Client "On the Fence" - How to Get sale?

13 replies
Hi guys,

I went to see a dogtrainer in my area the other day and him, and his three partners were blown away by my presentation. I showed my past results, showed him how much traffic he was missing out on and all that great stuff..

At the end he was pretty hooked on the idea but he had to talk about it with his partners.

I am only proposed charging him 1200 to start and $297 a month.

The thing is, I called/messaged him the next day.. didn't respond.
Finally two days later, he messaged back saying he will contact me at night... but never did.

Then a day later on text he said "honestly, me and my team are still debating"

I told him to let me know what issues or objections are coming up, and let him know that I'll only work with one dog trainer in the area so he doesn't have to worry about competition.

Now.. how would you go about getting him off the fence and doing the deal?

Please give me some advice, thanks.

Hassan
#client #on the fence #sale
  • Profile picture of the author Always-A-Warrior
    Since he is not the decision maker then you can ask him to do a table top meeting with him and his partners and go from there. He may not know how to explain it to his partners like you did for him.
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    • Profile picture of the author internetPro
      go to another dog trainer.... if you come down you loose the "i am only working with one and go to you are my only option"
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  • Profile picture of the author Doran Peck
    You are experiencing the "pause" while they go and see if they can save money by doing it themselves.
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  • Profile picture of the author jimbo13
    You can't get him off the fence because you never had him on the fence to start with.

    I'm just converting to English for my benefit, but $297 is approx £6 per day.

    That is the cost of 1 drink and a couple of packs of crisps.

    Still think they are having a 'debate' about it?

    So the good news for you is that it is not the money.

    Why is this good news? Because we can now narrow this down to 2 things.

    1. You were speaking to the wrong person.
    2. Your presentation was not as strong as you thought.

    On to point 1.

    So were you speaking to the right person? The decision maker?

    The first half of your post makes no sense. You spoke to 4 of them; him and his 3 partners.

    So who are they talking to? How many chiefs does it take to run a dog training company?

    You should have determined that on your phone call before wasting any petrol or shoe leather.

    On to point 2.

    Actually no one can answer this for you as they weren't with you.

    Sales has a logical process.

    You mentally tick away as you go through it. It is a journey.

    You know exactly where you are headed and mentally you tick away in your head as you pass through towns on your way to the destination.

    So what is your process? Because it is the process that you work and fine tune. Why? Because:

    'While individuals may be insoluble puzzles, in the aggregate they become mathematical certainties.' Sherlock Holmes (By the way,he is fictitious)

    What that means is that I can't predict what you will do as an individual (eg I fire a gun to your left) but I can predict what you will do as a group (move to the right)

    A sales process wont tell you if you will sell to me, but it will tell you what you will sell if you present to a given number.

    Here is a basic one for you.

    1. Reason to be there
    2. Fact find
    3. Check and pre-close
    4. Marriage (Based on 3)
    5. Final check
    6. Close
    7. Objection handling

    You the need to be 100% honest with yourself about each stage when you come out of a sales call and tweak away.

    That is why it is a good idea to call everyone you sell to back. Not in your case though as you have made yourself a pest through over-calling. It would seem like begging now. So I would say move on. I wouldn't normally though.

    By the way, a 10% increase in these 7 areas will give you a 100% increase in sales.

    Add that to your prospecting and well.................

    Dan

    PS: You lost them somewhere between step 1 and 5 if you were speaking to the right person.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dr Dan
    Alot of the time they just get too busy to really give you an answer. It is not a priority to them. Just keep going out and offering your services and you wont need to chase clients and keep following up with them.

    I have a friend that built his whole business off of dog trainers across the US using craigslist and a few other tricks. He does very well with this approach. Its a great niche.

    Personally I get more business by offering a lower intro offer and depending on the the niche I usually go between $200-$400 a month. The lowest I will go is $100 a month if it is a hair stylist or an easy niche that doesnt make alot of cash from each client. But the hair stylist I have pays me $100 in cash and another $100 in credit for my wife and kids to get services done every month.

    If I was going after this dog trainer, I would call him and let him know you are running a new special to the next 5 clients only. (im not sure what services you are offering?) you can offer to do the set up for only $600 (50% off) if he pays the monthly fee 6-12 months in advance at $200-$300 per month. Also you are including a free facebook fan page with fans as a bonus ($800 value)

    Just some ideas that work for me and makes me quick cash, and gets me testimonials, referrals and happy clients.

    Be a RockStar In Your Business,
    & In Your Life!

    Dr. Dan
    .
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    • Profile picture of the author 10kperday
      Rule#1 in selling anything is NON-ATTACHMENT!

      Never ever allow yourself to become emotionally attached to any sale.

      Remember,people do not come to you for what they already have..they come to us for what they don't have.

