Understanding a No: Dealing with rejection effectively

Dealing with a no and rejection is routine and a hard reality of life. We are continuously pitching ideas, making suggestions and making requests and we hear a no and get rejected. We need to analyze the nature of the no. Based on the nature of rejection we can come up with strategies to handle the rejection and move forward. 

The scary no

• The most difficult rejection or no is when a request is summarily dismissed
• All we hear is a single no and nothing more
• Other than the single no we have nothing more to go after
• We have nothing to work with
• We need to go back rethink and regroup and attack the issue from a different angle in the absence of any feedback

The no which is not a no

• If it is not an outright rejection, then a no is not a final no
• If someone has said no more than once and is still engaging with you
• If someone is overly explaining the reason for saying no
• If someone is overly explaining why saying no is the right thing to do
• If someone is overly explaining they are not gaining anything by saying no
• You have to listen to all the feedback you are getting with the no

These are examples of where the person saying no is waiting to be persuaded by you. You need to rethink your approach and give person saying a no a reason to say yes. We should have the confidence of pushing and converting the no to a yes. We need to work on our persuasion skills.

A no need not be a permanent no. A no can always be worked around and converted to a yes. We need to be aware of the nature of the no we are facing and should move fast to convert the no to  a yes.