Closing the Sale... "I Need to Think About It"

EasternShore

Expert
80
I can relate to people who want to take a little time before making a financial commitment, which is probably why I struggle with this one. What have you found to be the most effective way to close a sale when the prospect insists that they need time to think about it? Of course, the first thing that comes to my mind is that when you're eighty-something years old you never know if you'll have another chance... not sure how to say that tactfully though.... Input appreciated!
 
I can relate to people who want to take a little time before making a financial commitment, which is probably why I struggle with this one. What have you found to be the most effective way to close a sale when the prospect insists that they need time to think about it? Of course, the first thing that comes to my mind is that when you're eighty-something years old you never know if you'll have another chance... not sure how to say that tactfully though.... Input appreciated!

In a nutshell it's a smoke screen. If you have established trust and the need, you will almost never get this response.
 
You have to eliminate their options, take away the excuses upfront. It's almost always a one shot one stop sale. If you don't eliminate the possible excuses within the first 5-10 minutes you will lose a lot of $$$

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I can compare it to a simple concept in boxing. Never follow your opponent around. Cut the ring off. Final Expense is all about cornering your disabled opponent.
 
I can relate to people who want to take a little time before making a financial commitment, which is probably why I struggle with this one. What have you found to be the most effective way to close a sale when the prospect insists that they need time to think about it? Of course, the first thing that comes to my mind is that when you're eighty-something years old you never know if you'll have another chance... not sure how to say that tactfully though.... Input appreciated!

I did a video on closing the final expense sales presentation.

In short, the close is the least important part of the sales presentation.

In fact, you should only be asking for the business after you have pre-qualified the prospect well enough to know that you have high odds of getting the business (you know the whys, health, bank, and budget).

Additionally, you should have been doing trial closes all throughout your presentation to do regular checks to make sure the sales call is progressing forward in a way that the prospect is on board with what you're saying.

If you are getting resistance when asking for the sale, most likely you didn't pre-qualify well enough. Many times the agent doesn't dig well enough at the "why," or doesn't get a 100% firm price commitment from the prospect, which causes the resistance.

In my experience, there are two types of "think-about-its." The first are those that can be saved, either because they have a general hesitation, or you didn't pre-qualify well enough, and you can address those issues in a coherent way, enough to put the prospect at ease at making a buying decision.

The other kind of "think-about-it" is the deadbeat. Maybe it's unique to final expense, but deadbeats are rampant in this business, and many will go along the sales process with you, knowing that they aren't interested, incapable of being truthful. You can rebuttal these dipsh*ts all day, but they stay true to their life-long commitment of being losers.

Take a sales call I did while training an agent in Knoxville. Guy's in his mid-fifties, disabled due to getting shot 15 years ago. He's faced death. I give good presentation, get a price commitment, demonstrate why my product is better than the competition, and confidently ask for the sale.

He resists - needs to sleep on it. I ask him to be specific on what his hold-up is. He gives me some clap-trap. I rebuttal.

It goes on like this for a few more rounds. I am enjoying rebuttaling his stupid premises and teaching my agent about deadbeats.

Eventually I get up and leave because it's obvious this guy is a moron. The truth is that even if a hardcore closer got this guy, the reality of the final expense business is it's about what you keep, not what you close.
 
I can relate to people who want to take a little time before making a financial commitment, which is probably why I struggle with this one. What have you found to be the most effective way to close a sale when the prospect insists that they need time to think about it? Of course, the first thing that comes to my mind is that when you're eighty-something years old you never know if you'll have another chance... not sure how to say that tactfully though.... Input appreciated!

It's about the money. Always is. But if you are correctly finding the why and then addressing objections in the presentation to that why you will rarely get the think about it.

Occasionally I still will. Had one yesterday. We had settled in on a plan of what they wanted from finding their why. They were just needing some additional coverage on the wife. He was fine and she had a nice policy to cover most of the expenses. I couldn't interest them in replacing her policy so I was just adding on. Everything was fine but then they decided they needed to think about it. I took one last stab at it by lowering the face and thus the premium by $15/mo. They no longer needed to think about it.

