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How to Slow Impatient Customers Down?
Last week we talked about why customers are so impatient. If you happened to have missed it, you must really ask yourself, what were you thinking? Just kidding. If you missed it, you could read it here.
Ok, now that we are all up to speed, let’s talk about how you can slow your impatient customers down. Before I start breaking down specific ways to slow customers down, I need you to understand to facts about customers who bring up time as a concern:
Fact #1
A customer who brings up time as a concern can make a buying decision. These customers understand the importance of their time. They realize that time is more valuable than money because they understand they can always make more money, but they can never make any more time.
Fact #2
Time objections or concerns are typically, and I am talking 99% of the time, nothing but a smokescreen to cover up some other concern. People will use running out of time or having something else to do as an excuse to get out of an uncomfortable situation rather than address the actual issue. For example, if the customer does not like the salesperson, there is something the customer does not like about the vehicle or the dealership.
Accepting these two facts is the first step towards slowing your customer down. Believing that a customer who brings up time can and will make a decision will give you a positive attitude towards the customer when they bring up time concern.
Now that you believe a customer who brings up time as a concern can and will make a decision, you then need to know what to do when a customer tells you they do not have time. To do this, the first thing you need to do is believe you can get passed the smokescreen that is the time concern. Most of the time a customer does not visit the dealership 15 minutes before a root canal. Needing to get to the dentist is only a smokescreen. Once you have the confidence the customer’s time concern is only a smokescreen your goal here is to get the customer passed their time concern and moving forward with your sales process.
Here are 4 Ways to Slow Your Customer Down and Get Them Moving Forward with Your Process:
- Let the customer know their time is valuable – Anytime a customer has an objection or concern, you always want to start of with empathy and aligning yourself with the customer.
“I understand your time is valuable Steve.”
- Let them know you will make things worth their time – You must make your customer feel comfortable that you are not going to waste their time.
“I ensure you that we are going to make the best use of your time today.”
- Offer them the solution or information they came for if they give you their time – Everyone, including your customers, want to know What’s In It For Them. You have to show your customer what the benefit to them is if they give you, their time.
“By allowing me just a few more minutes of your time I will have all the information I need to get you the information you came in for today.”
- Offer them time savings later if they give you time now – As mentioned previously people who bring up time, see the value in saving time and conveniences. Look at apps like DoorDash or UberEats, people are willing to pay as much as 50% more for their food, in order to have it delivered to them, rather than invest their own time to go get it. Knowing that time is important to your customer allows you to ask them to invest a little time with you now to save more time later.
“These extra few minutes spent to complete this questionnaire will allow me to get you, not only the best price on our car, but we will also be able to get you the financial figures we talked about, such as down payments, monthly payments, even a figure for your car. And we will be able to do this in the shortest amount of time possible.”
Executing these 4 ways will slow your customer down, if possible, for one major reason, they all work towards building a relationship with the customer. Building this relationship should always be a main focus because the better the relationship you form with your customer the more likely the customer will be flexible and do what you want. This can be difficult early in the sales process because you have not had a lot of time to build this relationship. These 4 ways will open the door for you and give you the time needed to build a relationship with a customer.
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