Everyone wants to close more sales this year. One secret to making more sales is to get your customers to reject your initial offer. I will prove that this strategy will grow you business exponentially, but please promise to read this with an open mind.

We may live in negative times, however, one thing remain the same. People hate saying no. We like saying yes and making people feel good. When we tell someone no we often times feel just as bad as they do. Remember the little girl who approached you to buy her girl scout cookies. You really didn’t want the cookies, but the thought of hurting her feelings was not worth the $5 the cookies cost. You bought the cookies and felt good about it. Why? Buying the cookies helped you avoid dealing with the feeling you get after rejecting someone.

On the other hand, most sales people give up too soon. As soon as the prospect says they aren’t interested it is over. The prospective buyer simply leaves or changes the subject and the selling opportunity is forever lost.

Knowing that people don’t like to says no is an advantage for the informed sales person. If you are trying to influence some one getting them to tell you no will actually work to your advantage. Start with the end in mind. If you want to sell the $100 product package, then you should offer the customer the $200 product package first. Why? This gives the customer a chance to say no. Remember they hate this. And there’s only one thing they hate more than saying “no” oncethat is saying it twice. Offer the $100 product offer next. You’ll sell more $100 product packages than if you’d never positioned your offers this way.

Researchers at Arizona State University conducted a study that illustrates this point nicely. They posed as representatives of a local youth program. They asked random students if they would be willing to chaperon juvenile delinquents to the zoo. Amazingly 17% of the students agreed.

However, researcher found a way to get 50% of random students to agree to accompany a group of juvenile delinquents to the zoo. They simply changed the approach a little. First, they asked the students if they would be willing to commit two hours a week for the next two years to counsel juvenile delinquents. Two hours a week for two years? Of course this offer was rejected. Next the researchers asked the students if they couldn’t commit for two years could they just accompany the group of juvenile delinquents to the zoo for one day. 50% of the students agreed.

You can’t afford to not implement this technique. What size package are you trying to sell? If you want to sell more of it don’t ever offer it first. Offer a bigger request to your customer and allow them to reject the offer. Then present the package that you were trying to sell all along. This will help you convert more prospects into paying customers.