Ad Sales People – Wake Up!
As salespeople, we hear this put-off so many times that you’d think we’d be masters at dealing with it, and yet that’s rarely the case. Most of us falter, saying “Well, why don’t I give you a call next week?” We tell our manager that everything looks good; the prospect just wants to think about it.
Why Use an Auto-reaction
There’s no better way to deal with this put-off, which is a well planned and well rehearsed response. We need to develop an auto-reaction that quickly comes to mind the moment we hear “I want to think about it.” What’s an auto-reaction? It’s the words that automatically come to your head in response to a stimulus from another person. For example, whenever a retail clerk says, “Hi. Can I help you?” your auto-reaction is, “No thanks. Just looking.”
Before you develop a few auto-reactions, let’s examine where the I-want-to-think-about-it put-off comes from. There are five primary sources:
The prospect truly needs to think about it.
The prospect is concerned about the price and/or unsure about the value.
The prospect is a procrastinator and never makes a fast decision.
The prospect has no intention of buying and wants you to disappear.
Someone else’s approval is needed before moving ahead.
Reason five should have been figured out during the qualifying process (“Who else, besides yourself, will be involved in signing an I/O?”). There is little you can do about reason four except take the hint and move on. For reason three, find out how much time they need and let them have it. The relationship will close for you, and relationships can’t be built on 1 call. If you push too hard at this point, reason four may come into play. If it’s a well qualified deal, and you have reasonable agreed upon value, it will close.
So that leaves reasons one and two as candidates for developing an auto-reaction. The fundamental process for dealing with this put-off is to get the prospect to tell you what they want to think about. While this sounds simple, you can’t just blurt out, “What do you need to think about?” and expect to get to the real answer. Remember, you want to get them talking about their concerns.
Developing Your Auto-Reaction
The first part of an auto-reaction, as with handling an objection, is that you need to have a neutral acknowledgment of the prospect’s concern. An ideal phrase, “I understand how you feel” works for any technology or solution. It’s best to embellish it a bit to show empathy for the prospect so it comes out as, “I understand how you feel. If I was in your shoes, I’d probably want to think about it as well.”
The second part depends upon what I think the concerns might be. If I think the stumbling block is reason two (price/value) I might ask, “Tell me, are you concerned about the cost?” or “Is it the cost that’s holding you back?”
If the prospect says, “Frankly, yes,” then you know you’re dealing with a price objection and better give additional value or it’s a no-sale. If you are not sure, just ask, “Specifically, where does the hesitation come from? Perhaps we can help”.
If the prospect’s reason for wanting to think about it stems from some hidden concern (reason one), the best you can do is getting the concern into the open where you may be able to do something about it. That means you have to get them talking about it. Most of all, you have to ask questions and LISTEN. The same rules apply. The first thing out of your mouth is an acknowledgment followed by something like:
“May I ask what concerns you still have?”
“May I ask what’s causing you to hesitate?”
“May I ask what questions I’ve left unanswered?”
“May I ask what your final decision will be based on?”
So the auto-reaction sounds something like this: “I understand how you feel. If I was in your shoes, I’d probably want to think about it as well. (pause) May I ask what concerns you still have?”
It Looks Good But…
Sometimes you get the sense the prospect has positive feelings about your offering but something is stopping them from buying now. You can help them rebuild a sense of urgency and rekindle their desire for the product/service by having them restate the benefits to you. This is called the Re-statement method.
After you acknowledge the concern, say something like this:
“Which parts of the I/O do you like best?” (Then ask, “Why?”)
“or”
“How do you see yourself benefiting from our Ads (it is always not so apparent).
“or”
“Which part of your proposal do you feel are most important to you?”
Summary
It is easy to see how this works…so be prepared! There is absolutely no doubt that you’re going to hear “I want to think about it” many times during your career so you might as well prepare for it now. Write out your response on a three-by-five card and carry it around in your pocket until you memorize it and it becomes your auto-response to one of the world’s most popular put-offs.
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