My CEO has been known to give the following words of advice, “the best mistake to learn from is someone else’s”. He’s right, we all need to learn from others’ experience and take smart advice from people who’ve been there, done that. So with many of the future B2B marketers graduating and joining this exciting industry, here are some tips from me about the positive power of saying no for the Class of 2019; the budding marketers about to leave school, college or university and about to start their first internship or full-time job.
Have confidence in your convictions!
There are three things that are going to test your ability to get things done right at the start of your career:
1. Your instinct to be liked
It’s only natural at the beginning of your career to want to be liked and to be accommodating. But all too often that translates into saying yes to everything and everyone. That was certainly how I felt at the beginning; I wanted to fit in with the team from day one. But you always need to remember that you’re in your role for a reason and sometimes you’re making a mistake if you defer to someone else’s opinion in the hope of fitting in and not causing an upset. You’ll find some practical tips below on the best way to say no; but you need to be prepared to say it from the outset.
2. The relationship with sales
As a marketer, everyone will tell you that having a great relationship with colleagues in sales is critical – it’s B2B marketing 101. However, having a great relationship is not the same as always saying yes. The most successful sales and marketing relationships are where you are truly working together towards a common goal. Respect and teamwork across the groups is where the complementary strengths of sales and marketers become super powers in growing a business. That doesn’t mean that you must always follow sales’ lead (if you pardon the pun) doing more and more and more. Again, never be afraid to back your judgement and focus on outcomes rather than activities.
3. Everyone thinks they’re a marketer
Marketing is one of those jobs that everyone thinks they can do and everyone has an opinion about. And there’ll be no shortage of people who aren’t marketers telling you why a creative piece should look different, what content pieces you should be using, or what media you should be trying to get into – throughout your career. The important lesson here is to listen and absorb (without getting defensive), and then make your own data-driven decisions. If your training, your experience and your gut tells you something different to what you’re hearing, never be afraid to push back.
So, let’s dive into the practical advice, there are times when you need to get comfortable saying no. Here’s how:
The (not) to-do list
This comes back to outcomes versus activities. Business culture today seems to be centred around “busyness”. If you’re not running flat out, you’re not operating at the right level. In my opinion this couldn’t be further from the truth. How can you possibly focus, or think with a clear head when you have a never-ending stream of tasks to get through? I’m a big fan of ‘non-goals’ – this forces you to make decisions about what you won’t do to make sure you remain focused on the work that really matters to the bottom-line of the business or getting a critical project completed on time and within budget. So, what would your not-to-do list look like?
Yes, however …
If the non-goals or not-to-do list works at a team level, you need individual tactics to help you say no too. Early on in my career I used to say yes too often because I wanted to be seen as accommodating, and honestly, I thought other people naturally knew what was best. And let’s be real, it’s hard to say a flat no when you’re asked to do something by your boss or by a close colleague, for example.
One piece of advice from an ex-colleague of mine was that starting with the phrase “Yes, however …” was a positive way to invite whoever is asking you to take on extra work to rethink their request.
This is particularly useful with that sales and marketing relationship.
Sales: “We have a pipeline gap, we need to get some more campaigns into market, can you do that?”
Marketing: “Yes, of course we can, however, we do have a large number of campaigns already in market and looking at the data our issue seems to be around a lot of untouched leads. Perhaps we could have a brainstorm on how we deal with the backlog before we put more into market?”
Saying “yes, however…” leaves your ‘can-do’ reputation intact, but it gives you the chance to flag the opportunity cost of getting the new work request done. So, the “however” in your sentence might be the cost of delaying other more important work, missing a deadline, or focusing on the wrong priorities because you are too keen to be accommodating.
Reject the task, not the person
When someone gives you their opinion, they can sometimes feel you’re rejecting them if you don’t follow their advice. So, part of the art of saying no is to be clear that you’re rejecting a task, not the person asking for it to be done. Basically, you need to show empathy and consider the impact of your decision, and your words from the perspective of the person you’re talking to. That’s a vital skill for everyday life – at home and at work! But it’s particularly important as you take your first steps up the career ladder and start to manage not just your own time but other people too. If you want to get the best from a team, you have to be able to see the world from their point of view – what they’re working on, what they’re juggling, and why they will sometimes need to say no to something.
Be clear about the what, why, when and who
There’s a problem you’ll need to solve first before you can start to say no. You need clarity of what matters to your business and what tasks are essential to the success of each project. That means defined objectives, documented workflows, key initiatives with deadlines, and clarity of the resources available and required for successful completion of work.
Saying no isn’t just tricky at the beginning
Although this is a memo to the class of 2019, I hope it will also resonate with my fellow B2B marketers who all face similar challenges and pressures – if you find you’re slipping back into the yes camp, just remember that saying no occasionally can be liberating. I hope these tips will help.
