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The No Guy

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Bob reminds us that saying no now means saying yes later. Why is focusing so hard?

Product manager: This product is designed for pharmacies in hospitals with more than 1000 beds.
Sales guy #1: I sold it to a radiology department
Sales guy #2: Oh, can I sell it to urgent care?
Sales guy #3: I have a customer with 500 beds.

Maybe that’s why 28% percent of product managers have the authority to reject contracts.

“But can’t you just say 'Yes' to everything?”

No.

Saying no

Posted by Bruce McCarthy at 2007-06-20 12:01 PM
Ive never had the authority to reject contracts entirely but I am able to influence by providing the reasons why the customer won't be satisfied with the solution and why it will cost us more to try to serve a customer on the edge of what the product is designed to do than not to take the deal.

Salespeople usually care about the former, less often about the latter. That's when escalation to top management sometimes has to come in. If you can explain in dollars and sense why it will be unprofitable to server a particular customer the top brass will usually listen.