trying to CLOSE but worried about job loss-

If you want to close a sale and a prospect says he/she want's the product(windows) but they cannot commit because they are worried about the economy and worried they may be laid off; what is a good sales response to that?

"mr salesman,we like the window but just cannot commit now because we want to make sure we are'nt layed off because of the economy;everyone is getting layed off"...

i was told to say buy now because when the economy gets better prices will go up. thats great but i don't see how that response aswers the prospects concern about a possible lay off. any thoughts/idea's?
thanks -vinyl_sales

Joe, I understand perfectly how you feel about your job. Here are maybe one or two ways we can solve this for you. We could put this on a layaway for you with no interest, we'll protect the price for you should they go up, and I can probably negotiate a modest restocking charge instead of our noraml 25% should the worst happen. That would work wouldn't it?

If he says that yeah but I really need them now, not months from now.... Well Joe, I think that there is a solution to that too, but it requires a modest payment each month that will cost a little more over the long run, but we could maybe get them delivered to you by the weekend? If the worst happened, what would be the least that you could afford comfortably?

Not knowing the intricasies of your business, this would be my approach to it.

Aloha... Tom :cool: -rattus58

we sell vinyl windows so he is looking at about 12k. i imagine its important to offer financing with no payments for 6 months or a year ect...?
we would'nt put windows on lay a way. good idea's though.i appreciate the response. -vinyl_sales

Someone once told me that in the arena of negotiating, the art involves arguing the mans price or his method of payment, I just sorta reversed this a little.

Much Aloha... :cool: -rattus58

1. Validate the prospect. "Mr. Customer, I sure do appreciate you sharing that information with me. It's important that I know about your concerns, so thank you."

2. Ask permission to continue discussion. "Would it be okay if we talk about that?"

3. (assuming customer said "yes" to No. 2): "Let me ask you this important question: When you called us out here to talk to you about redoing your siding (I'm assuming that's what you sell), Is it correct for me to assume that you really were interested in getting your siding replaced on your house and you weren't just going through this exercise for the fun of it?

4. Customer says either (A) "yes, I really was interested..." or (B) "well, I was interested but I'm concerned about the economy."

5. (If A): So you'd really like to have new siding, but your question is about giving you a comfort level with the decision to move forward, is that correct?"

or

(If B): "Let me answer that question for you, because it's a good question."

6. Address the objection. If you've been getting minor closes during your demo/appointment, you should be able to breeze through this objection with many prospects. One possibility is what has been suggested to you. Some other possibilities:

- "I really want to applaud you on keeping up your home and not letting it fall into disrepair. Some of our most challenging jobs are with homes that should have had their siding replaced five or ten years ago, but they waited too long and now they have some real problems. You want to prevent problems, right?" etc...

- "The great thing is that you have the money to do this project and if you're like most of my customers, your home is one of your largest investments, am I right? So keeping the value in your investment is important to you, isn't it?" etc...

- Those are just a couple ideas...how to handle this objection really depends upon all the sales process that comes before the closing step.

If you have a lot of challenges with this objection, then I would preemptively address it during your presentation. That will take the wind out of that objection's sails for many (most) of your prospects.

Best of luck finding a workable strategy.

Skip



6. -Skip Anderson

Have you tried showing him the benefits of his windows? Are they going to be saving him energy? Similar to Skip Anderson I would suggest going the route of it's an investment that makes your home more energy efficient and will save you money in the long run. This is actually a cost cutting opportunity that will increase the value of your home. We sell software and have been running into this same scenario (bad economy can't spend) and this is the approach we take. Good luck. -bg1229

Dear vinyl

Let me say that I am impressed that you care about the fact that the customer is about to be laid off. Many sales people do not care. They just want to make the sale. Your compassion for the customer will show and ultimately work to your advantage.

Warmest Regards -MPrince

I’m sorry but I don’t see this as a valid objection, for a couple of different reasons as well I look at this objection as a red hearing to keep you from moving forward by eliciting sympathy.

First is my experience that a client relayed to me who was interested in buying vinyl windows. His thoughts on that were it seemed like the saleslady, was reading from a script. His second objection was the fact that they started out at $16,000 bucks & for no reason started to incrementally reduce their price to $12,000 bucks.

Obviously this salesperson fell off the cliff by not giving their best price up front & definitely lost repoir with this client.

My other concern is this, if this was a valid reason why would they have you drive across town to asses their project if they are concerned about job loss. In short what you are allowing them to do is put you in the same boat if you accept this reason. Imagine what your Sales Manager said to themselves when you returned to home base with this objection. In likelihood they said that they would give the next qualified lead to a closer. (Please don’t take offense but that is what happens)

Going back to Skip’s diplomatic approach to handling the objection, definitely. Takeing this approach a step further & identifying their root concern………money. Just can’t take any shortcuts getting there to address this concern.

What I would do, following Skips advice, is find out how much they thought it would cost, take the difference between what they thought it would cost & your price & transition to a reduction to ridiculous close. Ie $ 12,000 - $8000 = 4000 / divide by number of years they will own the house $4000/5 = 800/ divide by # days of the year 365 = $2.19 more than what they were preparing to spend.