I did plant the seed on replacing her older policy and will bring it up again on policy delivery.

It's always the money though. If you were giving them free life insurance they wouldn't have to think about it, talk to the kids, pray on it or whatever objection they can think of to get you gone.
 
As others have said, as long as you establish why they mailed the card in and get premium commitment, you will rarely get this problem. Occasionally, you will get procrastinators that just don't really every make a decision about anything. If you pay attention to the surroundings, you will see they never finish anything. House is a mess, unopened mail is piling up and they will give you a general sense of wishy washiness. These people need to be directed a little more and will often fall in line if give them a nudge by overcoming the objection.

"Mr Prospect, Most people who send the card in because (restate their reason) and find an amount they can comfortably afford rest easier knowing they've taken a weight off their shoulders. Occasionally a person tells me they want to think about and all I can say is when it comes to circumstances like this, there are just a couple things to think about. #1 many people would love to qualify for the level of coverage you do, but they can't because they didn't have the sense to do it when they were as young as you or they put it off and an illness set in. #2 We're talking about something that will cost you $2 per day so for less than the cost of a cup of coffee, you've left your son a gift instead of a bill to remember you. And $1-2 a day isn't going to make a huge difference to either your or me in the grand scheme of things, now is it?

Pay attention to their reaction to the money. If they appear to be thinking, then assertively push to lower the premium, "because we want to be sure and put you in a program that won't cut into movie money 6 months from now. The last thing you want to do is pay for a few months and drop it. That won't do you or your family any good."

Then close again.
 
Read Dave's (Reardon) post. But if you want to go for it anyway, try this. When people say this they have their dukes up and are girding for a fight. You need to defuse this.
Your first response- "I can appreciate that Mr. Jones. Obviously if you're going to think about it, you are seriously interested, aren't you?:yes: They will say yes to this as they think you are letting them off the hook (Not!):no:. The goal here is to get them to drop their fists and nod in the affirmative.:yes: Take it a step further and say, "when do you think you will have a decision?". They will say, "Oh, next week". We know this is bullpucky but play along. They think you are leaving.:no: The fists are now down and it is safe to move in for the kill.

Then say, Can I ask you a question?". They'll say, "sure". You then go back into your pitch and ask them what they liked best about the program. They will tell you, as again, they think you're leaving.:nah: As they tell you, don't be afraid to feed them benefits as well. After this little back and forth, you say, "Wow Mr. Jones, it seems like you really like the program. Why don't we go ahead and see if we can get you approved?". You then look down and put your pen to your app (app better already be on the table!) and start filling it out by asking them their SS # or wherever you wish to begin. DON'T LOOK UP!!! They will either go along (assumptive close) or balk.

If they balk, try again! But play Colombo now. Act like you're leaving and start packing up. But before you stand, act perplexed. Say, "gee Mr. Jones, this seems really right for you, is it the monthly premium? Is that out of your budget (it's always the money!)?". If he says yes (bingo!), you are golden. Give him a more affordable option. If he balks again, move on. No sense in getting them hissed off and more importantly, throwing yourself off emotionally for your next sit. But you gave it your best shot. You will absolutely close another one or two out of ten doing this. But like Dave said, whether they ultimately keep it (some will) is another story.

p.s.- Never ever ask them "what do you want to think about?". Especially a husband and wife. It is confrontational. You are crossing a line into their personal marital space. You will often get a strong negative reaction, usually from the husband. Such as, "It's none of your damn business what I want to discuss with my wife!". The bridge has been burned and there's no turning back.:sad:
 
I must not be doing something in my presentation that you guys do because I still get it. I sold six yesterday and got that on three.

I sold all three "think about it" appointments yesterday.

I handled each one exactly the same.

1. I acknowledged they said it. (People get irritated if they think you are not listening to them. )

2. I assured them that it's completely their decision. "I understand Mrs. Smith. I want you to be completely comfortable with your decision. "

3. Then I explain the process again: What I recommend we do is fill out your application today. I fax it to the company and it will take about a week for them to review your medical records and make a decision to approve you or not. Once you are approved you can still decide that you don't want the coverage if that's your decision but if you want it, you don't need to do anything. Your bank will send them their premium on the day that you choose and your coverage will be in force. You will receive your policy right after that but you are fully covered even before you have your policy in hand once your first premium has been drafted.

