Cash Objections - Customer Suddenly Cant Find Check Book At Closing?

Okay, you have pitched them, you have gotten them all the way down to the close, you have tied them down and met every objection along the way... But suddenly they cant find their credit card at the end of the presentation... or they dont know if there is enough money on it, so they want to put you off.

This concern arose out of the What is your money line? thread.

So...

What do you do?

There aint no be back bus, as car dealers say. You KNOW what happens if you cant strike when the iron is hot.

Well..., here are a few thoughts, and stuff that has worked for me face to face, and for my telemarketing crews over the years:

First of all they may not have been sold, its just that you overcame all their objections in the pitch and they have nothing left to turn you down on .... Good job.

Alot of times you just have to walk away, because, again; they arent really sold...but with all that work, it's definitely worth it to try and offer a couple of rebuttals at least, for all the investment you have in this.

Here are a couple: (okay a "few"- okay "several" :rolleyes

1: "Thats fine Bob, I can take a check/ credit card if you prefer"

2: Thats okay Bob, obviously I cant start your work until we receive payment but I will tell you what I can do if this helps. I will go ahead and take your billing info, and just post date the billing until the date we agree on , that way we can at least reserve your special price for you, and will just start the work once we have collected the initial payment. Worse case scenario; you dont lose out on your special price...even if we dont start the work for a couple of weeks, would that help you out?"

(People can hardly resist that line "would that help you out?")

3: If you are on the phone and they are uncomfortable giving their checking numbers you can say:

"Well I understand, but if this helps; really the information you give me on the phone wouldnt be any different than the information that would be printed on the front of your check if you mailed it to me, does that make any sense?"

4: I dont have my credit card on me: "Thats okay Bob, if you want to go grab it, I'll wait".

5: I dont like to do business by credit card I feel funny.

"I understand, Actually bob, if this helps, using a credit credit card is actually the safest way TO do business if you think about it, much more than cash, does that make any sense?"

6: How do I know you arent going to take the money and run?

A; "Well frankly Bob, we have a reputation to protect, and we arent about to do anything to damage that...but on another note, the amount of money we are talking about here really isnt worth me looking over my shoulder for the next ten years...does that make any sense?"

B: Well frankly Bob, Im just a salesperson myself, I dont have a merchant account and I couldnt personally process a credit card even if if I wanted to. As far as the company itself, they sure arent going to go anywhere soon with all these clients to answer to daily. I do understand the concern, but it wouldnt benefit us at all to take the money and run, when our bread and butter is in having you as a long term client, not in the initial set up fee's....does that make any sense?"

7: Last resort: You will have to call me back monday because Im not sure I have enough money on the card

A: "I dont mind waiting if you want to call it in real quick and save me another trip out.

B: I'll tell you what, why dont I go ahead and just do your home page right now, and we can at least get your started so you are indexed and get some traffic running to your site, then we can go ahead and proceed with the rest next week when you are sure the cash is available. It would probably only cost me a couple hundred bucks to make that happen and it would at least put us way ahead of the game. I can even put a form on the page so potential customers can contact you in the meantime if they come across it, if that helps you out. Fair enough?"

(Now if nothing else you have locked them in as a client, and they are going to tell every other salesman "I already have a web guy"- and you have at least paid for your gas out there).

Those are just a few potential scenarios...

There is a whole slew of things you can say to remind them of the value, re-create the sense of urgency... but when they have already trapped themselves by saying they dont have the money, its hard to take back...even if you get them back into the urgent vibe.

They have to admit being a liar... so how can you help them back into the game when they have said they dont have the money at the moment, or cant find their card?

One other way is to:

8: Remind them of the urgency, sell them back into why they need to do it now...and say "I dont mind waiting if you want to make a quick call and double check"...that gives them a way out.

But there are alot more great rebuttals around here...

Can you think of more objections? What are some of your own rebuttals in this scenario?

Looking forward to your sharing.

-John