It was after 10 different store visits, my friend Doug was FINALLY ready to make a decision on a new 60 inch TV. Later on, that week, when reviewing his sales pipeline of activity, he noticed he had a lot of ‘deals’ that were not closing. When his manager asked Doug what the next steps were for all of those opportunities, he found he had a common response, that even Doug, himself, found curious: ‘They have to think about it’.
Anything a salesperson expects when they are buying, they will tolerate when selling. If a salesperson is not a good decision maker and is in the habit of “thinking it over”, this salesperson will be vulnerable to “think it overs” from prospects. If the salesperson can’t decide, why would they expect the prospect to decide? This prolongs the sales cycle and leads to very unclear next steps.
The way you make major financial decisions in your life will have a direct correlation to your expectations of how your prospects make decisions. If you are a comparison shopper, or a research junkie, or a price shopper, you will be expecting these things and thus accept them. Chances are when you hear these objections they will make sense to you and you’ll miss an opportunity to tangibly move the sale forward. Research suggests that salespeople can be 50% more effective if they take the steps necessary to become better decision makers.
Only good decision makers can get other people to make decisions. Certainly don’t be rash in your decisions but learn to make quick decisions. You’ll begin expecting your prospects to decide quickly as well.
