Every startup wants to land the big client. But here’s a strategy most don’t consider: When your pitch bombs, be thankful. Then, use the client’s rejection as a roadmap for success.

Sound like a roundabout way to get sales? Not to the healthcare company Ostro. It’s how they ended up signing multiple major pharma clients, and why they now train their internal teams to embrace the process.

Yes, they learned, sometimes a rejection is just a rejection. But other times, a potential customer is telling you what they want — and that might be an even bigger opportunity than the one you’re chasing.

Here’s what happened.

Ostro began in 2019 as a telehealth platform. In March 2020, as telehealth boomed, its founders secured interest from the pharma giant Merck. The plan was to help Ostro prescribe Merck’s medications remotely. But before the deal was signed, a top Merck marketing executive, Arpa Garay, was asked to give her opinion.

Related: Why Rejection is a Startup’s Best Growth Strategy

So, on a chilly Friday, a meeting was arranged. Ostro cofounders Chase Feiger and Ahmed Elsayyad pitched their hearts out, but Garay was skeptical. “For the majority of the Merck products,” she told them, “it just doesn’t make sense.” Many of those products required implants and infusions which couldn’t be done by telehealth. The deal was killed.

“That blunt feedback could have been the end,” says Feiger. “Instead, it became the spark.” 

Here’s why: When a client says what you’re not bringing to the table, it’s often a great indication of what they’d like you to bring to the table.

“Arpa was explaining why this really wouldn’t work for a lot of different therapeutic areas,” Elsayyad says. Now, the cofounders saw what Merck really wanted — which was a new way to connect with consumers and healthcare providers.

Elsayyad and Feiger got to work and developed a different platform called Ostro Navigate. It plugs into a brand’s website, and helps visitors find the next right step — whether it’s booking a telehealth visit, a live nurse conversation, or something else. Then, about a year and a half after Merck rejected them, Feiger reached back out to Garay. 

Related: Why Hearing a ‘No’ is the Best ‘Yes’ for an Entrepreneur

“He was actually very funny and humble about it,” Garay recalls. “He was like, ‘I could have saved myself a good 12 to 18 months if I had just listened to you.’ Then he described his new company. And that’s when I said, ‘Well, this makes a ton of sense. And it could work across a lot of different companies and products.’”

Garay turned into a major advocate for the startup — even becoming an advisor and helping it land clients, including a now spun-off Merck subsidiary called Organon and several other top-10 pharma firms. 

Meanwhile, Ostro’s cofounders have taught their sales teams to love when a potential client says no — so long as they provide details. “Indifference is not going to move a deal forward,” Elsayyad says. “The meeting that went well is the one where the person was critical, because they cared enough to dig in.” And when a salesperson strikes out with a major potential client, Elsayyad will always tell them: “Let’s figure out what their main rebuttal is.” Maybe it’s something Ostro can solve now, or it’s an opportunity to evolve into later.  

This is exactly what happened with Stacy Stone, an executive at Axsome Therapeutics. She took a meeting with Ostro, and pointed out that its product was only built to work on websites. She wanted to reach patients by text and email too. So Ostro built exactly that, and landed Axsome Therapeutics as a client. When Stone moved on to two more companies, they became clients too.  

“Chase and Ahmed could have continued down the road with just the website build for patients,” Stone says. “But when they can say, ‘You are right. There’s more to this,’ that’s where a true leader stands up.”

Related: From Rejection to Redirection — 4 Ways to Handle Every ‘No’ You Face With Resilience and Grit

Sign up for the Entrepreneur Daily newsletter to get the news and resources you need to know today to help you run your business better. Get it in your inbox.