"Don’t Say No For The Prospect”… What does that mean (besides the title of the book I just wrote)? This is the response I give to my students when I ask them “Did you think about calling Panera or Starbucks down the street? Maybe they’ll relocate to our site and we can provide them with a drive-thru!” And the leasing agent responds with “They won’t do that!” And that’s when I say (or yell) “Don’t Say No For The Prospect!” Yes, of course, there is a potential that they prospect could say no, but if you never ask them, isn’t that the same thing as them saying no? At least if you ask, you have a 50% shot they’ll say yes, vs a 0% shot if you never ask!
Why do we do this? And I say “we” because I still do it too!!I believe it comes down to 3 things: