Any business has to deal with an angry customer or client from time to time. These are times where you can turn that ehh customer into a customer for life, or into a sworn enemy that will let everyone know how you screwed them over (even if they are in the wrong).
You spend all this time and effort to close the sale, only to now have to live with the complaints that follow. Let's take a walk through a way that we were able to STS (save the sale) by asking questions and listening.
Cat is out of the bag, customer would like to quit, first let's address the elephant in the room which is his money. Of course you can have your money back, however throwing in ‘quit’ was more of a nudge as people hate to be known as quitters. Now I am the one refunding him. I address that yes he can be refunded however if I had said you’re refunded, the conversation is over. No matter what you try to do to continue the conversation more often than not they’re gone. So I addressed that yes he can get his money back, however now that I have his attention let's see if we can find out why he wants his money back.
Yes he wants his money back, which we already know however we have his attention so let's ask some questions to probe and find the problem. Now there’s the one mistake I made, let's see if you can spot it?
The mistake was that I told him why I was probing him, I should have waited for him to answer the “have you been posting” question rather than continue to probe. In the moment I jumped the gun with the second reply, as we all have done when over eagerly texting a woman we are attracted to.
The issue is not cost, (a discount would not have saved the sale), the issue is his thought on his free time. Now you’re busy, I’m busy, he's busy, sure we all think we’re busy however the average adult spends over 2 hours a day watching tv, aka we all have plenty of fucking time. If your go-to saying is “I’m busy” I hate you.
Back to probing. So we know time is his issue, let's dig deeper, he feels he needs 1-2 hours a day.
Let's dig even deeper and ask a “why” question.
Let's dig even deeper and ask a rapport building question as he mentioned that he is working on 5 cars.
Now let's ask a question that will nudge him to say “no” which is what we want, we don't want the cheap yes questions.
Jab, Jab, Right hook, now we have him on the ropes and it's time to take control and save the sale.
His problem was time and looking at learning the same way that we are taught in school, which he agrees with “this is true” “that is right” are great signs to hear “you’re right” not so much.
Now from probing, and asking open ended questions that focus on pulling out the problem, addressing it, getting him to say no, nudging him towards where we wanted him to go. He sold himself, I didn't have to beg him to stay, or offer a discount. I was able to save the sale, save face, and keep this client as a member. Now he might still just as well quit in 2 weeks and still get a full refund. However he now knows that we don't care about the money, we want him to excel.
Now this was more or less a cake walk, there will be times when you have customers who are acting from an irrational/emotional standpoint. When that happens give yourself time and put yourself in their shoes. There are times when we fuck up and it is 100% our fault, when it is, it’s much easier to own up to it fast and take responsibility and ask how you can fix the problem.
Fast forward two months later he ended up quitting and that's life. People come and go, customers come and go, it's not the end of the world, but how you end it will determine if they ever come back. I always make it a point to make sure that the breakup or refund is as smooth and easy as possible when we know they’re a goner. Some people will be moocher and take advantage however this is 1% of the time, and for this I give you full right to tell them to shove it where the sun doesn't shine. However if you are finding that every customer who is leaving you is that same moocher, it's actually you who sucks, not them. Make the break up easy and the booty call tends to come in time when they can’t find that better someone.
Do you have balls?
In the Group Chat share an experience where you ended a breakup on a positive note where down the road it helped to keep that door open vs completely shut. If you have some sales experience, share one on a customer you lost and how you were able to make it easy and eventually they came back. If you have neither story a good fuck off story is just what the doctor has prescribed. If you are still reading and don't have some type of story to tell, seriously, what the fuck do you do with your time?