopped there, but we didn't.
Dave Lorenzo (18:25):
I remember all the people who said yes, because I talk to them every month. I can't tell you I can't. One person that I think of on a regular basis who told me no. The only people I know I can remember who told me no. One of them just signed up this month. Okay, she might be listening to the show. Okay? But those people are the only ones I remember who said no, because they came back to me afterwards and they said, Hey, this thing you'd mentioned to me a year ago, I'm starting to hear about it all over the place now. Are you still doing it? As if I would've dropped out. Oh, it's really successful. I'm done. I only work with people, I only work with things until they reach the pinnacle of success. And then I, oh, wait, no, of
Nicola Gelormino (19:05):
Course. And by the way, that person's partner came back and joined the organization and thinks it's the best thing out there. So it did work. It just took time for them to draw alive. What we were pitching was something really excellent for
Dave Lorenzo (19:17):
Them. We got a lot more steak knives to sell. So we got a lot more. Got a more Tupperware. We got to move. So listen, the bottom line on this folks is every time you hear no, the way to look at it is it gets closer. It gets you closer to a yes. Mark Cuban says that all the time, every no I hear gets me closer to a yes. And while that is not technically true, those of you who are engineers out there, yeah, there is no rational science of the universe that every no gets you closer to a yes. It's an attitude that you have where every no gets you closer to a yes so that you keep trying, so that you keep persevering. You're the field goal kicker, which means you have a short memory. The one you missed yesterday has no impact on the shot you're taking today.
(20:01):
That'll do it for this edition of The Inside BSS Show. Folks, you said yes to us and we're glad you did. We hope you say yes and join us here again tomorrow. And there's one more. Yes, we're going to ask you for, and that's the yes to share the show. Our show only grows when people like you share the show with other entrepreneurs. So forward this show on to somebody else. It's good karma for you. You may just change the life or the business of somebody you care about. So tomorrow, I'm Dave Lorenzo, the Godfather of Growth, and I'm here with my pal, Nicki G. We'll see you tomorrow folks. Thanks for joining us. Take care.

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Go For The No And Close More Deals (Completed 09/24/23)
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