Guys….have you ever presented an offer to a customer/client…and they kept saying “Let me think about it”…over and over again?
This is the very last close I ever use. If they say anything other than “Yes” after this, they are a lost cause. I’ve personally used this close as a last ditch effort, and really…it gets me a sale more than half the time.
And that means it gets me a sale from someone that wasn’t going to buy.
The problem is, when someone says “Let me think about it….sometimes they really mean it. They really think that after you leave, they will talk about your offer and give it real consideration.
The problem is…other things get in the way, your offer is put off, and nothing happens.
So even though the prospect sometimes doesn’t consider “Let me think about it” as a “No”. It really is. Why? Because nobody is more interested in your offer after you leave. They are the most likely to buy from you…while you are there. They are in “Heat”…and the cooling off process begins the moment you walk out the door, or hang up the phone.
This is my “Step outside to let them think about it close”: As far as I know, I created it myself after years and years of watching sales that were “Almost made” go down the drain.
This close works better if there are two or more people you are selling to. I’ve used it hundreds of times in people’s homes, but I know it would work in an office, if you are talking to two or more people.
You can use this in a home, office, or in your place of business. This is if you are selling two people. Husband/wife, partners, sisters, parent/young person…whatever. This is the last close I use, if they want to “Think it over”. This is after I’ve tried a few other methods, and it works beautifully. In fact, it gets a “Yes” better than half the time. This is the last close I’ll use if they want “to think about it”.
It only works if there are two or more prospects in the room. They say, “Well, you know, we don’t make decisions like this quickly. We need to talk it over…and we’ll let you know. What are your hours again?” If you give your hours, that’s it. So don’t.
I say…. “I understand. It’s important that you are both happy. And you won’t both know what the other one thinks, until you have a chance to talk privately.” (And I keep going)
“I’ve been doing this for a long time. And I’ve asked people what they talked about after they left. And you know what? Here’s what they always tell me. Every time…one looks at the other and says ‘What did you think?’. and the other one says one of four things; ‘I wish we would have got it, I wish we wouldn’t have got it, I’m glad we didn’t get it, or I’m glad we did this’….and that’s pretty much the end of that conversation…forever.” And then I continue, “I’m going to go (to the car, to get a drink of water, make a phone call, whatever) and I’ll be back in a few minutes. If you have a question that I can answer, when I get back….I’ll answer it. I’ll be right back” And without hesitation, I get up, and walk out the door.
And about 60% of the time, I come back a few minutes later…and they buy. And 40% of the time, they don’t. And there isn’t anything after that close.
Now, you need to know something about when you say, “I’m going to go (to the car, to get a drink of water, make a phone call, whatever) and I’ll be back in a few minutes. If you have a question that I can answer, when I get back….I’ll answer it. I’ll be right back”….. ……The part that’s bolded? That’s one run on sentence. There is no gap between, “I’ll answer it” and, “I’ll be right back.” If you leave a gap, one will say, “Well, we would rather talk it over for the next few days” or something equally bad.
And you never…never ask, “Is that OK?” at the end, because the answer will be, “Well, we really need to leave now” or, “Well, we wanted to sleep on it”. And if you are in their office or in their home…when you come back into the room, if one of them is there, and not the other? The answer is “No”. One of them just didn’t want to face you. In my retail store, I just go into the back and drink some water..or answer an e-mail..
Three minutes is a long time to leave a couple alone. Maybe two minutes. I don’t even say anything when I come back. I just stand there with a stupid grin on my face. They either say “Yes”, and have a question…or say some variation of, “We’ll let you know”…which means “No”.
If done well, it’s devastating. It forces them to hash it out between them…and that process really only does take a minute. This is so effective, it may look evil. [B]But what it does is let them both say what they think. And usually, they just want to make sure that the other one wants it too. [/B]
Now, I just posted a thread about using my “Best answer to any objection”. It may seem like this replaces that. and it essentially does. If I’m talking to a CEO, or a single person… I’ll use the “I only want happy clients” approach (in the last thread). If I’m talking to a couple, I’m more likely to use this as a last ditch effort to force a decision (I’m perfectly happy if the answer is “No”)
This is the close I used as my final effort to get a sale…for years. This is if they keep saying “We’ll let you know” and “We’ll call you next week”.
Remember, this really only works if they were being serious when they said they were going to think it over. If they are simply being polite, ans the answer is really “No”…nothing can turn it around.
