Company Doctors Magazine: Innovative ideas for profit improvement in the motor industry.
In your daily sales meetings (if you have one) this week spend time talking about an objection that has been around for years. “I want to think it over”. Go over the following thoughts and tips in your meeting and change your teams thinking on this common, ever present objection.
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1. First, realise that people rarely think it over in fact it is rather presumptuous to believe that a customer is going to walk around, talking to friends, spending time in discussion or in quiet corners, thinking over our product. People would rather do almost anything than think. So, instead of thinking about it, they keep looking around for something else to put it out of their mind completely.
2 Second, realise that you will never overcome this objection without finding out what the “it” is. “I’ll think it over” in its own sense does not give you enough to go on. Find out what the “it” is and you have a chance of making the sale.
3 Third, you can find the “it” by learning to clarify the objection. In other words, when a customer wants to think it over ask them “what exactly is it that you want to think over, is it the colour, features, the way it looks, the way it drives, is it something I have done wrong, is it the price?” Always put what you think it really is last. Most often it will be the price, although the customer may not want to volunteer that right away. That is why you have got to help them by clarifying. By providing choices, you make it easier for them to come clean as to why they are not buying and also you give yourself the ammunition you need to work on the objection.
4 Fourth, once you find the “it” isolate it to make sure that it is the only thing holding them back. Remember if you have not covered all their “Hot Buttons” in your presentation they could just be holding out.. If they say well I have to admit, it’s a little more than I wanted to spend, respond with a further clarification and then isolate it. First ask, When you say the price is a little higher than you had in mind, are you going to pay cash, or do you prefer as most people do to make payments?.
Two key words to isolating an objection are “other than that is there any thing else”.
If you fail to isolate the objection the customer has the opportunity to throw more objections at you down the line as you are closing the sale.
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By GlobalData5 Remember it takes on average 5 attempts to close a sale in 80% of all sales, so do not give up simply keep isolating objections until you know exactly what you have to do to make the sale. But the more you qualify in the early stages the more “hot buttons” you will find, more opportunities you will have of overcoming the objection of “I want to think it over”
Practice clarifying, “I’ll think it over” today, and then isolating the objection. From there, it is up to you to overcome what you find. “I’ll think it over” will always be a factor in the selling profession. You might as well get good at handling it and turning it into sales. Role play with your team so that they get the kinks worked out before they are in front of a customer.
You can be sure that sales people who sell 20 units a month know how to do this. What if all your sales team sold 20 a month what impact would that have on your bottom line.
“Company Doctors Magazine” is issued free of charge to interested parties who want to improve the profitability of their business, and to those who have an open and receptive mind to managing change in the 21st century.
Bill Naylor has spent 9 years studying dealers who make in excess of 5% net on turnover, visiting dealers in the Middle East, Spain, Europe, and America. He is the author of “Customer Service in the Motor Industry” and the “Retail Motor Industry Tool Kit” which has been sold world wide. He also operates from his leaning centre in Cumbria, United Kingdom a three day residential workshop covering “Sales & Marketing” and “Profit improvement from after sales”. He also operates one day dealer visits with his road show “Innovate or Liquidate its your move”.
Bill can be contacted on bill.naylor@btinternet.com or by telephoning +44 (0) 1900 881409 or
fax +44 (0) 1900 881140
