You got it. You don’t like it, but you got it.
You hope for the best, but there’s a sinking feeling inside you that says it’s not good and you’re not sure what to do about it.
You see it coming down the road from miles away, but you can’t get out of its way.
You got the dreaded, “I have to think it over” response from a prospect when you tried to close.
History tells you that luck is not on your side on this one, but you think to yourself, “This time is different. They’ll come back.”
Yeah, and the Publisher’s Clearing House folks just showed up on my doorstep with an oversized check and told me that I have won $5,000 a week for the rest of my life. (They didn’t by the way…)
Here’s the deal. Where there’s a "no" or an objection, there’s a lesson to be learned. These lessons can help you avoid the same trap the next time it’s about to happen. Simply put, a “think it over” is usually a slow "no" in disguise. About 5% of people who give you this objection will come back and buy later, but the other 95% won’t.
Why do prospects do this to you, you ask?
They do this for one of the following reasons:
So, what can you do about this?
Slow down the sales process earlier and ask more questions to uncover the compelling reasons they would commit to taking action to change and how your product or service would help them achieve this change. In addition to this, beat them to the punch of the “think it over” and agree with them up front on what yes or no means in the process and that a “think it over” is not an acceptable response.
The slower you go early on and the clearer you are with the prospect on the outcomes for the decision you’ll ask them to make, the better your chances are of steering clear of the dreaded “think it over.”