Andrea Waltz: Why This Sales Trainer Says You Should Go For No

About Today’s Guest on The Sales Podcast

Andrea Waltz “Go For No” Author, Trainer, Keynote Speaker.

With a B.S. in Criminal Justice, Andrea was poised to be a sales trainer. (NOT!) But while working her way through college she excelled in sales with Lens Crafters, where she eventually met her husband, Richard Fenton, a fellow salesperson. Together they left their company to take their unique sales training message, “Go For No,” on the road.

Rubber-Meets-The-Road Tip

• Increase your failure rate. Go for no! (Sara Blakely Spanx founder was asked by her dad every day after school, “what did you fail at today?”)

• B.S. in Criminal Justice but she was working at Lens Crafters in college and became the GM. She got into training, met her husband, they both left the company to do training and everyone loved the Go For No.

• After 7 years they narrowed their focus to be just on Go For No.

• Richard, her husband, was struggling in a menswear store but he got a chance to really shine and his manager, Harold, asked him what the customer said “no” to and Richard was confused. “He didn’t say no to anything” so the manager asked, “How did you know he was done?” This lit a light bulb in Rich’s mind and has been the foundation of his training ever since.

• It’s the key to disqualification.

• They don’t get into a lot of “yes-based” training with rapport building, etc. There are plenty of trainers in that field.

• Disqualification is the key.

• They call people and ask if they hire speakers. So their disqualification question is “Hi, do you ever have meetings where you bring in outside sales trainers and speakers.”

• Must reprogram how you think about failure. It’s a stepping stone to success. But it is a numbers game.

• When you only want to hear yes, your strategies are limited.

• Make it your goal to get 50 failures in a row.

• When you go for no you take the pressure off of yourself. Your demeanor and attitude changes.

• Get deep. Do more than tactics because just having the tactics aren’t enough. Look at attitudes and how they are formed in childhood and look at personality traits.

• Why is there call reluctance?

• It’s a mindset issue. Work on your deeper issues.

• Perfection is not the goal. Reprogram the way you think about failure and rejection.

• This concept works for companies of all sizes.

• You need some self-motivation. Sales can be a lonely job. But if you like to win you can and will win if you stay after it.

• Scripting and role-playing play an important role.

• She encourages people to do a 30-day Go For No challenge. This will show you your gaps so you know where to improve. Go ahead and screw up.

• Her book is what helps her land new clients.

• “Unlocking The Secrets of Retail Magic.” It was a short book for retail managers written as a parable and it did well. It was a “calling card” book. The self-published and maintained control. Everyone needs a book they can give away.

• Put yourself out there. Say yes and figure out how.

• They wrote the book while they were still employed. She got the names and addresses of the top retail executives in the nation and mailed them the book with an ugly brochure. “Good enough is good enough.” They had the expertise in that niche and it resonated.

• Retail sales are different in the fact they are quick, easy sales with no follow-up. You want to help them make a quick decision.

• Retailers today seem to be getting better. They see that they need to. Limited, Victoria’s Secret, etc.

• We all need to separate tasks vs sales-improving actions.

• Create a “no awareness.” Track them. Analyze your reaction. Realize it won’t drive you to live under a bridge.

Links Mentioned

• Andrea Waltz Go For No home on the web

• Connect with Andrea Waltz on Twitter

• Get Andrea’s book, Go for No! Yes is the Destination, No is How You Get There

Market like you mean it. Now go sell something.