After the final no, there comes a yes.
Wallace Stevens

There is a famous line in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, the classic film that is a brilliant depiction of the Vietnam War. A commanding officer, portrayed by Robert Duvall, is standing in the jungle, naked to the waist as American jet fighters roar past overhead. It's morning and already steaming hot. "I love the smell of napalm in the morn­ing," he announces, inhaling deeply. "It smells like victory!"
I feel the same way about the word "no." I love the sound of the word "no." To me, it means action; something is happening. "No's" have a way of eventually leading to the word "yes."
Almost everyone hates the word "no." Salespeople, entrepre­neurs, children, lovers, inventors, visionaries, all hate the word "no." And yet it's an indisputable fact of business that if you're not hearing the word "no," you're probably not hearing the word "yes" either. Business involves hearing a whole lot more "no's" than "yes's." There are very few organizations that don't operate on this principle. It's obvious. The more "no's" you hear, the more "yes's" are bound to happen.
In sales, if you hear a thousand "no's" you'll probably hear a hundred "yes's," maybe even two or three hundred. But if you aren't hearing any "no's" whatsoever, then you are not about to hear even a few "yes's."
People avoid making sales calls or contacts or phone calls because they're afraid of the word "no." What if the person says "no?" they think. When you hear the word "no," remember there is a "yes" just around the corner. When you hear your second "no," the "yes" is even closer. After the third closer still. Love the word "no"; it's the sound of success in motion. When you're not hearing it, you're in deep trouble.
The Cy Young Award is given each year to the best baseball pitcher in both the American and National Leagues. It is a most coveted award. Its winners are a who's who of baseball's greatest pitchers, from Sandy Koufax to Nolan Ryan to Roger Clemens. The list goes on and on.
However, few people realize that this award is named after the man who holds baseball's record for most career defeats. Yes, that's defeats, not victories. Cy Young lost 313 games, more than any major league pitcher in the history of baseball. Why would they name an award after someone who holds the record for the most defeats, you might ask? Wouldn't it be more appropriate to name it after the person who had the most victories? Well, they did. It's the same man.
Did you know that the great homerun king, Babe Ruth, once held the record for the most strikeouts of any major league player during his career?
A friend of mine, who sells life insurance and is consistently the top salesman for his company, once told me, "I probably hear the word "no" twice or three times as much as my co-workers."
Nobody counts the "no's." Nobody cares about the defeats. The only thing that counts is the victories, the successes-that's what matters.
The next time you feel dejected because someone says "no," remember, "no's" are just the path, the stepping stones leading you to the "yes's."