July 25th, 2007
I Need to Think it over
If you are in business and market a product or a service, chances are; at some point you will have to find some new accounts. Many times business owners are also salesmen. In other cases business owners are not salesmen but have to make sales calls. Selling can be frustrating when you are not trained in some of the basics of professional selling.
Many people we approach for business are nice people and may even like us as people. Some do not like to disappoint us and many are not confrontational. This make it difficult when you armed with an excellent power point presentation filled with value and a proposal no body could so no to. In fact nobody does, instead they say, “ I want you to know what a great job you did in your presentation today. I am very impressed and we will think it over. Why don’t you call back next week?” What do you do, smile weakly and say thank you I will call you next week and leave?
You need the business and it was nice to hear what a great job you did. Keep in mind most times in this scenario, if you leave you lose. You may never have this opportunity to sell again. Here is a method to reopen conversation.
“That is fine Doctor, I assume if you are going to use your time to think it over you must be seriously interested.” At this point they think you are about to leave, so they response, “Of course, we will give it very careful consideration.” At this point you should say, “since you are that interested in my product, what exactly is it that you are going to think over?” Do not pause but flow into, is my personal credibility, is it my company’s reputation, is it a concern about our ability to deliver on our promises? Ask several Is its, your answer should be no for most of these. If it is yes then you know what you have to speak to. After several is its, ask, is it the money. As you know most things come down to money.
When you discover it is the money, ask how much too much is it? Let’s say it is 1000 dollars too much for a fur coat. You may say, how long you expect to wear this coat. Let assume the answer is 10 years, 10 years is 3650 days. Lets divide 1000 by 3650 days equals 27 cent a day. Are you sure 27 cent a day will keep you from enjoying the warmth and comfort of this fine fur coat? Here put it on again.
Like most things this is not a sure win but it can help you keep the conversation going and minimize the money objection. Let me know how you over come the “ I will think it over objection!”
July 27th, 2007 at 10:42 am
I was in sales once, it was my first job. On hindsight, it was quite a dubious company to work with, but I do have great respect for sales pros who are doing it the proper way.
For ‘I will think it over’, depending on the type of product or service, it’s fairly easy to boil down the average objections to the top 5 major types after some experience.
After that, it’s simply a matter of accumulating enough ‘evidence’ during the countless times walking and talking on the field and using the right ‘evidence’ at the right time to win the clients’ trust.
I think that overall, for a good long relationship, I must always strive to help the client in the best possible way, and the company must ultimately deliver high calibre stuff, or else sooner or later the gap between promises and product grows too wide and everybody loses.
July 27th, 2007 at 11:47 am
Jo, great contribution to this post, thank you. I overcame being quiet and shy to become a star in sales. I only learned to sell because of the great products I represented. If I knew i had my account’s best option for solutions to their needs, then it was my duty to help them from making a mistake. I have never been able to sell anything. Many people can but I have to have confidence in the value of my offering.