Posted on November 26, 2010 in Sales

What to do with clients who delay their buying decision

Author: Allison Babb
Allison Babb is an author, speaker and Small Business Coach to solo entrepreneurs. Allison publishes the "Small Business Success" weekly Ezine on how to create a steady stream of clients for your small business at: www.GreatSmallBusinessAdvice.com

So there you are with what seems like interested client. They called you up, expressed interest in what you have to offer, booked the consultation, seemed interested in getting together.

But after your conversation, they disappeared into “I’ll think about it and get back to you.” land. And sometimes they do return… after quite a while, finally ready to purchase. What can you do to dramatically shorten the time between “I’m interested” and “I’m ready to buy.”

So there you are with what seems like interested client. They called you up, expressed interest in what you have to offer, booked the consultation, seemed interested in getting together.

Some of the key problems with delayers are that you've presented your offer:

To someone who never intended to buy in the first place
To someone who is not ready to make a decision right now and they knew that ahead of time.
To the wrong prospect (not your ideal client, they aren’t willing to financially invest in your offer, or they're not the decision-maker)
In a canned way rather than in a client-magnetic way

I have made that mistake myself of having the entire lengthy conversation only to realize the prospect wasn’t ready to invest in anything right now so it was a premature conversation to have. So instead of wasting a lot of time presenting offers prematurely (which causes delayers), and to make sure you do a powerful presentation (to avoid delayers) consider these 4 alternatives:

1) Uncover their decision process beforehand

Sometimes prospects are truly just shopping around and they’re truly not ready to make a decision. Rather than flying blind on that, for the initial conversation with the prospect, craft some questions that will allow you to know where they are in the decision-making process.

Another part of the decision process is whether they are willing to invest at your prices, right? So I’d recommend asking a question like “If this ends up being the perfect solution for you after we talk, what would need to happen next?” This way you know, ahead of time, what barriers may exist for them in making a decision.

2) Discover the decision maker

Sometimes the delay happens because the person you’re talking to is NOT the decision maker. You’d want to know that sooner rather than later so as not to waste a lot of time and effort talking to the wrong person. Again here, you can ask questions to determine who has the final say. Questions like “Is there anyone else who needs to be involved in the final decision on xyz?” The answer to this may come out in the question above as well.

If there is someone else involved, you can either suggest that they be involved in the meeting or ask some more questions on what would be important to the absent person. Of course, having the key decision-maker there would be much better.

3) Ditch the pitch & customize your presentation

When you’re in a sales conversation or sales presentation, a big mistake made here is to tell, tell, tell all about you, your products and your services. But your prospect really doesn’t care what you’re trying to sell. They are in search of a specific ideal solution to a specific problem or burning desire.

The key thing here is that canned sales pitches are quite ineffective. If you do the exact same presentation of your services to everyone that comes along, then you’re presenting a solution before you even understand the solutions your prospect is seeking. You may also be presenting things the prospect doesn’t really care about (see “listening your way to sales” video – 3mins).

4) Present an enticing solution

So, again here, it is critical to shift your focus in the sales conversation to understanding the problem they are experiencing and the solution they are seeking. Your focus is on understanding what they want to buy vs what you want to sell. You go way deep in asking questions to genuinely understand what they want.

Only after you’ve done that level of questioning and listening can you truly make a powerfully enticing and appropriate presentation of your services. One that intimately ties into the solution and desired outcomes they just described. Assuming, of course, what they want matches what you have to offer.

When you present an offer that truly matches what the prospect has asked for (vs sharing the entire kitchen sink of services you have), then your solution becomes far more enticing. And if this is truly someone ready to invest and ready to get started, they’re more than likely to do business with you right away vs delaying.

Allison Babb is an author, speaker and Small Business Coach to solo entrepreneurs. Allison publishes the "Small Business Success" weekly Ezine on how to create a steady stream of clients for your small business at: www.GreatSmallBusinessAdvice.com