To Lock Them In,
Let Them Go

If there ever existed a paradox in sales, this would be it. The reason salespeople experience high cancellation rates of appointments, prospects backing out of invitations or broken future commitments is because they are too busy selling their agenda. They never learn if their prospects have a truly compelling reason to commit to change. In order to increase your odds of receiving firm commitments, you need to make “no” decisions as easy and accessible as you do “yes” decisions. In other words, by making “no” a realistic and available decision to your prospects, you will decrease the likelihood of cancellations, back-outs and broken commitments. Ironically, allowing “no” can be the quickest and safest way of getting to “yes”.

Salespeople who allow their prospects the freedom of coming to their own conclusions generally build trust and confidence in a way that is very difficult for traditionally minded salespeople. They also don’t squander their valuable time and resources on prospects who really aren’t interested or who are ultimately going to spin their wheels.

If you are in a business that traditionally has high cancellation rates for appointments, or you do your selling in a permanent setting where you invite prospects to your office or an offsite location, and you experience a high no-show rate, it will be critical for you to post sell your appointments and reservations so that you can minimize your cancellation rate. Firming up your commitments when you are involving other people will also be important if you do demos, proof of concept meetings, web casts, plant verifications, facility tours, or joint senior management meetings.

The key is to qualify or disqualify the opportunity as quickly as possible so that you aren’t squandering your time on a lot of wishy-washy non-committed prospects. The following are some effective ways to execute this strategy. Keep in mind, your goal is to allow your prospect the freedom to tell you “no” or to bail out graciously if in fact that is what they will be doing anyway later on.

• “Do you have any questions, reservations or doubts that you’d like to be able to discuss before I confirm you?”
• “Outside of any emergency or last minute change beyond your control, can you think of anything that could have you cancel our meeting?”
• “Let me ask you a silly question: are you writing down the appointment in pencil or pen?”
• “One of my greatest fears is when someone says they will attend our briefing it is because I’ve railroaded them into agreeing to come without giving them the chance to do otherwise. I hope I haven’t done that here?”
• “Can you guess what our cancellation rate or no-show rate for confirmed web casts are? It is an abysmal 50 percent. Which I guess isn’t the greatest reflection on us. So I’d prefer if you’d tell me now, rather than later, if you aren’t certain of your commitment, for whatever reason, and I will respect your decision either way.”
• “We’ve been experiencing a little blip in our cancellations lately. You aren’t going to call me late Thursday and tell us you are attending an unexpected shotgun wedding for your second cousin in Alabama who you haven’t seen since you were both in diapers, are you?”
• “You aren’t going to wake up on Thursday night in a cold sweat wondering why you committed to something that is important but not important enough to take precious time away from your hectic schedule, are you?”

These post sell strategies are also very effective if you are in a business where you aren’t directly closing for an order but rather you are closing for a future commitment. The following are some effective ways to execute this strategy:

• “I’m delighted to hear you’ll use us. When you say you’ll use us, could you be a little more specific as to when that may be and specifically under what circumstances that may happen?”
• “Sometimes, prospects will commit to use us on the next available opportunity only if their existing supplier drops the ball or they’ll only use us if their existing supplier takes a pass on a very difficult application. How likely are any of these scenarios?”
• “What would be your biggest concern in changing suppliers for your next order cycle?”
• “Knowing that your business is very sought after, how are you going to inform the incumbent that you are moving over your business to their biggest competitor? And what are you going to do when they make incredible concessions on price, delivery or service?”
• “What can you tell me that will convince me of your commitment and that will assure me that I can start things up on our end without you changing your mind?”
• “I know you’ve been doing business with Harry for 10 years and you are friends and I respect that. What are you going to do when he plays the loyalty guilt card and reminds you of all the wonderful things he’s done for you in the past 10 years?”
• “Before you commit, what advantage or disadvantage do you see in using us?”

Prospects respect salespeople who respect their time. Prospects will misuse and abuse your time if they think that you do not manage and control your own time effectively. Therefore, it is critical to qualify and disqualify your opportunities for the sake of your prospect’s time and your own time. Allowing “no” to be an acceptable conclusion for your prospects will demonstrate that you care about their agenda and their priorities. You will also benefit by a relationship built on mutual trust and confidence. So next time you are closing a prospect for a commitment, allow them to close themselves.