The better prepared for the objection you are before you make the sales call, the more likely you’ll get past the customer’s blocks.
‘I want to think about it’ or ‘I need some time to think it over’ are among the most frustrating expressions a salesperson can hear from a customer. You feel helpless, or if you’ve been poorly trained, you may lapse into some manipulative dialogue that does nothing but promote self-doubt.
There’s a better way.
‘I want to think about it’ is one of the oldest sales stalls known to mankind, and I’m about to give you the ultimate response to it.
The paradox of ‘I want to think about it’ has always been that the salesperson wants to make the sale right away, and the customer has not yet seen the value or the reduced risk in doing business with the salesperson.
And often, the customer has already made up their mind, but does not want to share that with (you) the salesperson. The salesperson gets frustrated and blames the customer for their inability to decide, rather than taking responsibility for his/her own lack of sales ability and lack of preparation.
Stop blaming. Start taking responsibility. Be prepared for the objection way before you get to the sales call.
Here is what to say, here’s what to offer, and here’s how to offer it.
You say: ‘I’m an expert at what I do. You’re an expert at what you do. Let me share with you the questions you need to ask yourself, and ask of others, as you think about it.’
These are questions way beyond ‘How much is it?’ and ‘When do I really want to start?’
Hand over a list of questions about the intricacies and the value of your stuff. For example, if you’re selling IT services and data protection, here’s a list of questions that you might want to ask.
Mr Prospect, here are six things you need to think about as you’re deciding:
• How much is your data worth?
• Who is protecting your data daily?
• How much spam do you get? How much time do you spend dealing with it? What is your time worth?
• What happened the last time you lost data?
• What is a business heart attack to you?
• What’s the difference between 99 per cent guaranteed up time and 100 per cent guaranteed up time? What is the extra 1 per cent worth?
You hand the questions to the customer and read the questions out loud, and then ask him or her: ‘Would you like to think about these questions by yourself, or would you like to think about them with me?’
Keep in mind, you are the expert. The customer is depending on you for answers that he or she cannot create for themselves. Whether you’re selling life insurance, refrigerators, accounting services, new cars, or a $1 million home, most likely the customer is making a purchase one time, but for you it may be your 1,000th time making the presentation. It’s critical that you transfer confidence, not just information.
‘I want to think about it’ is your golden opportunity to give value, prove value, make the prospect think about themselves and their options, and still have an opportunity to make the sale.
The secret is that you must prepare for the ‘I want to think it over’ stall before you make the sales call. You have to positively accept the stall when it occurs. The more positive you are, the more surprised the prospect will be. And you must present my solution in exactly the manner I have described above.
When presenting this answer to the prospect, your tone must be both friendly and calm. The prospect will see that you’re prepared and at the very least be impressed – and at the very most, be both engaged and willing.
You are in complete control when you’re prepared; you have totally lost control when you’re not prepared.
This solution will not work all the time, but it will work. How often it works will be determined by how often you try it. The more you prepare for it, the better you will become at overcoming.
It’s your choice whether you want to try it or think about it.
Jeffrey Gitomer is an American author, professional speaker and business trainer, who writes and lectures internationally on sales, customer loyalty and personal development. © 2017 All rights reserved. Don’t reproduce this document without written permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.
