Quote:
When a prospect states UP FRONT that they want to look around, he/she is attempting to set the stage, just as salespeople will often set the stage. The message is intended to make clear one or two points OR BOTH. They are:
- I want your services with the understanding that I will NOT make a commitment today.
- You should put your best foot forward with the very best offer because you will be competing with others.
Ace, I agree that, at least the way I think Yankee Peddler was stating the issue, "I want to look around" is not an objection.
I'd also like to add the the number one and number two reasons retail shoppers say they want to look around ar:
1. It is a learned automatic response that customers blurt out without even thinking about it.
2. It is intended to keep salespeople at bay.
Let's say a woman comes into a furniture store and she is approached by a salesperson, but says "I'm just looking." In reality, this woman has been thinking about buying a new dining table. She's not ready to buy yet, but she's starting to think about it (she's interested enough to drive to a furniture store and look at dining tables). Now, would this prospect be better off having a salesperson at her side while she looks at dining tables. I say YES, definitely. It's just that she doesn't know that yet, so she uses the automated "I'm just looking response."
That's why it's so vitally important that retail salespeople learn how to quickly engage prospects - not through pressure, and not through intimidation, but through selling skill - so the prospect will feel comfortable to talk about why they're there in the furniture store (even if they aren't planning on buying today, even if they've just started looking, even if they don't have any money, even if their husband doesn't know they're shopping, even if their brother-in-law owns a furniture store, even if she intends to go online to buy a dining table, even if she won't qualify for the store credit account, even if she always buys from a competitor, etc.).
In my estimation, 50-60% of the customers who will buy from that furniture store today started out by telling the salesperson that they were just looking.
Salespeople need to hear the customer say "I'm just looking", but then it needs to leave their brain immediately...and they need to employ their sales skills to get the customer talking. Talking customers feel comfortable. Comfortable people talk more...it's a cycle.
Now I know what some of you are thinking..."If I'm a consumer and I just want to look, you'd better not hound me or I'll be really upset and leave your store."
Sure, I get that. But hounding isn't a sales skill I teach. In fact, it's not a sales skill at all. So let's not "hound" our shoppers. But let's do something other than "OK, please look around...here's my card...let me know if you have any questions," because that doesn't work very well.
B2B salespeople can always go find another prospect. Retail salespeople have to wait until someone else walks through the door. So every prospect coming through that front door is like gold...but only if the salesperson engages the prospect.
Skip Anderson -Skip Anderson
I guess the only thing left is to ask.. "Of course, you always want to make sure you're making the right decision but hey I'm curious about something, will you help me out here for a minute?" They'll probably say sure, and go back and re-examine your process, your discoveries, your agreements on need, and your solutions.
Hopefully we can get to the point where I can ask them what else is keeping them from moving forward, since up to this point, moving forward is the prudent thing to do. Hopefully it comes down to price and we can then look at what we can then do solve what is the most important for him that we can provide in his price range.
But bottom line..... other than dialing 911... Huh works for me.... :)
Aloha... Tom shds; -rattus58