Selling to Business Tips: Say "No" to hear "Yes"

There’s a place outside Seattle that sells both Irish beer and Cajun food—it might work for them, but most businesses need more focus. Once you’ve thoughtfully decided on a strategic direction—including target market, positioning, value proposition, and message—stay with it long enough to prove or disprove its worth. Changing your mind every five minutes is bad for business.

“Did you ever have to finally decide? Say yes to one and let the other ones ride,” is how the Lovin’ Spoonful put it in the Age of Bad Rock ‘n’ Roll. It may have been schlock music but it’s good business sense: say “no” to everything that doesn’t fit your strategy. If you decide to go after small businesses, ignore RFPs from big ones. If you have a reseller channel, don’t compete with them by going direct. If your focus is domestic, don’t get distracted by a big international opportunity.

Once you cut out everything that’s not part of your tightly-defined focus, you’ll start hearing “yes” a lot more often. And while limiting yourself might seem like it’s limiting your business, I think you’ll find it’s easier to dominate one focused segment after another than to succeed while diluting your efforts across multiple targets.