Go With The Flow When You Hear No

The title today is often the key response for navigating those aggravating excuses.  Go with the flow when they say “no.”  Are you too often derailed right in the middle of the closing process?  Your good sales pitch and smooth closing process may not be enough.  In this episode find a key response to get back on track.  Taking a detour WITH your prospect may give you the advantage you need to close the sale.

You’ve all heard aggravating excuses such as “I’m interested, but I need a few days to think about it,” or “I really need to talk to Susan about this.  She is also involved in the decision-making process.”  What you WANT to do in that situation is rebuttal, “What do you mean you’re not interested!?  I thought all your questions were answered.  What other question could you possibly have?”  I’m not saying that is always the wrong strategy.  And to do that IS always tempting.  However, often you should try to “go with the flow when you hear ‘no.’”

My recent experience explains the way I visualize this in my mind.  I was driving on a highway in another state.  Google maps indicated a roadblock ahead, evidently an accident.  I could imagine the change on Google maps:  “Traffic has increased.  Your estimated arrival time is now…”  I hate when that happens!  As I looked more carefully, I saw that the accident was right at an overpass.  I was able to exit the off ramp, turn around in a hotel parking lot, and miss the accident by entering the highway again at the on ramp.

There is a parallel to this in sales.  An excuse such as, “I really need to talk to Susan who is also involved in the decision” comes during a sales pitch.  That prospect is basically trying to take the “off ramp.”  You want to keep him/her on the highway to make a big sale.  There are two possible responses.

>Block the “off ramp” and try to tow the prospect back to the main road.  This is difficult to accomplish.

>Take the easier approach, “Sure, let’s take the ‘off ramp.’  Why not?”  Take the ramp WITH the prospect.  Lead the way.  Lead the prospect off the ramp, around the U-turn, and back to the “on ramp.”  Then go right back into the sales flow.

Here is the conversation during this detour:

Prospect:  “I really need to talk to Susan.  She is involved in the decision as well.”

You:  “Well, of course, I would never want you to make a decision with which you’re not 100% comfortable.  I understand that.  We need to get all the decision-makers involved.  Now, just as a lawyer would be consulted for legal advice in a legal decision, you would both want to talk to me as the payment processing expert for this decision.  I certainly want to make sure I’m there to help you make an informed decision.  Let’s all three get together.  Will you tell me a good time and place?  I will be there.  How about Thursday of this week?  Is there a time when I can get together with the two of you?”

[At this point, we’ve just taken the “off ramp.”  Your prospect is thinking, “Oh, what a nice guy. He isn’t trying to push me.  He is agreeing that this makes sense.  He’s a professional just like a lawyer is a professional.”]

Prospect:  “Sure, let’s talk Thursday at 2:00 then, James.  I’m really looking forward to it.”

You:  “Great!  I will look forward to talking with you then.  Just so I can be prepared – I always like to be prepared for these meetings – in your mind right now what would you say is maybe the one or two crucial points important to making the right decision?  Just so I can make sure I have all the relevant information, what are the main things you are thinking through right now to make sure you make the right decision with this?”

[That line is the “on ramp.”  More often than not you will get the real objection now.]

Prospect:  If the response is, “Well, I actually really like it.  I think we are ready to move forward.  I just want to talk to Susan and make sure I have her go-ahead,” then you just confirm the Thursday appointment at 2:00.  The more likely response might be, “Well, I thought the savings was going to be more than that,” or some similar concern.

You:  “Oh sure, let’s walk through that right now just to make sure we are kind of moving forward with this.  Let me talk about the savings.”

Now you know this doesn’t really have anything to do with Susan.  Go back in and try to close the deal.  And because you took that detour WITH the prospect, you now have an appointment for Thursday at 2:00 in case you still can’t close the deal with this individual to whom you’re talking.  If you don’t close, before leaving just say, “All right, no problem at all.  I’ll see you Thursday at 2:00.”

Suppose you had blocked the “off ramp” in this example.  When you requested an appointment on Thursday at two, you probably would’ve heard, “No, that’s fine.  I’ll talk to Susan.  We’ll let you know if we are interested.”  The prospect would be ticked at you for blocking the ramp.  He/she wouldn’t want to give you any information.

This is a perfect illustration of our subject:  go with the flow when they say “no.”  Taking the detour WITH your prospect often gets you back to the “on ramp.”  It will give you the advantage you need to close the sale.

Read the previous post here:  http://bit.ly/2npaHxU  Try Honesty; It Works – Cash Discounting Update

Read the next article here:  http://www.ccsalespro.com/leasing-isnt-evil-changed-mind/  Leasing Isn’t Evil.  Why I Changed My Mind