Full credit for this concept of “slowing down the sale” goes to Jim Palmer, the Dream Business Coach and founder of the wildly popular Dream Business Academy where I have been honored to speak.
Always give credit where due – a rising tide buoys all ships, and when you move up, the people around you move up too!
As I shared in a previous post, John, the computer repair shop manager, could have tried to install the $17.95 keyboard, gotten into trouble with it, and ruined my week (or two weeks).
He COULD have destroyed my laptop and legally hidden behind the piece of paper I signed when I brought the laptop in.
It could have cost me one new laptop, at my own expense.
Many repair shops might have done so.
Because John was willing to slow down the sale, even turn away business rather than risk doing a poor job and creating an unhappy customer experience, he earned my trust.
Indeed, he had ME doing research to persuade HIM to accept my business, after he had declined to help me!
I Did Share, In Previous Installments, How “Speed Sells, Waiting Is A Waste”.
When it comes to removing barriers to the sale, like Luis’s badly targeted sales presentation to Dave Fortunatti followed by Margie’s insistence on financing options even though Dave had the money in his checkbook, that statement is true.
Dave had already basically decided to buy the convertible before Luis showed up and almost blew the deal by failing to learn about Dave.
Then, Margie could have saved 25 minutes and a lot of frustration by just making that phone call to verify Dave’s checking account balance and taking his check.
Next, Carly’s willingness to listen and hear what Vic was really saying, rather than dismissing him as a “jerk”, got her a repeat client who was happy to let her charge $3,750 without checking with him first.
This concept was so foreign to Carly, who was used to prospects complaining and nitpicking over a $2K estimate for an entire website, she needed time to get used to it and Vic to help her appreciate what happens when you earn the trust of an affluent client.
Once she made those adjustments and this became part of HER truth, thousands of dollars flowed into her bank account for what turned out to be an easy project that Vic loved just as much as the first project.
He came back later for more projects, and referred a few of his affluent clients to her as well!
Carly and Vic eventually stopped doing business, only because Carly stopped doing web design and Vic had no immediate need for what she does these days.
But she keeps in touch with him on social media, liking and commenting on his posts regularly. Vic does the same for her. They’re great friends and business allies!
Who do you think Vic – Carly’s customer for life – will call should he find his reasons to invest in what Carly does now? What if someone he knows needs Carly’s current offerings? Who is the one and only person he’ll recommend?
Now, While All That Is True, Sometimes You Need To Slow Down The Sale.
Rushing to the “close” may deny your prospect the opportunity and the space to make the decision to invest in you for THEIR reasons, assigning THEIR values, in alignment with THEIR truth.
Buying decisions are often drive by emotion, then retroactively justified by logic.
When the logic doesn’t materialize, and your prospect’s process of aligning the deal with THEIR truth gets short-circuited, the result is buyer’s remorse.
The results of buyer’s remorse include dissatisfaction, refund requests, and negative reviews.
As Jim Palmer says, the concept of “closing the sale” is crazy because when you close something, it’s shut.
However, you always need the transaction to stay open.
Every successful business is based on the power of the relationship with your customers or clients.
Relationships Take Time To Develop And Cannot Be Rushed.
Actually, we could argue that Carly, at one point, slowed things down a little during the process of building the relationship with Vic.
Rather than just send Vic paperwork for the second project, she asked him a couple of questions to make sure she understood the request properly.
Vic initially interpreted this as “jacking around”.
But in the same e-mail he literally told her to charge whatever amount of money she needed and get to work.
By taking the time to understand where Vic was really coming from, and how he functions from HIS truth, Carly fostered what turned into an amazing customer relationship.
Would you rather take the time to debate and defend a $2K estimate, or charge $3,750 without having to clear it with the client first?
Would you rather take the time to build a relationship and earn a $45,000 sale, or rush a $2,500 sale and end up refunding it a few days later so even the time you spent “closing” it becomes lost time?
All of this is great.
Bigger sales are great.
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