Making the assumption that the windows you are selling are impact resistant, & have a better “R” factor than the ones they currently have this is easily offset by daily energy savings & insurance mitigation factors.


j.p.o -DIAMONDSTAR

I’m sorry but I don’t see this as a valid objection, for a couple of different reasons as well I look at this objection as a red hearing to keep you from moving forward by eliciting sympathy.

First is my experience that a client relayed to me who was interested in buying vinyl windows. His thoughts on that were it seemed like the saleslady, was reading from a script. His second objection was the fact that they started out at $16,000 bucks & for no reason started to incrementally reduce their price to $12,000 bucks.

Obviously this salesperson fell off the cliff by not giving their best price up front & definitely lost repoir with this client.

My other concern is this, if this was a valid reason why would they have you drive across town to asses their project if they are concerned about job loss. In short what you are allowing them to do is put you in the same boat if you accept this reason. Imagine what your Sales Manager said to themselves when you returned to home base with this objection. In likelihood they said that they would give the next qualified lead to a closer. (Please don’t take offense but that is what happens)

Going back to Skip’s diplomatic approach to handling the objection, definitely. Takeing this approach a step further & identifying their root concern………money. Just can’t take any shortcuts getting there to address this concern.

What I would do, following Skips advice, is find out how much they thought it would cost, take the difference between what they thought it would cost & your price & transition to a reduction to ridiculous close. Ie $ 12,000 - $8000 = 4000 / divide by number of years they will own the house $4000/5 = 800/ divide by # days of the year 365 = $2.19 more than what they were preparing to spend.

Making the assumption that the windows you are selling are impact resistant, & have a better “R” factor than the ones they currently have this is easily offset by daily energy savings & insurance mitigation factors.


j.p.o -DIAMONDSTAR

I also doubt that this a condition that prevents this sale. If it was truly a condition this client had some responsibility to cancel their appointment rather than wasting this salespersons time & money driving across town to work with this prospect. Somewhere along the line (With All respect to Vinyl Sales), within the sales process something wasn’t handled correctly, either qualification, presentation, or objections. This as a Red Heering. Going back and politely addressing this clients concern & then moving forward to uncover the true objection could have yielded a different result.



j.p.o -DIAMONDSTAR

Diamond I have better much better things to do than to get into a spitting contest with you. The difference is clear...you believe that people don't tell the truth and I believe that people are genuinely honest. If my client tells me that he is afraid of getting laid off from his job then I believe that. Now, does that mean I will not make that sale? Absolutely not! It means that I find a way that will not be so financially burdensome to the client so he can feel at ease with the transaction.

Warmest Regards -MPrince

It means that I find a way that will not be so financially burdensome to the client so he can feel at ease with the transaction.

So then how would you handle it ? -DIAMONDSTAR

That is a question best asked of a person that sells that product which I do not. If I did then I could answer that question. Now this conversation is over. -MPrince

I have given this subject a lot of thought .Statistically speaking 7% of our clients can fall into this grouping. Realistically 1-2% falls into this group.

How do I answer someone who throws this at me? How do I convince the client to spend more today on a product that fits their need better or do I allow them to buy a lesser product to get them by for today.


I finally had enough thought of this condition or thought condition more to point. I called an old mentor of mine. The very first sales person I ever had the pleasure of working with. While talking he spoke wise words; what about my price? After all this is a price concern. He made me think and made this statement those are the same clients who will throw in your over qualified for this task.

I said you are right. This just happened to one of our staff last week. I asked him what else this client asked him. At that moment he said the client told him he was over qualified to do the job. Today I received a call from this client who did not move forward with us. They called to inform me of our high price and how dare a plumber want that much for an easy job. They were college graduates with a master’s degree and did not make that kind of money. -rich34232

Rich, I want to split your post into two separate thoughts. The first is conditions & the second are objections.

A condition in my mind is somebody that can’t afford what you are offering, they don’t have the money. This is something that we can’t get around. Certainly, I would like to buy a Bentley, but I can’t afford it (Today at least).

An objection is a request for more information. A reason to justify your price. Yeah, money is the root reason for most objections & somewhere along the line we not only need to justify our price, but we also have to carefully distinguish between conditions & objections.

Depending on where your clients reasoning is either to do it themselves or hire somebody else at a lesser price, the defects will certainly show through in either time, money or both. It is an unfortunate fact too many homeowners opt for less & end up paying substantially more in the long run.

Truth is a properly hung window, or a properly brazed pipe has too much value to allow your clients to go any other direction. In illustration using stainless steel screws as compared to zinc coated screws makes a huge difference in quality of workmanship and price. That $21.00 tube of Vulcam outperforms that $1.99 tube of Adhesive by a long shot. There are no shortcuts to providing a quality service or product.

Whatever your sales strategy is sometimes illustrating the pros & cons is the way to go. IE is time important, “yes” if you do it it will take this long, & if we do it will take this long. In jest you would probably have it done before they returned from Home Depot, the 1st time.

I hope I have properly illustrated the difference between conditions & objections, as well provided some ammunition in regards to price justification.

j.p.o


-DIAMONDSTAR