Welcome to another episode of Tuesday with Terry!
I gotta tell you, it’s getting crazy out here. Last week, we talked a little bit about closing the sale. And today I want to give you more ways to overcome objections, right? Many people just simply do not have enough tools to overcome objections from a prospect when they come up. And I got to share these with you because they’re hot, they’re good. And they’re gonna make you better. You got to get excited about these things!
Here we go on ways to overcome the objections.
Well, before you do anything, you have to set it up right. I love the game of golf. I go out there with a couple of my buddies and they get up on the tee box, you know when there might be a little water hazard or a lake right in front. And sure enough, what happens? You hit the ball and that ball goes kerplunk in the water. Drops right in and you turn around to your friend and you say, “I knew I was gonna do that.” Well, if you knew you were gonna do it, why wouldn’t you change what you did? Why wouldn’t you reprogram your mind? Why wouldn’t you reprogram your thought processes and your mindset and train a little bit differently and think differently. And that’s what I’m suggesting, you got to do with closing the sale.
In other words, you’ve got to think a little bit differently. And you’ve got to reprogram your head and brain to be prepared for some of these objections. Well, the best way to do that is simply tee up the sale.
One of the ways you can do that is go through a “discovery process.”
Get to know the person. You have to make a friend.
First take a sincere interest in the prospect to help them solve a problem. Whether or not they decide to buy what you’re selling or decide to sign up for what you’re offering. At the end of the day, if you make a friend regardless of their choice, they’ll walk away saying that guy was a pretty good guy, or that girl was a pretty good girl. I want to talk about those discovery questions as we use these and I’m going to give you some that we use in the health and fitness business that really tee up the ability to close at the end of the sale. And here’s what they sound like.
“Let me just ask you these questions on a scale of one to 10”
- How do you currently rate your fitness level? (Ten being the best)
- When were you in the best shape of your life? You may hear stories where they remember that that was back in college or when they were in the military or playing tennis twice a week or playing golf a lot. Ask that question because it rolls the videotape back for the prospect.
- What were you doing then that you’re not doing now?
- If nothing changes, do you think it’s going to get better? Or is it going to get worse? You know, things never stay the same? And if you don’t make any changes, are things gonna get better, are going to stay stagnant? Or do you think they’re going to deteriorate and get a little bit worse? (Most of the time people say it will probably get worse.)
- Then it sounds to me like you’re ready to make some changes. Is that the real reason why you came in here today? You wanted to come and see me today because you were looking to make some changes in your life. You know, I say this all the time. If you want to change some things in your life, you got to change some things in your life.
I’m telling you, if you’re in the business of selling, you need to ask some discovery questions.
Next is what I call the “some-day” close.
And this is how you deliver it:
“There are seven days in the week, Mrs. Jones, and some-day is not one of them. I really need to get you to go ahead and get started today. Don’t you agree?
Another practice is to actually ask for the sale.
Again, I’m specifically speaking to the membership process. But you’ve got to think about how to ask this for your business. For example, in the health and fitness business, we say, “A membership is a simple process. In order to start that process, all I need is a copy of your photo ID.” That gets them to reach for their wallet, pull out their photo ID and then you can start writing out the agreement because you have their name and their address.
Use what we call pre-close questions.
These aren’t actually closing questions, but questions that you might want to ask to help reveal how close you are to somebody being ready to close.
In our business, we say things like, “How did you feel about that workout?” We don’t ask what they think about the workout because buying and selling are emotional. So we ask people how they feel about the workout? “What did you like best about that class?” Or “what else did
you like?” We just keep having them say it and ask them questions about what else they like? Because as the salesperson, you’re supposed to talk about things that are positive. But if you can get the prospect to say it, they cannot argue with their own words. Let me ask you this question, “How many days a week could you get in here? Can you see yourself getting results with a program like this? Did you have any questions for me?” Those are great pre-closed questions.
Point out the benefits.
What are the benefits and reasons to get started today?
One of the things I tell a lot of people is you have to have a list of the top 10 benefits. Or the top 20? Or the top 30 reasons why somebody should sign up with you today. Why should somebody buy your product? Whether you’re in car sales, whether you’re in real estate sales, or whether you’re in health club sales, you have to know why somebody should go ahead and buy with you today. Know those reasons so that you have a list to refer to as you’re talking with prospects.
Be ready when someone says “I need to check with my spouse.”
