It is early Monday morning and you stop into a prospect and make a GREAT presentation, the prospect asks tons of questions, you need to get a few things for the customer to help answer their questions. They ask you to come back early TOMORROW, they tell you they want to move quickly on this and you have no problem with that at all.
You show up the next day bright and early, everything is ready. You have all the promised information and you have the contract all filled out and ready to be signed. The prospect is all go until you hand them the pen and they tell you they will get back to you TOMORROW!
The next day you hear nothing so you call the customer late in the day. They tell you they have been so busy they haven’t had time to consider it please call them back TOMORROW!
The next day you hear nothing in the morning, but you don’t want to seem too pushy so you wait and decide not to call that day and call TOMORROW!
The next day you call mid morning and the prospect says that they will have an answer for you by end of day. 3 o’clock comes and goes, 4 o’clock passes, at 5 o’clock you call the customer and you hear it again, I am discussing it right now, call me MONDAY!
Doesn’t it hurt just to read this scenario? The reason it hurts so much is because most of us have been in this exact situation and many of you are in it right now!
Is there a good way to push the customer to get them to sign?
I am a believer in honesty, I don’t like it when reps make false statements or outright lie about things to make a sale. However, I also don’t believe in prospects or customers pulling a reps chain. Our time is as important as their time and I don’t expect a prospect to waste my time any more than I want to waste theirs.
I think that a little push in a situation like this is called for. Not a lie, an incentive. The reason I make it an incentive is because it usually has an upside for the customer with no downside. What I am talking about are things like telling a customer that you will give them a discount if they sign this week, or by the end of a sale period. No increase if they don’t, just a discount if they do. It could be a novelty item as a give away to sign. Maybe an added amount of product or extended service period. Some of these things can be given with no cost to you or your company. I have seen reps go out on the internet and download information about the prospects industry and give it as a “helpful” sheet when the prospect signs.
A little imagination and you can come up with lots of “SPECIAL” programs and value added information to keep the prospect from telling you to come back TOMORROW!
Lorin
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