how to treat empty cells

Question

I am using SQL Server and I have a manager that just left. When I pull the record for sales, the section that shows the manager's name is empty for that team's orders. How can I make it so it shows the word OPEN when that happens?

I tried

Select
    Sales_Rep_Name,
    isnull([manager_name],'open') As [Manager Name]
From 
    Salestable

but it didn't work. I also tried a case

Select
    Sales_Rep_Name,
    case    
       when [MANAGER_NAME] is null 
          then 'open'
          else [MANAGER_NAME]
    end as [Manager Name]
From
    SalesTable

The query works but the cells still show empty. Is there anything I am doing wrong? Thanks

Answer 1

@jnevill & Evan I just verified that the cell actually has a space. I switched the case to = ' ' and it works now. Thank you guys.