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Rick was new to sales. He had just started at a small realty firm and was eager to put his people skills to work selling homes. One couple he met in his first week really wanted a new home but just couldn’t spend too much money. They had school loans, two kids, a car loan, a dog and a cat to support. Everything was against them buying the kind of house they really wanted. Rick had spent hours showing them all the houses in their price range and then took their number so he could follow up with them to see if their financial situation might change in the near future. He called three weeks later to tell them of a nice home that just came on the market that they might be able to afford. "Oh, we bought a new house the same week we talked with you." They had bought in a rather expensive area! They spent almost twice what they had told Rick they had budgeted. They hadn’t won the lottery. They still had the kids and the pets. They had lied about what they could afford! What Rick had come up against was the number of "nos" theorem. This states that because of a fear of making the wrong decision, people will say "no" until they feel comfortable saying "yes." And "no" can take the form of lying about what they have to spend. They need to know that whatever they are considering buying will still look attractive to them after they have laid all the roadblocks out. They feel that since they still want it, then it must be the right decision. The salesperson who knows how to work around this theorem will significantly increase his sales. The way to work around it is simple. Keep asking for the order until they say "yes." Of course, you have to ask for it in different ways otherwise you would be hammering the customer. You don’t say, "Do you want to buy?", "Do you want to buy?", "Do you want to buy?". Rick’s competition, the other Realtor®, knew how this works. He probably finished his presentation and was also told about the school loans, car loan, kids, dog and cat. He went back and recapped each item from his presentation, one-by-one. After each selling point, he asked if they wanted to buy the house (in different words each time). He didn’t want their phone number for follow-up calls. He wanted them to own one of his homes NOW! Finally, they realized that they wanted that particular house more than they wanted to save the money for something else, and they bought. How long does this take? That’s the fascinating thing about the theorem. Everyone has a different number of "nos" that they have to get out of the way before they feel comfortable saying "yes." The easy sell may have only one or two "nos." The tough customer may have 10 or 200. Just be patient, calm, and non-pushy and you will eventually work your way through all the "nos" and get to the "yes." |
