I recently had an important sales lesson crammed into my skull.
It’s a lesson that I’ve known for years but haven’t thought about for a while.
And not keeping this lesson in mind at all times during the sales process is complete SALES DEATH!
Seems a bit dramatic but it’s true.
And since it’s so important I wanted to share it with you so you can get more sales today.
So a couple weeks ago my wife and I strolled into one of those large department stores that sells just about everything like fridges, TVs, grills, washer/dryer sets etc.
We were looking for a new barbeque grill because we just moved into a new house and wanted an upgrade (I have some more lessons that I learned from buying the house but I’ll save those for another day).
So it’s the weekend before Labor Day and as we are walking in I can just hear those large flat-screen TVs calling my name. We weren’t even thinking of buying one that day but decided to go have a look because we were looking to upgrade to a new TV soon.
So we walk around the numerous TVs and the salesman points out a new model “LED” TV they just got and it’s a great deal because they just lowered the price over $1,000. The TV is slim, has a great picture and all the other bells & whistles you could ask for.
I’m very interested and I don’t hide it!
I ask distinct buyer questions like how do you mount it on the wall, what does it come with, and how soon it can be delivered.
The salesman at this point goes on to talk about how you can buy on credit, and the 0% interest rate, their 30-day price guarantee where they match any other store, etc.
And I’m thinking “Credit? 0%? I never asked about that stuff and I basically said I want the dang thing so close me!”
But he doesn’t.
At that point since he didn’t push at all I started to question the purchase and I ask him, “well Labor Day is on Monday, do you think it will go on sale even more?”
He then says to me, “It might. Our biggest sales of the year are on Labor Day. Do you want me to call you on Monday and let you know?”
Call me? I was in a hot buying mode and my brain was practically disconnected with my wallet. I was just about to spend over $3,000 on a TV and all he had to do was close me. He could have said just about anything to get me to buy.
But he made the mistake of not overcoming an objection and DELAYED the sale. In fact he took my objection and amplified it by saying he’d call me later if the price did come down.
So what should he have said?
What he should have said was, “It’s possible it might go on sale. But it’s already over $1,000 off and I doubt it will come down further. But lucky for you even if it does come down we have that 30 day price guarantee so if the price goes down or you find it cheaper anywhere else we’ll beat it by 10%. I’d really hate for you to miss out on this because I’ve never seen a deal like this on one of our new models. In fact I’ll call you personally if the price goes down further and we’ll take care of it over the phone. So which wall mount were you thinking of getting with this TV?” etc.
See what I did? I took the objection, covered it, and then I started the closing process. If I (as the customer) would’ve balked or shown hesitation I’d know there were more objections and I’d back up and cover those and then try to close again.
Just rinse and repeat.
But he didn’t so he lost out. And I KNOW they work on commission so he also missed out on money going into his pocket. Bummer.
But wait, it gets worse.
After the salesman and I exchange cards we walk over to the barbecue grills. Now the grill was not an impulse. We researched earlier and found two grills that we were going back and forth on and we wanted to go into the store to get a salesperson to help us decide on which one to get.
My point is we were going in to BUY one.
So we get over to the grills, ask the saleswoman about both, listen to her facts and opinions about both grills and we make a decision. We pick out a grill and then I decided to ask her, “Do you think it might go on sale on Monday since it’s labor day?”
And she responded, “You know this grill goes on sale every now and then. I could call you next week on Labor Day and let you know if it does.”
Are you kidding me?
These two salespeople were practically talking me out of everything I wanted.
We went into the store to buy a grill, happened to find a TV to buy as well but we walked out empty handed. Nothing.
My wife and I were shocked (she was once in sales herself).
So why did this happen?
Both of these salespeople DELAYED the sale and wussed out with the “I’ll call you on Monday”. And they even had a perfectly good tactic to get around the price/labor day sale objection. The 30 day price guarantee was DESIGNED by the store to overcome this exact objection. But the salespeople didn’t use the tool that was given to them and delayed the sale anyway.
Now the store designed that 30 day guarantee tool specifically because they know that DELAY is the death of the sale.
Always remember that!
The old saying is “ABC” or “Always Be Closing”. The reason why that saying is so popular in sales is because DELAY IS THE DEATH OF A SALE…and I’ll prove it now.
After I left the store I did some research on TVs that night. I found that I wanted a slightly different model and that Amazon had it, so I bought it from them. I then did further research on grills and picked out an entirely different model and we went into a DIFFERENT store and paid more than double what I originally planned to at the first store (so you know price wasn’t a major concern).
So even though I put up the objection about price, I didn’t really care. Sure I wanted the best deal but when people want something they want it now. So close them! Don’t let them delay.
When I was talking to those salespeople I wanted to make a purchase but needed help, a little push would have done it. But they both delayed the sale and neither one of them made the commission.
What’s funny is the TV salesman never ended up calling me and the grill saleswoman only called me once and left a pitiful voice mail saying something like, “The grill didn’t go on sale so I’ll keep my eye on it and call you later” which she never did.
But even if they followed up they lost because they didn’t close the sale the first time.
I had already bought a grill and TV from someone else. Too bad to because I liked both of the salespeople because they were helpful and nice, but that alone doesn’t make sales.
So the moral of the story is…
DELAY IS THE DEATH OF SALES
We as humans try to put off decisions, especially ones that involve spending money and if we as salespeople or business owners let our customers delay then we run a very high risk of losing the sale. I dare say it’s a 95% chance or higher that you’ll lose the sale in situations like this. Sure you need to keep on following up with prospects if they don’t buy but don’t let following up distract you from making the sale the first time.
So always remember to never let your prospects delay. Just that one tip alone will make you a lot more commissions and sales!