      In the time it took to post this here you could have contacted 10 more dog trainers and set up 3-5 appointments.

      As I left an SEO appointment yesterday, the business owner told me he was shopping around.

      My response?

      "Go right ahead, because if you go with anyone other than me and one of your competitor's retains me, you will never win against me.

      You could hire all ten of them combined I will still dominate any category that I go after"

      Needless to say, I do not chase people and neither should you.

      Nuff said.
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      • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
        Originally Posted by 10kperday View Post

        Rule#1 in selling anything is NON-ATTACHMENT!

        Never ever allow yourself to become emotionally attached to any sale.

        Remember,people do not come to you for what they already have..they come to us for what they don't have.

        In the time it took to post this here you could have contacted 10 more dog trainers and set up 3-5 appointments.

        As I left an SEO appointment yesterday, the business owner told me he was shopping around.

        My response?

        "Go right ahead, because if you go with anyone other than me and one of your competitor's retains me, you will never win against me.

        You could hire all ten of them combined I will still dominate any category that I go after"

        Needless to say, I do not chase people and neither should you.

        Nuff said.
        You are exactly right. Never chase after anyone, you are giving them control. You want this client a lot right? That is your problem.

        Anytime you REALLY want a certain client, or on the verge of closing the deal, or maybe not even about to close the deal just in the talking phase.. never seem desperate. You will never have quality clients.

        For SMS marketing, I have a few lousy competitors and when someone says they have been talking to one of them and they beat me on price, I don't care. I don't budge on price one bit. I show the owner my client list, I show the owner my competitions client list, each comparison, whether it is mobile marketing, web design, seo, google places, I beat my competition.

        I explain to the client... I tell them I'm sorry for misjudging you, I was under the impression that you didn't want to plateau anymore, that you wanted an increase in business. What works really well is if they have competition next door, or across the street, just walk out and visit their competition.
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        • Profile picture of the author HassanAjmal
          Yea I probably either messed up somewhere or those guys are just cheap.

          Anyways... I've always had a hard time when I contact the prospect first. Whenever they find ME first, the sale always happens.
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      • Profile picture of the author Bruce NewMedia
        Originally Posted by 10kperday View Post

        Rule#1 in selling anything is NON-ATTACHMENT!

        Never ever allow yourself to become emotionally attached to any sale.
        Really, really, good advice there...

        I continue to find, if I ever display a 'neediness' with the prospect, OR build up my hopes of a deal after a meeting, I'm wasting time/mental energy.

        Not saying you are doing that, but once you are not with them, you cannot control anything.
        _____
        Bruce
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  • Profile picture of the author Danielm
    Originally Posted by HassanAjmal View Post

    Hi guys,

    I am only proposed charging him 1200 to start and $297 a month.
    For what its worth, my wife is a dog trainer and depending on what they charge they might need a lot of clients to even break even at those costs. I'm not saying you are overcharging, but depending on how high end the trainer is that might be more clients than they truly believe they might gain from your services.

    Her and a few other trainers were given a presentation and they asked about 500 a month, no startup cost. Each trainer decided that even if they got 1 new private onsulting client a month for almost that amount they would then just be breaking even and working for free.
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  • Profile picture of the author FlyingWings
    At the accomplish he was pretty hooked inside the notion but he experienced to communicate about it with his partners.

    I am only proposed charging him 1200 to begin and $297 a month.

    The element is, I called/messaged him the subsequent day.. didn't respond.
    last but not minimum two times later, he messaged back again saying he will make contact with me at night... but by no implies did.

    Then every evening later on on text message he mentioned "honestly, me and my set are nevertheless debating"

    I informed him to allow me know what problems or objections are coming up, and allow him realize that I'll only purpose with one puppy coach within your place so he doesn't should be worried about competition.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheShark
    Hassan,

    Try this approach, if you are very confident:
    1. Thank him for his time
    2. Explain you will not be able to help him because you only represent one person per geograhic location and another dog trainer wishes a proposal.
    3. It was a pleasure talking with you - if you need a referral in the future to someone that can help you, please just give you a call - they charge more, but they are almost as well trained as you are.

    --If they are truly on the fence, they will try and finish the hiring process right there. If not, don't worry about - put a spec site up, use google voice, have it go to the top 3, then try and re-sell it at a higher price to the same person.

    It's one way to convert. There are a lot of nuances, so use it as a basic framework to come up with something.

    TheShark
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  • Profile picture of the author Casper C
    You could consider telling them that another dog trainer is very interested and therefore there is only limited time for them to decide, and if they don't, their competition gets the exclusive solution you're offering. Or something along those lines. It'd be like giving them an ultimatum. If they don't move forward and do the deal with you, forget about them and move on.

    Good luck!
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