Hey, 👋 Scott from The Sales Mastermind here.

Today’s edition only takes 4 minutes.

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Of every person and every business on earth, you can only help so many. You only want to help so many.

Being laser-focused on who to help means saying “No” to everyone else.

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The Biggest Say No

The UN recognises 193 sovereign countries. So, let’s use this as a baseline.

Of the top 10 largest companies in the world by revenue, excluding commodities, state-owned companies, and utilities, you get this list (source: Wikipedia):

• Walmart - has a retail presence in 24 countries.
• Amazon - has a retail presence in 58 countries.
• Apple - has a retail presence in 26 countries (works with resellers/partners everywhere else.)
• UnitedHealth Group - claims to have customers in 150+ countries, which feels misleading as they claim 6.2 million customers, or ~0.08% of the world's population.
• CVS - has a retail presence in TWO countries.
• Volkswagen - has a retail presence in 153 countries.
• Alphabet - has offices in 50 countries.
• McKesson - has offices in 6 countries.
• Toyota - has a retail presence in 170 countries.
• Cencora - has a local presence in 50 countries.

These companies serve a range of markets - Healthcare, Retail, Electronics, Automotive, and IT. The largest, Walmart, generates more than $600 billion in revenue with a headcount of over 2 million. The smallest, Cencora, has over $200 billion in revenue with a headcount above 40,000.

You’ll see most operate in only a handful of countries. Most operate in less than 51 countries or around a quarter of the world. Only three* companies operate in more than 100 countries. (*it’s questionable to include UnitedHealth Group)

Even giant companies say “No” to almost the entire world.

*By excluding commodities, state-owned companies, and utilities, we remove the extremes of the market. State-owned companies have a natural monopoly with no competition, whereas commodities have no differentiation and only competition.

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Modern Marketing is Vague

As sellers, we are used to speaking to buyers who have yet to learn what we do, who we do it for, or how we help.

I blame modern marketing. It is vague, overly focused on universal pains, and often targets ideas barely tangentially related to what the business sells.

For example, my team sold customer success software for SaaS. It was a relatively technical product that integrated numerous data sources to determine which clients were ready to buy more and which were at risk of churning.

We often received inbound leads from multinational companies seeking surveying or employee feedback. Our software couldn’t have been further from their requirements.

The sellers had two choices: waste time with someone who would not buy or tell these people, “Sorry, no, that is not what we can help you with. Maybe try ______”

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Disaster Customers

Other times, sellers would close terrible fit customers. Causing incalculable headaches for our success and support teams.

Every seller has closed a deal they shouldn’t have, and every seller knows when a deal crosses the line from “difficult” to “terrible fit.”

I remember an example where the buyer insisted on a non-renewing contract AND that the price would stay the same upon renewal “in perpetuity.”

This is contradictory and unreasonable.

Either the contract renews, and can include terms about future pricing or it doesn’t renew. Also, what vendor would ever agree to anything “in perpetuity,” let alone pricing?

Needless to say, this customer became a nightmare. She would constantly demand contradictory outcomes. We decided to let the contract lapse and, as a vendor, not offer a new contract.

She was furious that we honoured the contract term she fought for (non-renewing).

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Saying No

Telling people no is a delicate balance of clarity and empathy.

Saying “No” at the right time is often a trust builder. It shows the buyer that you are not just here to take their money but want to make sure they are a good fit and that you can help them, too.

A few pointers when saying no:

• Rejection doesn’t have to hurt or be cruel
• Be positive and upbeat in your delivery
• Make it clear and unambiguous
• Offer alternatives

Now let’s cover a two examples:

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Open with a Bomb

Every seller is guilty of lying by omission at least once in their career. Or trying to push the wrong deal through the sales cycle even though they know it won’t pass the muster.

To Open with a Bomb, the formula is:

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Let’s imagine selling widgets with a minimum order quantity of 100 and upfront payment (no exceptions).

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“How” The Ultimate Rejection Structure:

Asking "how" questions shifts the burden of the solution from the seller to the buyer. These questions are best for later in the buying journey as they imply a decent amount of working knowledge on both sides.

The formula is:

Let’s imagine our widget seller, and they’re in the final negotiations.

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Let me know what you think! it to a friend

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Until next week,
Scott Cowley

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