When you're in sales you will at sometime hear your customers say, "I have to think about it" or "I have to think it over". This can be discouraging to hear, but there is an easy way of overcoming this objection and it will help you close more sales once you begin employing it.
There are some times when this statement really is the case and your customer honestly just needs to step back and mull the decision over a little. However, this is really quite rare, unless what you sell is very new or very unique and this is the first time that it is being presented to them. When you hear this phrase from a customer, it can be safe to assume that there is a specific reason why they have decided not to purchase and they are not telling you the real reason why. It seems to most people that it is more polite to say, "I want to think it over", rather than express the real reason that they have "cold feet".
When you hear the "I want to think about it" objection, there are several reasons why this happened, but here we will address only the three most common reasons. Focusing in on only these three reasons is usually enough to encourage your customer to open up to you so that you can discover the real reason why they have decided not to buy. Here are the three reasons:
- You have said something that has confused them and they feel they need to do more research before they can make an informed decision -- this can include verifying the price.
- They do not like the product or it is not what they thought it was and it is no longer needed or wanted.
- You have rubbed them the wrong way and they just don't feel comfortable buying from you.
So here is the best way to overcome their objection. When your customer says, "I want to think about it"; take a deep breath and very politely say something like this, "Sure, no problem, but before you go may I ask you something? (get their approval before continuing) I have been in sales a long time and usually when someone tells me that they have to think it over it means one of three things; either there is a problem with the price, the product or it is something I said or did...which one of these is it for you?"
I have never had a customer be offended with this question and in almost all cases you will discover that it is at least one of these three things. It will then be your job to discover if this is their only objection or, in other words, isolate the objection. Once you know what their real reason(s) is, you now have a second chance to back up and try to recover the sale. Many times your customer will appreciate your frankness and it can often put them at ease because you have very respectfully allowed them to get the real reason off of their chest. Most people are basically honest and feel uncomfortable when they have withheld the truth.
By the way, don't be too surprised if they reconsider and you make the sale on the spot!