We often hear this when someone is signing up. It’s not always an excuse, but a lot of times people use that as an excuse to say, “Well, I just need to check with my spouse or significant other.” And so what we say is, “Listen, can I ask you a question? Would you be willing to purchase a membership for your husband right now without him taking a look at it?” And usually the response we get is, “Absolutely not.” They couldn’t do that, because the other person hasn’t seen it? And the answer to that is, “You’re exactly right. You can’t make that decision for him without him seeing it. And tonight, when you get home, he will not be able to make that decision for you without seeing it. You see, Mrs. Jones, this is a personal decision, I have an idea, what I’d like to do is offer you a few guest passes to take home to your husband, your spouse, your partner, and perhaps you get signed up today with our money back guarantee. You invite your partner, your spouse, your husband to come in and get a couple workouts with you. If he likes it, he can get signed up. If he doesn’t, he knows that you’re investing in yourself, and you’re doing something to really improve your health and your wellness.”
I call this the “if you leave me now” close.
Maybe you’ve heard the song from back in the 70s, If you leave me now….
“Let me ask you a question. Mrs. Jones. If you leave here today without getting started, then that does not get you closer to your goal of losing weight, getting in shape, and looking your best. If you get started today, aren’t you getting closer to the goal? Or if you leave without getting started? Is that going to take you further away from the goal?
You have to ask that question because a lot of times people say, “I came in here for a reason today.”
Next is the “merry-go-round of life” close.
This is when people procrastinate and procrastinate and procrastinate in the merry-go-round of life. You know this, right?
It goes something like this: People say, “Well, I’m not going to do it until after Easter. I’ve got to wait until Easter holiday gets over and then I’ll go ahead and get started.” And then after Easter, they say, “Well, we were so busy with the kids in school, we’ve got to wait until the kids get out of school and this summer I’m really going to make a commitment to it”. And then summer comes and they’re on vacation and they’re all over the place. And the kids are away at camp and they have plans with the family. And they tell you that they’’re just going to hold off and do it when the kids get back into school and school season is the busiest ever. They are just gonna have to wait until the holidays and then the holidays come around and you know nothing is happening any busier than the holidays and boy, we put that off to New Year’s resolution and New Year’s resolution starts and we just have to get back into our schedule until we say wait, I’m just going to hold off until Easter. And we find ourselves in a year where we’ve procrastinated and procrastinated. You see many times you get on the merry-go-round and it goes around and around and around and you get off the same place as you get on. Let’s not put this off another day. Let’s stop procrastinating and let’s get started investing in yourself, helping you look your best, and feel your best.
Let’s get started today.
The “invitation” close is a simple alteration to your words.
People love to be invited to anything. Like being invited to a party. We love to be invited, even if we don’t go, but we love to be invited. So you simply use the words to say, “Mrs. Jones, I would like to invite you to become our newest client” or “I’d like to invite you to become our newest member.” Just remember that inviting people to become part of what you’re doing or what you’re selling is a winner.
Now, this one is “when in doubt, start filling out paperwork”close.
Sometimes you get stuck, I get it. I’ve been there, I’ve gotten stuck myself. I have found that many times you can grab the agreement and start filling out the paperwork. The customer is probably going to say, “What are you doing?” You can answer, “Well, I was under the impression that you wanted to go ahead and get started and take care of this today.” And they may say, “Yeah, but I’m not ready to do that.” This allows you to go back to asking questions like, “What’s holding you back, Mrs. Jones?” That will open up a door for them to tell you what their objections are. And then you can handle those objections with specific rebuttals.
Finally, we discuss the “doctor” close.
When I go to the doctor, I never look for tips. I’m not looking for a doctor that gives me ideas or suggestions or tips about things. I’m looking for a doctor to give me a prescription. When you’re talking to your clients, specifically in the health and wellness business, you’ve got to make sure that you’re giving a prescription. For example, “You know, Mrs. Jones, this is not a tip that we’re talking about, you are investing in your health. I’m not asking you to maybe do it or suggest that you should do this. I’m telling you. I’m in the business of making people healthier and helping them to look better and feel better from the inside out. And isn’t that what you really came in here for today? This is the prescription that you really need to make the changes you desire.”
These new closes will help you add to your tools for closing. , enjoy those closes. I suggest that you practice and rehearse them. I used to practice these in my car until I could commit them to memory and then when they were brought up with people, I would go ahead and use those as my rebuttals. I hope you got some tips out of today.
Again, my name is Terry. I’m your friend and I’m trying to help you close more sales.
Have a wonderful March. Talk to you next Tuesday.