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Customer "sounds good", but recognize this? "I'd
like to think it over." You've just been hit by the Stall.
One thing that is good is the customer is interested in your detail
service (after all, they came in or called for a price.) The bad
news is something is stopping them from making an appointment.
If They Leave You've Lost Them
If you accept a stall, hoping they'll call you back, you will
lose 95% of these potential customers. Few really "think it
over," and less than 50% of them "shop around."
What a stall signals is conflict. Conflict is the agony of indecision
between the desire to buy your detail service vs. their feelings
of uncertainty and anxiety. When the desire to have your detail
service is great enough they will usually buy. You've got to overcome
the uncertainty and anxiety.
A stall usually indicates the customer does not have enough reason
to commit now. You have not given them a sense of urgency to commit.
Clearly, you obviously need to do something or lose the sale. But
what do you do?
Emphasize the Positive Emotions
A key selling strategy that is often ignored is focusing on the
customer's positive emotions about the detail service. If you can
remove an objection or negative you can neutralize a block in the
decision process. But that is not enough. The customer will buy
only when they feel a strong positive benefit. So your job is to
discover what positive benefits they see in buying your detail service
are and help them focus on the benefits. You can do this by asking
such questions as:
" How would you benefit from our detail service?
" What do you find attractive about our detail service?
" What advantage do you see in our offer?
Such questions provide you a clearer understanding of the customer's
real motivation which puts you in a better position to move them
toward a decision to purchase.
Understanding Stalls
" Stalls are an appeal for justification so help the customer
justify the purchase of your detail service.
" Stalls are a challenge of sales in any business. How will
you recognize and handle them is the key to financial success in
your detail business.
" A stall indicates the customer has positive as well as negative
feelings about your service and offer.
" Always build on the customer's positive thoughts about detailing
and at the same time satisfy any negative ones they have.
" On the call back if they stall again, get them committed
to doing something.
" If you accept a stall, that customer could be lost to the
competition.
What's Next?
Find out why the prospect needs more time to "think about
it." You might ask:
" What do I need to do to earn your business?
" What is preventing you from make an appointment today?
If they identify their reasons for not making an appointment you
have an opportunity to overcome the reasons. That is what all good
salespersons do.
It's a combination of focusing on the customer's positive thoughts
as well as identifying any blocks which offers you the best opportunity
to overcome the stall.
Rebuild the Customer's Desire
You will find customers want your service and are convinced of
its benefit, but some don't see why they need to buy. In other words
there's no sense of urgency!
You need to create the sense of urgency by selling their problem
back to them. Build the desire by reminding them of the vehicle
problems and all of its possible consequences of letting it go.
Get agreement on how bad the problem(s) are, then rescue them with
your solution - building on the positive benefits they helped you
identify earlier in the presentation.
A Legitimate Stall
There will be times when a customer has a legitimate stall. For
example, when the wife has to call the husband or a company employee
has to get approval. So you employ strategies to overcome the stall.
Say, "Can we call your husband or boss now and discuss the
service and price with him/her?"
Put the Stall to Bed
A stall is the classic sales killer unless you create a sense
of urgency for the customer to buy now.
There are many ways to do this based on the conditions of the
vehicle, the time of year and the weather in your area.
With practice, you can become very good at questioning a customer
to uncover the reason for giving you a stall. And you can learn
to help customers to understand why they will benefit from your
detail service and your solutions. NOW.
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