Suppose you sold an expensive dining room set for $3000, and suppose the customer calls you later and says that their cousin’s neighbor’s sister got exactly the same set for $700 less.
What do you do?
General Rule: Listen more and talk less. Ask questions that get the other person to talk. Don’t argue. Don’t explain or justify yourself any more than is necessary. Don’t try to change the customer’s mind about anything. Let the customer talk more than you do.
The best thing for you to start with is to say, “Ok. What do you want to do?” Say it in a neutral tone, with a downward intonation at the end, and don’t rush it. Pause a bit after saying ok and before you ask what they want to do. Then listen.
Here is a list of some of the things that a customer might say to your question about what they want to do, and how you can reply.
- Cust: “I want you to give me $700 back.”
You: “That won’t work for me. You can return the dining room set and receive a full refund of the purchase price, not including the delivery charges. Or you can keep the set. What do you want to do?” - Cust: “Why did you charge me $3000?”
You: “That’s what I sell it for.” - Cust: “Why did someone else get it for so much less?”
You: “I don’t know. You could ask them.” - Cust: “I think it’s really unfair that I had to pay that much when someone else got it for less.”
You: “Ok. What do you want to do?” - Cust: “I want my money back.”
You: “Ok. You can get a full refund of the purchase price of the dining room set, but not of the delivery charges. Do you want to go ahead with that?”
The above is one example of how a practitioner of High Probability Selling might handle a situation like this, when following the Mindset of HPS.
Questions, comments, and ideas from readers are very welcome.
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