“Let me think about,” says your customer. This is the dreaded “no hurry” response, which is one of the most frustrating selling situations that you can encounter in sales. You have answered all the questions, handled all the objections, and determined that the fit with your offering is good. Still, there is no decision.
There are many symptoms of a customer who is in no hurry. They can include:
– Concerns about price even though you had dealt with this objection earlier in the sales process.
– Deferring to a higher authority as you try to close the sale. Suddenly they can’t make the decision anymore.
– Questioning the fit of your solution despite the fact that they had previously confirmed that everything was good.
– Changing their mind about what they need or changing their specification.
– Words like “I will be back to you”, “I need some more time to think it over”, or “let me run this by the boss”.
What does no hurry mean? Candidly, it can mean many things. Most often it means that you did not qualify your prospect and you have been wasting your time by calling on the wrong customer. This happens to all sales people, but it is the biggest weakness of an inexperienced sales rep. Another version of poor qualification is calling on the right account, but selling too low in the organization; often this individual is a scout and is screening vendors for the boss.
No hurry can mean that you did not answer all their objections. This is a basic sales mistake; a no hurry objection can mean that you were rushing things. Slow down and ask your customer why? Remember that customers say “yes” only after all their objections are answered. If you skip something, no hurry is their way of telling you to slow down and help them. This stall is a request for more information.
Depending on the length of your sales cycle, things can change. If your offering has a long sales cycle, let’s say 6-12 months long, don’t presume that their needs are fixed. It is the sales rep’s responsibility to continually verify the fit of the product with the customer. Changes at the customer could include new management, technology changes, decision process changes, and many others. You may only find out about these changes if you ask “if things have changed” since the last conversation. If you don’t ask you may find them to be in no hurry.
Sometimes a customer may need an increased incentive to “get them off the dime”. In this case, you might want to offer something extra for doing the deal now rather than later. Rather than offering a discount, make the pie larger with a tangible incentive. If this does not work, you may need to probe more deeply into why they are in no hurry.
No hurry can mean many things, but the response typically means that you did something wrong early in the sales process or that things have changed.
John Bradley Jackson
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