On all three they replied with OK, we can do that.

I've always done them this way and once they do the app they are solid. Some won't close and dig in to the "sleep on it" thing but I figure if I closed them harder they would just be the ones to fall off. My persistency is generally very good and I'm sure that's because I'm a soft closer.
 
I must not be doing something in my presentation that you guys do because I still get it. I sold six yesterday and got that on three.

I sold all three "think about it" appointments yesterday.

I handled each one exactly the same.

1. I acknowledged they said it. (People get irritated if they think you are not listening to them. )

2. I assured them that it's completely their decision. "I understand Mrs. Smith. I want you to be completely comfortable with your decision. "

3. Then I explain the process again: What I recommend we do is fill out your application today. I fax it to the company and it will take about a week for them to review your medical records and make a decision to approve you or not. Once you are approved you can still decide that you don't want the coverage if that's your decision but if you want it, you don't need to do anything. Your bank will send them their premium on the day that you choose and your coverage will be in force. You will receive your policy right after that but you are fully covered even before you have your policy in hand once your first premium has been drafted.

On all three they replied with OK, we can do that.

I've always done them this way and once they do the app they are solid. Some won't close and dig in to the "sleep on it" thing but I figure if I closed them harder they would just be the ones to fall off. My persistency is generally very good and I'm sure that's because I'm a soft closer.



That's the "think about it" close and it's as weak as it gets. If agents are resorting to think about it close then they are not long for this business.

It may work for you since you do this business different than the regular FE agent.

But the FE agent that's gonna make his living selling FE the think about it close will have him starving.

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Read Dave's (Reardon) post. But if you want to go for it anyway, try this. When people say this they have their dukes up and are girding for a fight. You need to defuse this.
Your first response- "I can appreciate that Mr. Jones. Obviously if you're going to think about it, you are seriously interested, aren't you?:yes: They will say yes to this as they think you are letting them off the hook (Not!):no:. The goal here is to get them to drop their fists and nod in the affirmative.:yes: Take it a step further and say, "when do you think you will have a decision?". They will say, "Oh, next week". We know this is bullpucky but play along. They think you are leaving.:no: The fists are now down and it is safe to move in for the kill.

Then say, Can I ask you a question?". They'll say, "sure". You then go back into your pitch and ask them what they liked best about the program. They will tell you, as again, they think you're leaving.:nah: As they tell you, don't be afraid to feed them benefits as well. After this little back and forth, you say, "Wow Mr. Jones, it seems like you really like the program. Why don't we go ahead and see if we can get you approved?". You then look down and put your pen to your app (app better already be on the table!) and start filling it out by asking them their SS # or wherever you wish to begin. DON'T LOOK UP!!! They will either go along (assumptive close) or balk.

If they balk, try again! But play Colombo now. Act like you're leaving and start packing up. But before you stand, act perplexed. Say, "gee Mr. Jones, this seems really right for you, is it the monthly premium? Is that out of your budget (it's always the money!)?". If he says yes (bingo!), you are golden. Give him a more affordable option. If he balks again, move on. No sense in getting them hissed off and more importantly, throwing yourself off emotionally for your next sit. But you gave it your best shot. You will absolutely close another one or two out of ten doing this. But like Dave said, whether they ultimately keep it (some will) is another story.

p.s.- Never ever ask them "what do you want to think about?". Especially a husband and wife. It is confrontational. You are crossing a line into their personal marital space. You will often get a strong negative reaction, usually from the husband. Such as, "It's none of your damn business what I want to discuss with my wife!". The bridge has been burned and there's no turning back.:sad:



No way I'm going through all that. Once I've found their why and them educated them on the solution to their why and they need to think about it, I simply lower the premium. If that doesn't get them signing up then I'm outta there.

If they ain't sold, they ain't sold. No amount of trickery will change that. It might for that day but they won't be tricked for more than a month.
 
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